Chroming in Manchester Area

[philward]

Just got my bits for the 350k0 back from the chromers. I used Leigh Metal Polishing Services (based in Swinton) - really top quality BUT expensive - the lot in the pictures was £750 (cash price).Took 4 weeks including Christmas break. I think the guy who does it there (John) is the bike/car specialist and probably (in my opinion) takes a cut. He's been chroming bike bits for 40 years so knows what he's doing (he insisted I dismantle the front guard so he could see any rust pitting under the rivetted on brace/brackets) - so he knew how much he could polish the outer surface. Been liaising with Ash to compare with Prestige and like for like, Prestige are much cheaper for the same quality - but 6 month lead time.
Just thought I'd put a 'up North' option for forum members based on my experience.

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[Oddjob]

You're right Phil, that's damned expensive.

Plus, and I'm sorry to say this but experience has shown me that the exhaust clamps will rust inbetween the fins due to the casting being so rough in there, same will happen to the cable adjusters, the knurling means the chrome doesn't get down into the bottom of the edges and they start to rust the same as the exhaust clamps.

The rest looks a good job, lovely deep depth to the chrome.

[paul G]

The exhaust clamps will rust eventually, but they still look a dam site better until they do.
I do all mine and have spares that I could use as well.

[Oddjob]

That's my point Paul, they'll rust, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Where they are located means they are subject to the hot/cold cycle of the engine, but even that wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so badly cast. The surface between the fins is like the moons surface, cratered to hell. It looks like they've been cast in sand and rough sand at that. Because the surface is so rough the nickel and chrome coating isn't intact, there are holes all over it, this allows water to get underneath, it evaporates due to the heat mostly but the contaminates in the water are left behind, these discolour the coating first off and then start to attack the surface. Very soon you'll have surface rust showing on the surface, this then develops into a deeper rust colour and very soon the clamp looks a mess, not even NOS are immune to this and they were chromed onto brand new metal.

Been there, done that and learned the lesson. Getting them chromed is like putting a band aid on a sucking chest wound, unless you cure the root cause it's a waste of time and more importantly money. Grind or sand the casting smooth and give it a chance to be a good job. Sure it's hard work and takes hours for each clamp but it's better than just having it rechromed every 2 years and eventually the chromer will polish off the fins and they'll become smaller and smaller every time it's done.

[paul G]

Had mine on the 400/4 now for around 6 years and still look fine 
Granted it does not go out in the rain and coated in ACF in the winter but I would not say it is a waste of time if you look after them.
What I would say is find a good chroming company and I cannot recommend Prestige highly enough.

[Oddjob]

I'd agree that the better the chromers the better the result but none will cure the problem, I asked when I had mine done why the bottom of the fins looked dull and was told it was because they haven't got anything that can get deep enough inside the fin to polish the surface, the smoother the surface the better the nickel coating will be. If you've got 6 years old of yours then you must wrap the bike in cotton wool, my first set lasted less than a year before they were unsightly. My BIL has my K reg 500 and when he came round on it in the summer last year the engine looked great, the clamps were a real mess, so much so that I couldn't stop looking at them, they spoiled what was a nice bike with many thousands spent on it.

My aim in commenting on this subject isn't to say "Look at me I'm so clever" it's to advise members of the potential pitfalls of just throwing parts in a box and expecting the chromers to sort all of it out. They'll sort 95% of it if they are really good but they'll charge you the earth to do it. Or you can pay less and get an inferior result. The alternative is to sort the problem as well as you can before giving it to the chromers, they'll charge less and take less time as well. My current chromer charges me around £5 to chrome a gear lever off a 500/550. That's because all of his time consuming work has been done for him. He took a week to do it as well, which was really fast for a chromers these days.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Time someone made SS clamps then

[Oddjob]

That’s not a bad idea Ted.

[paul G]

I'd agree that the better the chromers the better the result but none will cure the problem, I asked when I had mine done why the bottom of the fins looked dull and was told it was because they haven't got anything that can get deep enough inside the fin to polish the surface, the smoother the surface the better the nickel coating will be. If you've got 6 years old of yours then you must wrap the bike in cotton wool, my first set lasted less than a year before they were unsightly. My BIL has my K reg 500 and when he came round on it in the summer last year the engine looked great, the clamps were a real mess, so much so that I couldn't stop looking at them, they spoiled what was a nice bike with many thousands spent on it.

My aim in commenting on this subject isn't to say "Look at me I'm so clever" it's to advise members of the potential pitfalls of just throwing parts in a box and expecting the chromers to sort all of it out. They'll sort 95% of it if they are really good but they'll charge you the earth to do it. Or you can pay less and get an inferior result. The alternative is to sort the problem as well as you can before giving it to the chromers, they'll charge less and take less time as well. My current chromer charges me around £5 to chrome a gear lever off a 500/550. That's because all of his time consuming work has been done for him. He took a week to do it as well, which was really fast for a chromers these days.

£5 to chrome a gear lever  there has got to be some corners being cut there either that or he is loosing money on it.
Even with all the prep done it is going to cost him more than that in his time going between tanks washing things off and going to the next process.
You have then got to take into account energy costs, and I know from what my chrome company tell me, the cost of the chemicals has gone through the roof.

[Oddjob]

I think that because he doesn't have to get any of his employees to do any work on it that he does it for pocket money. TBH it's a decent job, not perfect but again TBH it's because I don't get the surface as smooth as they get them, mainly because I don't have a linishing machine.

This is one of the levers I had done.

It's more than acceptable in my eyes.



Oh and this is the exhaust clamp I had done as an experiment, to see how they would come out.

I'm having some chromed and some chrome ceramic coated, those are currently being done this week. I'll fit which I like best.