Refinishing - Front Fork Tubes

[bflint]

At 50K miles, decided its time to clean up a few chrome and paint finishing wear stuff on my CB1100. Bought some used alum fork tubes off craigslist last night ($40) to experiment with. Looked at many how-to sites but decide to follow RestoCycle LLC approach. Steps:
1. Strip clearcoat finish with paint stripper (took 3 times to get 99% off).
2. Wash with soap/water. Dry.
3. Spray with WD-40 use Scotch Brite Hand Pads Red 7447 (320 grit) in shoe shine motion all around tube. Never slide pad down, always pickup of tube to move down tube. This took me about 30 minutes.
4. Wash with soap/water. Dry.
5. Spray with WD-40 use Scotch Brite Hand Pads Grey 7448 (800 grit) in shoe shine motion all around tube. Never slide pad down, always pickup of tube to move down tube. This took me about 30 minutes.
5. Wash with soap/water. Dry.
6. Wipe with acetone (slightly damp towel only).
7. Clamp upright. Spray w/ first coat of clear coat.
8. Per clear coat instructions, wait 30 minutes, do 2nd coat, wait 10 minutes, do final coat.
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Turned out pretty good. Will use this approach to do it for real on my CB1100, but will probably use a 2x Clear Coat vs the 1x Clear Coat I used because the 2x is supposed to be better.
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Products used:


Equipment used:

Fork tube before stripping:

Stripping:

Rest of pictures
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Stripping continued (took 2 times/coats, plus a 3rd touchup).


Post sanding with the Scotch Brite pads:

Pre clear coat application:

Final picutures
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Post clear coating (3 coats) ... next to unfinished sister fork tube.

Post clear coating ... next to my CB1100 fork tubes that I want to refinish. Pretty darn close match.

 

[Houtman_imp]

That looks very nice Bill , to make life easier could you use a polishing mob on say a drill fixed on your bench ? The first one I ever made was 40 years ago and I used an old washing machine motor .

 

[peterbaron]

That looks very nice.
Hope will last long as well.
You did a good job

 

[bflint]

That looks very nice Bill , to make life easier could you use a polishing mob on say a drill fixed on your bench ? The first one I ever made was 40 years ago and I used an old washing machine motor .

The oem finish is not really a "polished look" ... its a "horizontal brushed look", thats why I needed something with grit to cause micro etching/scratching. Believe I could buy some sanding platforms to do something like this, but it would cost some bucks. Always open to suggestions. If you can improve the process then the forum members will appreciate it.

 

[Houtman_imp]

You are right , the OEM do not have the polished look but I was trying to save you time so you could get to the beer sooner....

 

[PowerDubs_imp]

Look great to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cormanus]

Nice work, bflint.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I think the trial was a success bflint. You have more patience than I would.

 

[Aussieflyer]

Fabulous job!

 

[the Ferret]

Wow. How clean is that?

I keep mine covered in bugs

 

[tod.branko_imp]

Wow! Absolutely amazing. Totally going on my to-do list

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

 

[Gone in 60]

That came out great! One thing I really like is a pair of clean looking forks. Since I bought a garage queen of a bike, mine were pristine. As part of my "OCD Rider Prep", I made some templates for clear protective tape to put around the front facing sides of the forks. I tend to do this on all of my bikes, and they stay looking pretty nice.

Maybe something to consider to protect your hard work!

 

[bflint]

That came out great! One thing I really like is a pair of clean looking forks. Since I bought a garage queen of a bike, mine were pristine. As part of my "OCD Rider Prep", I made some templates for clear protective tape to put around the front facing sides of the forks. I tend to do this on all of my bikes, and they stay looking pretty nice.

Maybe something to consider to protect your hard work!

"Great minds etc." TankSlapper is San Diego home-based company. In 2016 took my 2014 CB1100DX to his shop and he designed/created protective 3M film for the gas tank. I now only have the film on the front sides and the back (prevents custom seat rubbing paint) ... IT WORKS GREAT and you really can not tell its there. Owner gave me some extra 3M film for playing around with. I used the extra film as strips on my front fork tubes ... THEY REALLY SAVED my forks from 50K miles of road wear/damage and slowed discoloration.