wjy do people polish stuff ?

[kungfunky]

IMO nos rare parts should stay as they are even if they have some shelf wear, I'd rather see parts on a bike that have a little fading than polished to the point of losing its shape etc, tuff neck stems are a good example, they look awsome with the angled edges but over polished ones look pants.

[jT Racing]

Wjy not?

It can get nasty dints and gouges out of bits that would have looked terrible without, it can simulate a chrome finish on the right parts, if done correctly it looks fine.
There was one guy on here that polished a hutch stem 'till it looked like a win durabull. Not good, but it can be done well and tastefully.

[Betty]

http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php'topic=102545.0

[hunterdubber]

Would you say it's bad to strip the ano of something perfect if it's not the colour you wont

yes imo

What about rare items? I have a NOS Hutch Aerospeed Powerdisc in Blue anno which i'm never gonna use but trying to find another one in any colour or Chrome is a mission so do i strip the NOS blue one and re anno / Chrome or go without and use something else which wouldn't go quite as well on the bike?

It's your disc so you can do what you want with it but having it chromed might affect it's value should you decide to move it on...

It will affect it's value ,, in this case it will actually make it go up , being more desirable in chrome

not as rare though  


I'd seriously hold out for stripping anything in it's original anno finish ,because somebody out there wants what you have
 but it's the owner's perogative  

[ukoldschool]

Just for reference.... I remember several rippers back in the day that were polished to a mirror finish. It was part of the attraction of having an alloy frame for some (not me, could never ride one they are designed for Spens )

[theRuler]

I polished my ripper.

[Pooch]

Well I'm home alone and just had a polish and a bit light headed now

Don't liked polished up bits that weren't meant to be bling.. My thoughts

[DoubleD]

I polished my ripper.

it looks good  but the ballburnish finish is wasted 

[theRuler]

I polished my ripper.

it looks good  but the ballburnish finish is wasted 

What do you mean?

[kungfunky]

I polished my ripper.

it looks good  but the ballburnish finish is wasted 

What do you mean?

X2

[Rodgy1970]

I polished a suntour stem BITD, used oven cleaner then brasso, think I got the idea from one of the mags but not sure maybe someone will remember  the "How to"   

I'm not that keen on polishing for blings sake I'm glad it's not done as much anymore, there's been loads of decent parts ruined forever.

[DoubleD]

if you look good at the ripper underneath the og decals  you see its ballburnished

i will take a shot tomorrow so you can see what i mean

But i think i am to uhhhhh ow well never mind 

[theRuler]

My Ripper was painted black.
I stripped the black, then the nasty yellow etch primer, then polished it and it looks boss now.

[DoubleD]

My Ripper was painted black.
I stripped the black, then the nasty yellow etch primer, then polished it and it looks boss now.

yeah okay   Thats  a good reason mate
cant argue whit that 

[kungfunky]

I have polished and Burnished ones, BB still my fave though as I never saw a polished one BITD. But if the frame looks shabby and giving it a good polish makes it look great again then its all good, providing the welds are not polished out 

[58 delray]

only thing i've ever polished was a set of 7x rims and that was back in 1982 and only because i couldn't afford another set in the colour i wanted at the time so i stripped the anno with caustic and then hand polished them.
in fact they are on my Ace in this pic

[theRuler]

providing the welds are not polished out  

I do all my polishing by hand.
Scotchbrite, then autosol, then brasso.

I cannot imagine being able to polish out a weld!!!

Unless I used an angle grinder!

[animal]

I have in the past 4 myself and other peeps , but now I prefere trying 2 recreate the original finish if I can . I now like buff ally 2 chrome polished  but on certain parts it looks great. Bitd I polished loads of stuff after using caustic  Loved the chrome finish on my aero arayas 

[theRuler]

but now I prefere trying 2 recreate the original finish if I can

I would like to have a ball burnished finish on my Ripper, but I have no balls.

[Gary72]

I done this stem this week, Didn't want blue.


After 5 mins in oven pride and rinsed in soapy water. No polishing at all.


I have polished stems in the past to get an overall bike look. But just stripping is normally enough for me.
I have a Standard Byke Stem and that got the ovenpride treatment aswell. Looks better stripped as you can see all the machining grooves.

[sparky]

As  above  why do people  polish it to chrome shine, i dont understand, i see complete rippers, stems, pedals, etc etc  getting fooked up

it looks good but thats it.

sorry   just had to ask

I've polished stripped Chrome items simply because some of the Chroming jobs I've seen look utter crap. There's a also the expense too if you have the kit already.

Although its blummin relaxing and by the time I've realized what I've done there's nothing left to polish.

I know what you mean though, some items get so over polished it really ruins the effect.

[theRuler]

^^^^  That is wjy people polish stuff!!!  Awesome.

[hunterdubber]

Just for reference.... I remember several rippers back in the day

 (not me, could never ride one they are designed for Spens )

That's odd you should say that because seeing as bikes like Torkers and Kuwis were commonly 17.5 TT

Pro bikes like HLT, GT Pro4 and T/A's were 18.5TT

and PK Rippers were 19 TT

 

[ukoldschool]

That's odd you should say that because seeing as bikes like Torkers and Kuwis were commonly 17.5 TT

Pro bikes like HLT, GT Pro4 and T/A's were 18.5TT

and PK Rippers were 19 TT

 

If you say so mate I dont know I never raced. I got into bmx around the time of freestyle so to me a ripper felt tiny. Maybe it was the rear triangle? Quads were smaller from memory? The only race frames I rode were a cook bros and a patterson long and they both felt much larger than a ripper. my favorite frame is and was always a streetbeat and that had a 19" top tube but the rear triangle was epic

[JT Smooth]

Just for reference.... I remember several rippers back in the day

 (not me, could never ride one they are designed for Spens )

That's odd you should say that because seeing as bikes like Torkers and Kuwis were commonly 17.5 TT

Pro bikes like HLT, GT Pro4 and T/A's were 18.5TT

and PK Rippers were 19 TT

 

Im 5'10 so dont think Im a Spen and have races 18.5" TT OS bikes no probs