Fork polishing

[MacDaddySV]

The forks on my bike are looking pretty corroded, and I fancy having a stab at getting them to look a bit better 2mro.

Anybody got any tips on what type of polishing stuff/methods are best to use one them?

Cheers :D

[captainsmelly]

Yo. Sand them down with wet and dry, working up the grades. Get some Autosol, and shine 'em up. Be like a mirror!

[zadar]

you know what cylinder bore cross-hatch looks like?
600 grit roll of send paper, wrap around tube and go for it.

[Tobes]

what do you do to protect the forks once you have rubbed them down? ideally they need lacquering surely..?

im going to have a go at mine, get some mothers to polish them too
Toby

[Lissa]

Thread here from when I did ours.

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=75065&highlight=forks

[dizzyblonde]

Don't bother re-laquering them, they'll only go the same as before when the road salt gets in the cracks of the laquer, when its starts to degrade.

Buy some paint stripper that you can paint on, thats self nuetralising,
Work down the grades of wet n dry 240, 400,800, 1200.Then Autosol and wire wool,then autosol on a cloth et voila!
Do this whilst watching a programme you like with a bottle of red wine ;-)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb45/loubi650/2008_01260026.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb45/loubi650/2008_01290001.jpg

[zadar]

never mind what I said, was thinking inner tubes.

[MattCollins]

what do you do to protect the forks once you have rubbed them down? ideally they need lacquering surely..?

Paint with proper preparation and primers. Getting paint to stick to aluminium can be interesting so it has to be done right.
The other alternative is anodising. There are plenty of resources out there on DIY anodising or just send it off to a plater. Gotta warn you that I have seen DIY anodisers become addicted to it.

Link to useful resource.
http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize.html

Cheers

[punyXpress]

Grease, elbow, lots!

[Tobes]

there are some pretty good responses there,thank you, im going to polish them first then think about getting them anodised, clear black or gold...! im going to get my rims powdercoated matt black, has anyone else had rims powdercoated...? good bad experiences..? im thinking about having the forks done at the smae time in black but wont match the frame so not sure...

[dizzyblonde]

im going to get my rims powdercoated matt black, has anyone else had rims powdercoated...? good bad experiences..? im thinking about having the forks done at the smae time in black but wont match the frame so not sure...


If you have them powdercoated, you may want to have a look at

http://www.triple-s.co.uk/

they are the dogs dangles of powder coat. As they say themselves, they don't do garden furniture or gates! only bikes n cars. My other half had his YPVS frame done by them and its gorgeous.

[MacDaddySV]

Thanks for the tips everyone . . . theres plenty to think about! . . . will try to get round to the doing when I get enough grease on me elbows :D