At the moment, we are not offering any plating
services - SORRY!
Plating services - all that glitters . . .
If
you are to ask anyone what is synonymous with the 1970’s it has to be loud
colours, loud music and loud bikes . . . both in colour, engine noise and that
all important gleaming chrome! Unlike the modern “plastic fantastics”, the
bikes from the 70’s were very distinguishable by the vast amounts of chrome on
them. Once the markets were established by the big Japanese bike manufacturers
the chrome turned in the 1980’s to the cheaper “Black Chrome” variety and
then in the 1990’s to the even cheaper (unless you have to replace it)
plastic!
Chroming is a very misunderstood process: the public at
large tend to think that it is some miraculous cover all that is just painted
on... Unfortunately this is so very far from the truth. Chrome is many times
thinner than paint and will not even cover the slightest blemish, from my
understanding there are there are basically three types of chrome, the chrome
that is used on shop fittings, the type used on exterior fittings and the chrome
used in industry (on hydraulic rams etc) all chroming is done electrostatically
and is basically the transfer of metal from an anode to a cathode.
The
type of chrome generally used on motorbikes works well from the factory because
it is applied to new unblemished metal. In the 1960’s the metal was first
coated in thick copper and then chrome, as the 70’s dawned the expensive
copper was dispensed with in favour of a quick flash of nickel and even thinner
chrome plate. The bikes that we are restoring now have had many years exposure
to the elements and often the metal is quite badly rusted. Rust is fine if it is
a substantial item like a kickstart because there is a good quantity of metal to
polish away at, however if it is apparent on a thin mudguard or an exhaust pipe
then it can be costly to re-furbish.
To re-plate a front fender takes
in three basic processes.
-
De-grease the item and then
“wire up” to begin the reversal of the chroming process and remove all
the old chrome.
-
This is the time consuming
and expensive part: polish away all the rust and imperfections until the
item to be chromed is so highly polished that it looks like it is already
chromed! Each one of those small rust spots on the item will double or
treble in size as the acid eats away the corrosion. These blemishes then
have to be totally erased in the polishing process – the very worst cases
would require “triple plating” this process involves polishing the
metal, plating it in thicker copper, polishing the copper and then plating
again with chrome.
-
Wire the item up and start
the plating process.
At
RB’s we take pride in trying to replicate the original (often quite bad)
factory finish on an item: items like these exhaust flanges are generally
polished (by the uninitiated) to a mirror finish – whilst they can look very
nice in their “show chrome” they are far from original. At RB’s we retain
the original casting marks for that totally authentic finish. We are also one of
the few companies that will consider re-chroming those dirty, oil- and carbon-
infested two stroke exhaust pipes!
We don’t just re-furbish
chrome items: zinc and zinc/passivate are also a specialty. It is quite
feasible to rejuvenate a whole bike's fasteners in zinc for less than £60.00
– why “spoil the ship for ha’porth of tar”? Get those bolts re-plated!
Talking of fasteners . . .
don’t forget our “Back to original” Screw kits!
Re-plating the fixtures on a
bike has to be the cheapest single enhancement possible. This pile of rusty,
oily, filthy fittings is from an H2a and were cleaned and re-plated for around £30!
Quality chroming does not come cheaply - all our work is now
"Show Quality" - approximate prices for Stripping, polishing and
re-plating are as follows:
Brake pedal £27.50
Gear lever £20.00 (extra for linkages)
Kickstart £32.00
Kicker Boss £8.00
Downpipes £29.50ea
Silencers £70.00 - £120.00each
Fork Stanchions £110.00pr Exchange
Front Mudguards £75.00
Obviously there are some "Gold" zinc finishes on the machines, we operate a
refinishing service for these parts as well - as a rough guide a set of H2
ignition boxes will cost £40 to re-plate, we test the units before and after
plating.
