Finally cooled down and got some work down

The weather finally cooled down for a few days after the week long heat wave of +38 degrees Celsius (i.e. 100F) so I managed to get a few things done:

Tank - brass spinner gas cap, some old school graphics, pingel old school brass petcock

Speedo - Drag Specialities white face gauge (body painted satin black of course)

Springer - changed the chrome springs to black

Satin Black Tank & Fender + Speedo

Painted my tank and front fender satin black on the weekend and fitted up my Drag Specialities speedo.

Best way to get rid of chrome

Way too shiny

I am trying to have no chrome showing on my bike and a few guys on the XL Forum suggsted the following ways to get rid of chrome:

1. Take the parts to a chrome plating company and they'll strip them in the chroming bath by reversing the polarity. 

2. Leave it parked in the hood overnite...

3. Donate it to the poorest guy on the forum...

4. Use salt spray on the chrome

5. Scotchbrite pad over the whole thing and the paint

I have been using the following process and it has worked well so far on a lot chrome items, such as bolts, caps, brackets:

Step 1 - Buff with a Scotchbrite pad (medium) as this get rids of the shine and creates a profile 

Step 2 - Clean with some metho

Step 3 - Paint with an etch primer (3 light coats...1 hour in between coats)

Step 4 - Paint with satin black acrylic (3 light coats...10-15 minutes between coats)

Here is how my kickstand turned out.

Etch Primer Coat

 

 

All finished

I am going to add a short piece of black hydraulic hose over the bottom of the leg to protect the paint when the kickstand is down and also my frame when the kickstand is up.

Kustomtech hand controls

Did a bit of custom work to my Kustomtech hand controls, dulled down the brass so it has a satin finish and also painted all the aluminium satin black.

Paintwork

Spent the weekend painting my frame, hard tail & fender.  Did it the old school way:

- Hit it with a grinder first and a steel brush

- Etch primer

- Satin black to finish

Came up great.

16" Rear Wheel done

Finished my 16" rear wheel:

- new bearings

- brass spoke nipples

- satin black powder coated rim 

- painted satin black diamond back spokes

Next step is to fit an Avon Gangster Whitewall tyre.