When you are doing multiple restorations the cost of chroming gets totally out of hand if you are not careful and it actually sometimes cheaper to buy a NOS or pattern part . Some of the smaller bits I had done locally for my 750K0 cost a fortune in 2011 and I always thought that the actual plating was the determining factor but I now realize it’s the fact that chromers spend an age removing the imperfections that Honda never bothered removing that bumps the price right up. It’s only when you do that level of polishing yourself that you realize how long it takes to achieve that finish on awkwardly shaped parts. Also the resulting part is something that looks like it came from the ‘Plumb Centre’ rather than Honda. So on my 750K0 its too late now some chroming is going to be ‘blingy’. Not that I mind that too much but I don’t like overpolished alloy. On my CB250/350’s 500/4 however I have selected parts that are not too bad to begin with to rechrome and replace with NOS / nice where available, where they are badly corroded. DK is the best source of used decent chromed parts IMHO. On smaller parts I am having them reverse electroplate stripped and polished myself so that I can A) save loads and B) I can’t blame the chromer, if the finish is not what I expected. It was interesting in Edward Turner’s visit to Honda in the ‘60s that he commented that chromed parts were apparently unpolished and the finish was acceptable but not up to British bike standards (see scan attached). I asked the chromer about the ‘cast finished’ finned exhaust clamps preparation for chroming. I had them electro-stripped, dry bead blasted. He told me that what they would then do, is simply power wire brush them to achieve the ‘factory’ finish. I reckon that is true on a lot of the parts like the kickstart splined part on a CB500/4. I like this guy because he doesn’t treat you like an idiot. He accepts that I have had the old plating professionally removed ( nigh on impossible on some parts if you try to DIY) and that I won’t grumble about the polished finish if he plates them and they are not up to his normally polishing standard. I gave him a kickstart lever and rear brake lever last week that I had ‘prepped’ myself. He told me it would plate fine but the finish would be ‘Jap bike original standard of finish’ I was quite chuffed with that comment, as it’s too late on my 750 but the 500/4 in particular will be less ‘blingy’.
I know this attention to detail is probably b*llocks to many on here and I fully accept that. I really admire guys like Matt on here who just want to keep their classics on the road as workhorses…It’s exactly what I did when I went everyday to work for about 17 years on my CB250 400/4 & Z650 and was a much younger man
. e.g. I rode my CB250K3 around for about a year without a battery, replaced with a 40,000 uF capacitor in its place, as I was saving for a house and every penny counted.
Anyone got any other polishing hints to achieve the ‘factory Honda’ look on chromed parts!
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