Finished Polishing Forks

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

Finally got finished polishing my forks tubes.  With the help of the VRCC members and especially Daryl from VTX-treme, Im happy with the outcome.  My new 6 degree polished trees from Daryl should be here any day now to finish the front end.  Im considering also doing the front brake rotors.

Before Pics





After Pics

[houstone]

Very nice!

[Colin]

Very nice. 

Any tricks or just loads of hard work with fine paper and polishing mops?

[BamaDrifter64]

Nice outcome....how many hours did you put into them?   

Dave

[Chrisj CMA]

Are you actually going to put them back on the bike and kill bugs with them.........they look too nice for that....LOL   Just kidding of course.....I wish I had the patience, they look very cool!!!

[Disco]

Beautiful!   

Dangit, my to-do list just got longer...

[rangernight]

1st class work, very nice!!!!!!! Wish I had the patience!!!!

[MP]

Procedure?

MP

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

I did tons of reading first but since I was dealing with Daryl on ordering my raked trees, I decided to take his advice on polishing the forks which was less time consuming compared to many others.  I bought a small orbital hand sander ($25) and a bench mounted buffing wheel ($40) which were the biggest expenses at Harbor Freight.  A lot of people start with say 200 grit paper and go up in increments of 200 all the way to 1000 or even 2000 grit and then start using Tripoli and polishing sticks.  Daryls suggestions were this which I followed exactly.

Fork Lowers:
Acetone or Oven Cleaner to remove clear coat
Orbital Hand sander with 320 grit wet sand paper
Buffing wheel with Tripoli
Buffing wheel with White Polishing Compound

Uppers:
Acetone or Oven Cleaner to remove clear coat
Orbital Hand sander with 320 grit wet sand paper
Orbital Hand sander with 400 grit wet sand paper
Buffing wheel with Tripoli
Buffing wheel with White Polishing Compound

I have to say the lowers were much more time consuming than the uppers.   I did a good amount of the sanding of the lowers by hand because of all the small curves.  I also used a dremel in the small places to polish them.  When sanding the uppers, he suggests to not polish the areas where the trees mount as there is no need to make that area smooth or slippery.  I dont know how many hours I spent but it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be.  Once I got the lowers done, the rest went fairly quick.  When removing the clear coat I used the Acetone on the lowers and then tried the Oven cleaner for the uppers.  I did my best to get most of the clear off but since I was going to be sanding the hell out of the forks, that was going to take off most of it anyway.  On the uppers, make sure you sand away all the ribbed tool marks to get the smooth finish.  Once I did the bulk of the sanding on the lowers, I would just sit and watch TV hand sanding all the small areas.  For the Uppers, I hand sanded the areas where the line was for where the treees mount first and then went to town with the orbital.  Good luck.  Its worth the time spent.  If not for Daryls help, I would still be working on them.

[sandy]

Before you install them, take them to a powdercoater. Get them clear powdercoated. Never have to polish again.

[Relax]

 
unbelieveable result!!!
Really good looking!

[Joe Hummer]

So...you can send me your shocks and I will send you mine and you can start all over.  Let me know when you need my mailing address. 

Joe

[gordonv]

Before you install them, take them to a powdercoater. Get them clear powdercoated. Never have to polish again.

They have clear coat for powder coating? Didn't know that, was just going to us a spray bomb and clear coat it myself. I think the powder coat would be better in the long run, and worth the extra cost.

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

So...you can send me your shocks and I will send you mine and you can start all over.  Let me know when you need my mailing address. 

Joe

Thanks for the offer Joe, but that was enough practice for me. 

[Black Dog]

Hey Steelers...  Those look beautiful 

Did you need to disassemble the forks, or did you leave them, and work on each one as a whole assembly?

Black Dog

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Hey Steelers...  Those look beautiful 

Did you need to disassemble the forks, or did you leave them, and work on each one as a whole assembly?

Black Dog

Looks great ...Well done 

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

Hey Steelers...  Those look beautiful 

Did you need to disassemble the forks, or did you leave them, and work on each one as a whole assembly?

Black Dog

I did not disassemble the forks though if you did it may be easier to work on the lowers.  Wasnt too bad though.

[Don07tncav]

 
WOW! Look fantastic!

[Larry]

Have you done the rims already? 

[RTaz]

Had a local guy polish these a few years ago....

[GJS]

Those look awesome!

I too have just taken delivery of a 6degree triple tree set from Daryl.
Very helpful fellow indeed.
Now that I have seen yours, I'll need to polish the mine like that, for sure.
I guess the good news is I have an Interstate and won't need to do all of the uppers, although once I start....

So are you extending the length of your forks? Daryl sent me 1 3/8" extensions.
I'm 5'10" with a 30" inseam.
He also mentioned that I would not have to shorten my kickstand with the extensions.
Has anyone here ever shortened their kickstand?

Best regards,

Glenn

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Had a local guy polish these a few years ago....

One of the sharpest Valkyrie's I've ever saw ... Beautiful Bike 

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

Had a local guy polish these a few years ago....

RTaz is that still your bike?  I love that thing.  One of the sweetest Valks Ive ever seen also. Did you do all the work to it?  I thought I saw that for sale on ebay awhile back?

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

Those look awesome!

I too have just taken delivery of a 6degree triple tree set from Daryl.
Very helpful fellow indeed.
Now that I have seen yours, I'll need to polish the mine like that, for sure.
I guess the good news is I have an Interstate and won't need to do all of the uppers, although once I start....

So are you extending the length of your forks? Daryl sent me 1 3/8" extensions.
I'm 5'10" with a 30" inseam.
He also mentioned that I would not have to shorten my kickstand with the extensions.
Has anyone here ever shortened their kickstand?

Best regards,

Glenn

Hey Glenn,
I should have my trees by the end of this week.  Im not using the extensions.  I have 11.5 inch Progressives so the 6 degree trees will make bring it down to where it should be.  Let me know how your install goes.  Ive never installed triple trees before so I'll take all the suggestions I can get.

[mirion]

Hey Steelers, did you do the lowers with the tubes on or did you take them apart? Now I am convinced I have to do them also although I already bought some of the Hondaline chrome "Lower Fork Covers" because I didn't think you get them that nice. Daryl is having a good month, my 6 degree trees are due this week. Just got done polishing my tubes also. I had the good fortune of a metal lathe at my disposal so I started with 280 which took off the clear coat and the lathe grooves pretty fast. Then switched to 400 to 600 to 1000 and finished with a spiral sewn wheel in my 6" hand grinder and red compound while still on the lathe. I bought a complete polishing kit from http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/gbkit.html . Now I am starting on the wheels.

[RUDE DOG - Steelers]

Your uppers look great.  My tubes were all together.  I did not take anything apart.  Lowers are just more time consuming.  I did alot of hand sanding to get most of the areas a pretty smooth finish.  Let me know how your install goes also.  

[mirion]

I also have the 11.5 Progressives and am not using any fork extensions per my discussions with Daryl. All in all it still reduces the trail from 6.0" stock to 3.75" which I hope isn't detrimental to handling.
Yes Steeler and Floppy Doctor, lets compare notes on the reassembly of the new trees although I am doing a lot of things and won't be putting the forks back on for a couple weeks probably, especially with all the polishing I want to do. I really have her torn down.......

[RTaz]

Had a local guy polish these a few years ago....

RTaz is that still your bike?  I love that thing.  One of the sweetest Valks Ive ever seen also. Did you do all the work to it?  I thought I saw that for sale on ebay awhile back?

that was a project bike that my buddy Joe Errante (Joes Juice guy) asked me to help him out with...we did a frame up rebuild on it and pretty much re-did the whole thing in my garage...great bike...he sold it a few years ago...

[HotRod]

At first I looked at your first pictures and did not see the BEFOR heading and thought thats not that great. Then I woke up and seen the after and WOW! great work man! that looks like something I would love to do to mine.

[Madmike]

Looks great.......

[Kelm1]

After seeing STEELERS forks I'm going to have to try it. I plan on pulling the forks off soon to upgrade to progressive springs along with new seals and oil. Perfect timing! I hope they turn out as good. I like the idea of clear coating. Will a good auto grade clear do the job?

[garyr]

Great job and time consuming.

I had my triple trees chromed and my forks polished. I had them clear coated and 3 years later the clear is dulling and they are chipped. Clear powder coat is the way to go but you have to take the forks apart. I have 2 other bikes with polished forks with no coating and I have to polish them at least twice a year.......

[PINSTRIPERART]

I have found the best thing to use is jewelers roug. At most truck stops you will find tank and wheel polishers who will be glad to sell you a bottle of their home made magic polish, this usually works the best

[olddog1946]

Those look incredibly nice....BUT   way too much work for a lazy fart like me, lol. I did that once with the side cases on a Suzuki GT 380, looked real nice for awhile but unless you have some kind of clear coat on them, and you are picky you'll be spending a lot of time keeping them looking that nice..   I'd rather ride with that time, but I do like the look.

[Jack B]

Yea it takes time but it's worth it