Polished parts

[dragxs11]

I'm getting pretty good at polishing parts on my xs11 and was just wondering how many of you would be interested in things like polished triple clamps, final drive, brake calipers, and control switch housings. I basically just want to know how many people would be interested in this. I know lots of you aren't into customizing, but some of us are. Please let me know. Thanks

[Pat Kelly]

There's a lot of parts I want to polish on my bike but I want to do it myself. So far I've done everything on my bike myself except the seat reupholstery (and I've done that before).
My bike had been sitting outside uncovered (and unused) for 20 years before I bought it so a lot has been done. Had the 1979 tags on the plate. Tags up to 1985 were with the paperwork so I'm assuming the bike hadn't been used from 1979 until 2000.

[trukleon]

me too

I would like to polish mine up also,,, any suggestions or hints would surely be appreciated..

[labrat99]

How about posting pictures of some of the parts that have been polished or photos of your bike with the polished parts on it...

[Czekus21]

Buffing wheel $5.00, Polishing stick $ 4.00, spending the day in the shop polishing on an old classic, priceless, Dealing with the nagging of a jealous SWMBO cuz your taking to much time away from her, priceless.

[chevy45412001]

polishing

polishing parts,boring
upkeep on polished parts most boring (takes away from riding time)
look of polished parts PRICELESS.
even though polished parts look great the up keep is tremendous,of all the sport riders i've spoken to polished parts suck.The smallest bit of water must be cleaned up immediatly.water spots will soon follow (very hard toget rid of)Not to mention brake dust and road grime.Just remember polished is just clean aluminum ,as soon as oxidation starts your back to square one,POLISHING. Options,clear coat parts when done polishing OR have the parts chrome plated. Ya i know VERY eXSpensive, But i also like the look of chrome as much as polish.But hey if you got all that time to polish ...have at it I'M going for a ride

[dragxs11]

I'll get some pics when I'm done. I will take a little while longer. I still have the front calipers, fork brace, upper triple clamp, and clutch perch to do. And I'm getting the partsnmore master cyl., so I'll be stripping that and polishing it too. The advice above is correct, except for the maint. part. At least in my experience. My forks have been polished for a long time with no visable deterioration. I would suggest going over all the polished parts once a year to keep up with the oxidation. I use Mothers mag and aluminum polish in a little white can at any auto place. Some further supplies are needed. A bench grinder, paint remover(caustic), a drill, and a dremel tool with a polishing kit would be ideal. With that stuff you could get every nook and cranny. As far as time, well each half of the switch housings took about 45 min (had to glass bead the paint off). The Final Drive is the worst, cause it isn't cast as smooth. 2 days for that one. And the rear caliper went well, but it has lots of those hard to reach places. I'm done riding for the winter anyway, so this is a cheap, productive way to pass the time.

[nashville_bill]

I bought an 8" bench polisher/grinder at Harbor Freight for around $60 and I found good information and buffing supplies at www.caswellplating.com

[Dhost]

Polishing "Black Crome"

Wow a polishing forum! Thanks DragXS11!

I used to polish gold jewelry with four different grades of rouge on soft rag wheels. It would cut through as if it were a diamond bit if used incorrectly.

I'm told my XS11LG has got what's called black chrome and I'm a bit hesitant to use an aggressive technique on it. Has anyone found the correct polish for it? Just minor pitting/craters but I would hate to wreck it if it needs special attention.

BTW... Great posts guys!

[grifff]

...

Theres nothing wrong with polishing your bike. On both sides you can take a little pride in your ride. Whatever suits you. My bike was toast when i bought it. Everything looked like sh..... besides the way it ran. I think i can take time to polish her up once a year, thats me though. Haven't had time to figure out the posting pics thing yet, but i will. TC could through some things up if he wants. I like the bike, so i want it to look good to me. Theres a guy in town that has an old Harley(collectors dream). It looks bad, very bad. It leaks oil bad. So, when he gets to work he puts a pan underneath it to catch the oil. When he leave work he puts the oil back into it. Funny, he wont fix it up, or fix the the problem. He likes it just the way it is.

[Chas]

Polish the whole bike

Two years ago I picked up an 80 special that the guy's kid had laid down. Using a 5 step process starting with a die grinder and ending up with a buffing wheel I totally cleaned up my casing on the motor. Taking it a step further I polished my fork casing, rocker box cover, seat handle, and about every bit of "brushed aluminum" turning it into "polished alminum". It turned out sweet!
The trick is, when you get to the hand sanding, use 320 and spray WD40 on the paper. It keeps the aluminum from building up and causing gouges. Then keep it all clean with something like Mothers Mag cleaner, NOT CROME POLISH.
You will be surprised at the amount of people who won't believe it's a 25 year old bike.

[gaffer77]

a true xs fan should love chrome and polish and alloy polished,if your a rider you have 2 xs's they got to be polished to please the eye and they got to be a dog for riding so you can thrash the living daylights out of them and not worry!!!

you cant ride all the time and once my house is sorted and my missus is happy (hopefully) and i got a workshop how i want it
if i got time to spare or the weather is crap ,its radio on and polish ,polish,polish you got to have a summer cruising bike and the more personal it is to you the better in my book even if it is polish!!! parts are dear polish is cheap and you put your soul into that ,whats time spent with a fag and a pint in an xs atmosphere with the radio on as well ,man that is heaven !!! and while doing that you can keep up with all the other odds and ends you wouldnt normally keep up with

everyones different but hey dont let people knock you for polishing ,you could always have a load of polished and a load of powder coated parts ,or 2 or 3 bikes

keep that buffer going,i just bought one from our international motorcycle show and cannot wait to get started!!!!!

[dragxs11]

Totally agree Gaff.... it has the same effect on me. You may or may not know, but I had a bunch of stuff chromed....wheels, covers, etc. I was going nuts waiting for it cause I couldn't do anything else. Not to mention it was late May and beautiful weather. As long as I have something to tweak or buff, I'm happy. Sometimes it's almost as stress releaving as riding....nah!

[gaffer77]

yer drag it is nearly as good as riding, the polish makes the cruising and parking up just that bit better tho ,as people will look a bit longer at your bike and know you put some work in and that is the reward for the trouble and toil ,i find when the bikes all shiney you tend to relax when riding and enjoy the ride and scenery a bit more at a mellow pace ,,,if the bikes a mess i seem to join the rat race,dont know why this is just is!!!

[Bob Falter]

Come on guys, this is sounding like a Harley forum. Besides, all this talk of looks is making me feel bad, I still have bugs on my XS that I killed last spring.