Polished parts

[gaffer77]

well dun bob a 79 special (what i got and my favorite) and your'e trashin it!!! fair play to yer!!like i said you got to have 2 one to polish and one to ride,to be honest i havnt cleaned mine for 6 months just sprayed it with wd40 ,cos i havnt got my workshop done and my missus is nagging!!!

come on bob you got to admit it needs presreving and they are damn nice with a polish ,now get out there and sort that venus fly trap before i come an do it for you

p.s dont even mention harley along side a 79 special!!!!!!

[Bob Falter]

gaffer77

I hate to tell you this but my 79 Special sets next to a Harley, which sets next to an XS650, which is the only one of the three that isn’t covered with bugs. However it doesn’t have an engine in it so it is hard to get it over “ Bug 1”.

I can find time to ride them and time to tear them apart, work on them, and make mods to them but just can’t seem to find time to clean them, let alone polish them. Maybe this winter?

Now that I think about it, if I substitute “ambition” for “time” it makes that statement even more true. Doesn't sound very good for this winter does it?

[fusionking]

Maybe if I quit reading all this stuff I'd have the time!??!

[Czekus21]

I'll tell ya'll that I only polish MIYAMI once a year. That's the week before I leave for the Sturgis ralley. Yer gonna ride, Yer gonna get buged up. Getting the bugs off the windshield is kinda important cuz I think ya gotta see but the bugs, grime, road dirt and muck will wash off in the rain. If they don't, then you got style. Seein all the shiny, polished up bikes all the time tells me that they sure don't ride that often. If they did ride all the time, then the remainder of their time is spent polishing, how does a person make a living and take care of the honey-do's ? Nope,, once a year for the wheel is enough time spent on shiney stuff. Got too much goin on to worry about making thing shine.

[XSiveForce]

Nothing wrong with polished parts. Every part on my bike that can be polished, IS polished. Makes all the difference in the world in how this 23 yr old bike looks. I also Krinkle coated my cyliders, that with the valve cover polished, looks unbelievably great. If I do say so myself, and I do.... so people.. polish away, you wont regret you did. Besides, we all need something to do when theres snow on the ground, or its raining....No I dont take her out in the rain, we have a mutual agreement. I keep her pretty, she keeps me HAPPY!!.......

Bobby

[dragxs11]

Well for me it's been all about making a 24 year old bike competetive with newer ones, both in looks and performance. Sure it'll never be a Valkrie Rune, or beat a R1 but at least no one in town has one like it. As far as cleaning, I try to keep it within reason. My bike is pretty, but not perfect. You can see some dings and scuffs if you look close. I rode about 6000 mi. this year(perfection just doesn't make sense). The goal is, I guess, is to prove that you don't have to spend $15k to have a nice looking, well performing motorcycle. Also, mine was well used when I got it, so a lot of the stuff needed attention anyway....I just went a little further than I had to.
*

[morticiaann]

Polished Parts

I have polished triple clamps, brake calipers, forks and about 2 weeks ago I took my Jardine Headers off and polished them (head pipes are made of stainless steel). I always polish the valves and ports and had good results recently from polishing the starter rotor.
Have you noticed this -
I bought an xj550 from Mr. Cronin in Laguna Hills for $50.00 because it had a broken starter gear in the crankcase. Everything, I mean everything everywhere was coated in black soot after polishing the engine. Do this job outside or with plenty of ventilation.

[Texas Rookie]

zoopseal

I like shiny stuff but hate the work that it takes to get and maintain it. If you could cut out half of that effort I'd be all over it. I saw a blurb on this stuff on spiketv for polished aluminum. makes sense that it could help prevent deterioration but has anyone tried it?

[bikerphil]

zoop

Thought about trying it a while back. It can handle up to 400F, but the engine can get hotter than that (on a S. Fla summer day). The only part of the bike I would consider using it on would be the engine. The forks and such clean up quickly with some chrome polish and some 1000 grit. Zoop is a little on the expensive side too. It's a lot easier to paint the engine.

[fredintoon]

OK, I got an 8" bench grinder with a buffing wheel on one side. I got those sticks of buffing compound. I polish aluminum parts when I take them off to fix stuff. Fork lowers when replacing the fork seals. Handlebar clamp when I swapped the triple trees for Standard ones, alternator cover when I changed the rotor and admittedly the ignition pickup cover just so it'd shine to match.
Nothing else has gone wrong so far that could be polished.

[ossjughead]

The nice thing about living in Canada is that we have 4 to 5 months of no dam way am i going to ride weather so we have lots of time to polish. I just finished my Maxim 1100 but it was a complete restoration and it only took 1 1/2 months of 5 to 8 hour days lol but to walk into the garage and see a nice shiny new looking 26 year old bike is a great thing so comon guys polish them up its well worth the time and even better to see the faces of people that have 10,000 plus in a new bike look at it and wish lol

[tarzan]

Hey ossjughead-not to highjack the thread,whats that in the garage behind the bike.Oh and the bike looksgreat.

[subike]

Polishing brings respect.
For the first four years of ownership of my girl, she was just ridden, maintained and ridden again. In that time I went to at least 20 bike rallys here in NZ. She was just another old big black jappa.
I got the comment "I had one of those old things, great bike mate"
and that was it.
This past winter I stripped her nude, got my fingers and polishing rags into every corner, crack, bulge, bump, round bit, square bit, tricky bit and flat place. Bought some paint, bling, new and recycled(second hand) parts plus a couple of bags of shinny bolts.
I spent the three weeks of my holidays, the last weeks of winter, putting her back togeather. AN awsome relaxing satisfying job.
I have been to two rallys since then, plus a few local rides.
Last weekend I went to the first big rally of the season.
The responce from my ridding buddies was pride building.
The comments from the crowd was unexpectedly exsessive

"What sort of bike is that mate?"
"Ohh thats sexy!" ( very cute blond in leathers!!)
""hey mate love your bike"
"thats the best looking bike here bud"
"Bull **** thats not 30 years old!"
" your bikes make most of these new ones look like crap "
"" FIRST PRIZE FOR BEST CUSTOM JAPPA---25GXB--1979 XS 1100 YAMAHA"

Yeap all that polishing tinkering cleaning and TLC paid of last weekend at that rally. I had a constant stream of compliemts from the other riders at the event (1900 bikes attended). I parked her beside a 80 special for a laugh, the owner of the special was really upset at how bad his ride looked.
I entered the bike show just for fun, not expecting to get anywhere, so the prize of a bike care kit, photos in the local bike mag and lots of kudos was worth every minite spent polishing my girl.
Polish them up boys, they look far better than most of the modern plastic crap out there, especially as the crome on them IS STEEL CROME not plastic.
The alloy is quality castings that can take a good polishing.
The bikes are exsessive in heaps of way and will for a long time to come be one of the best bikes ever built out of Japan

[dragxs11]

It's been 4 years since I started this poll. To be honest, I'd forgotten all about it. These days I don't have quite as much time on my hands and only use the buffing wheels if I have to. Otherwise, if I can strip it for the chrome or powder coating shop, thats what I do. I've had good success with black powder coating and gold chrome on my bro's midnight, and my Cruise Missile now has a silver metallic frame and is awaiting some paint work. I'm flipping the scheme over from silver tank black frame/engine. So I'm kinda going back in the direction of stock. I still have a polished final drive, upper tripple, calipers, and forks, but I bought chrome switch housings and handle bar clamp. My bike is semi-retired now, so, really, making it a show bike is all that's left. So maybe I should start a new poll about frame-upping.

[chrisso]

Polishing.....Me Likey to Polish. Few Beers, A few ****'s get out the Autosol.
Did my Forks-many hours but bthey look like chrome. Spoke rims come up great too. Front Guard, Headers., stainless mufflers.