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anybody do polishing?


ninjascott

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  • 2 months later...

any pics, i dont know too much about the imports. i polished the living hell out of my stock cast mikuni vm. polished my sprocket cover but thats a bad example. it was rough before and not perfect still. i stay bored and have about 20 years polishing racing and ot rod wheels, manifolds, alternators, carbs, all kinds of stuff. plus a few extra buckaroos wouldnt hurt. aluminum is easy to polish unless its beat up and scratched like hell

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polished dont mean show queen. most of the time it would. I poilish my aluminum when I have down time and my hands get to wanting to do something. Polishing your bike up and keeping it cleaner adds speed. by polishing, yu remove materials, grim also wont stick to a nice polished up wheel like it would a dity ol crap fest. Gotta say though, if bike is running right and its not pouring down raining, im not polishing, im riding like hell. go fast enough and no one sees the dirty bike. for me, trying to race bikes, i try to present my bike with pride. Its not much to look at but its fast for what it is

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polished dont mean show queen. most of the time it would. I poilish my aluminum when I have down time and my hands get to wanting to do something. Polishing your bike up and keeping it cleaner adds speed. by polishing, yu remove materials, grim also wont stick to a nice polished up wheel like it would a dity ol crap fest. Gotta say though, if bike is running right and its not pouring down raining, im not polishing, im riding like hell. go fast enough and no one sees the dirty bike. for me, trying to race bikes, i try to present my bike with pride. Its not much to look at but its fast for what it is

Wait. ...Wut?:huh:
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Wait. ...Wut?:huh:

how was that any way confusing. i re read and i dont see what yer saying by what...? Ill re say, shinning up aluminum removes oxidation. sure, you wont save much weight but every time you polish aluminum, you are shaving a fraction of weight off the bike. As a life long racer, I ve seen guys strip cars and bikes down between races to clean as much gunk n grim off their racers. plus a nice polished part wont get stuck full of crap. its proven. things slide off a smooth polished wheel which is good. the more dirt n grim on a wheel adds unsprung weight. not to mention, some folks like to keep their stuff nice and not all ragged out looking. Again, my ol 69 here isnt ny show winner but i have no need for bike shows, id rather ride. But hey, if you want your aluminum polished and clean, who am i to say its a trailer queen or show piece? I try keeping my bike shinning when i cant ride it. like this winter when i was broke down and working on my bike, i shaved the forks, sanded and cleaned up my aluminum, why?, nothing better to do and no money so..... but again, as a racer, a sponser is more apt to help you if you keep your equipment nice and clean.

but if that didnt answer your question, what ya sayin?

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I hand polished the wheels on my old YZF and regretted it something fierce. 

First of all, it took me the better part of 80 hrs and a few weeks to work the sandcasted surface out to a mean shine using all grades from 80grit to 2000grit.  I fabbed small tools to work into small corners and crannies.  Worst part about it, if you don't rub it out with a good polish on a semi-regular basis then it's definitely going to corrode and fog over the shiny finish since you've removed the protective layer of paint/clear/pc.

chrome would be the way to go for best results, or just repaint/pc the frame and swing

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Enough with the 'as a racer' crap dude. You're an aspiring racer. That means 'not a racer yet'. Also, you don't have an air compressor....you gonna hand-rub a complete frame and swinger? Don't you have a job, wife and kid(s)?

im guessing you are just a mean spirited troll. hey PAL, guess what, i started RACING at the age of 7. just because im an ASIRING DRAG RACER, doesnt mean much. i started in dirt Karts, then moved up to a dirt late model. thanks. and no i dont have a job, i make money but legally, im not allowed to work until 2014. so back off man.

 

Helmutt is correct there. it does take a while to get the casting roughness out, unless its already been polished. i hand sand, hand polish and then hit with dremel and a buffer. not too hard. BUT as helmutt said, it takes a lot of work and if you ride often, you will regret it. as a racer, you go for looks too. just because guys will help you more if your machine is all shiny and purty. and i would NEVER EVER EVER use an air compressor to do any polishing. first, too inconsistent of speeds when pressure goes. too much water in lines unless you have a dryer so when you're polishing and water gets all over, good luck with that mess. the best thing if you want shine and less work, get you some mothers and one of those polishing balls. might get you a shine at a cheaper and quicker rate

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Lol at the new guy calling senior supporting members trolls.....

With quality die grinders you can kep plenty consistent speeds. As an apprentice machinist I used to have to polish stainless machine parts for food service. Die grinder and a couple different grades of scotch brite pads, then a d.a. sander....of course you wouldn't want to use a d.a. to polish a frame. After you've worked it down with white scotch pads, hit it with a rouge wheel then maybe hand rub with simichrome. I've never had a problem with water seeing as if any comes out, its from the opposite end of the tool.

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well crazy, yes i called you a troll, why? well, its not hard to figure that out. I am a pleasent friendly person, I have been working on bikes , race cars and hot rods all my life. ive only polished 1000 wheels and bumpers, polishing with air is not a good idea. unless you have a great compressor, an adjustable die grinder and a whole shit load of time to fix what you mess up with too much speed. Id still choose my dremel and buffer over air anyday. the worst part of polishing, removing all the defects, wow, that can be easy or very rough. you are correct on the rouge though, i wouldnt mess with simischrome though, i have a compound i make that works wanders. but to take the rouge to a higher leverl, start with the brown and switch wheels and go to the white rouge. im not here to argue or fault find. just a suggestion and answering a guys post. polished aluminum looks way better than chrome. and lighter too

Edited by Ironheaddragster713
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So what your saying is polishing a frame on a full fairing sport bike adds speed. Yeah that's like the stickers you add makes more horsepower. Most sport bikes with fairings the fairing are farther out than the frame which the fairing deflects air always from the frame so I do believe polishing a sport bike does nothing for aerodynamics but make it flashy looking. Its simple physics part is farther out than your making smooth no need im pretty sure the engineers have spent plenty of time in wind tunnels looking at the way air moves over bikes and if they though polishing frames would add any advantages they would. Now I do polish my mole boards on my plow so it goes better through the dirt. I am also a strong advocate for the group called "Chrome don't get you home" group.

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So what your saying is polishing a frame on a full fairing sport bike adds speed. Yeah that's like the stickers you add makes more horsepower. Most sport bikes with fairings the fairing are farther out than the frame which the fairing deflects air always from the frame so I do believe polishing a sport bike does nothing for aerodynamics but make it flashy looking. Its simple physics part is farther out than your making smooth no need im pretty sure the engineers have spent plenty of time in wind tunnels looking at the way air moves over bikes and if they though polishing frames would add any advantages they would. Now I do polish my mole boards on my plow so it goes better through the dirt. I am also a strong advocate for the group called "Chrome don't get you home" group.

 

Bro, you need to learn how to READ and COMPREHEND. Polishing removes the top layer of aluminum, so it makes the bike weigh less, which makes it faster.

 

It may not be a lot of weight, but when youre a real true badass bracket racer, like me, everything adds up!!

 

 

:trollface:

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Bro, you need to learn how to READ and COMPREHEND. Polishing removes the top layer of aluminum, so it makes the bike weigh less, which makes it faster.

It may not be a lot of weight, but when youre a real true badass bracket racer, like me, everything adds up!!

:trollface:

Yea what "Steve"... er tyl....er butters said!...:lol:
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