*WARNING* there is no pic attached so dont blame me


How To Polish Your Bike Frame
By Nick Rocheleau
http://www.usmcpress.com/extremepolish/ourwork.htm
It is amazing how small the world really is. It is nice to hear that our little web site
has made it across the pond. I think it is great that you are inspired to polish your
frame. It is by no means difficult just time consuming. If you have some spare
time this winter you can have you’re frame looking like a mirror. Not sure how indepth
you want this E-Mail so I will give you the general idea on what you can
expect and you can feel free to ask any more questions in the future.
Remove all the bodywork from your bike including the tank. This will save
expensive plastic from any accidental slips of the sand paper. Before you remove
the bodywork take note of what parts of the frame are actually visible. No reason
to polish something that will not be seen. Then start with 220 grit sand paper to
remove the anodizing from every where that you want to shine. What is important
is to go always in the same direction with the sand paper strokes. Try to go with
the existing "grain" of the metal. Removing the anodizing is a long pain in the ***
process. You will have no fingerprints left after polishing. From 220 comes 320 to
remove the scratches left from 220. I recommend wet sanding all the grits. Wet
sanding will help to keep your work area clean and it makes a big difference with
the higher grits. The grit sequences I use are as follows: 220, 320, 400, 600, 800,
1000, 1500 and if needed 2000. Doing the whole bike by yourself with a good
part of everyday dedicated to it will take just over a week. If you don't mind
investing some money into this project buy an orbital sander. This will greatly
reduce the polishing time and wear on your fingers. When you have completely
removed all the anodizing and pits, redo 220 by hand to remove all the swirls left
by the sander. If you decide to use the sander only use it for the first grit. The
only "trick" involved is not to get into a rush to complete it. I really cannot stress
this enough. If you do not completely remove the scratches left behind from the
previous grit you will always have scratches visible. Whenever I think I am
finished with one grit I always go over that same area again one more time with a
fresh piece of paper to ensure I have all the scratches out. I recommend to keep
using the same piece of paper until it is smooth so you are using it to gradually
remove the scratches left from a fresh piece of paper.
You asked about coating it to avoid oxidation. I have seen people who have tried
to clear coat a polished frame with little success. I am not a painter but the way it
was explained to me is that the polished frame is now very smooth. Special paint
is needed so that is will actually stick. The ones I saw painted looked very dull. If
you have any success with this I would appreciate any knowledge gained. Up
keep of a polished frame is not difficult though. I use a metal polish called
"Mother's" but I have used a product from Europe called "Wenol" that was also
good. When I get caught in the rain I just dry the frame and swing-arm to prevent
any drops leaving rings when they dry. And when I clean the bike I just go over
the bike with the metal polish to bring back the mirror shine.
I hope this babbling letter helps you. Time for me to go grab another beer and
check out some more bike web sites. I hope that you do polish your frame and
swing-arm. I believe it adds to the pride of ownership. Plus it is great to see the
look of other people when they see your bike. Best of luck to ya!
Nick

 

Mother's is great. I used their wax on my car, ahem, cage. It shines like no other!

 

I've polished aluminum on a few of my buddies cars and bikes. I've used a very similar process. However, after the wet 1500, you may want to look into a product called "Aluminum Boat polisher." They sell it at autozone. I used this (hand buffed with microfiber) before the final step. The final step being Mothers of course

 

Once im done wet sanding with 1500, i like to use a high speed buffer with a 1200 grit and finer rubbing compund, if i need it to be extra shiny, i also follow up by buffing it with a swirl mark remover compund. its a whole lot faster.Then, ofcourse, the final step is mothers.

 

try going up to 2000, then 2500, then getting those crayon looking things and the buffing wheel that attatches to a drill, theres 3 of those steps, thats how i did mine in april

 

Actualy, if its still an open coat, (non clearcoated) Carnuba wax is what the pro's, finish w/. It keeps it from reoxidising, the reason you are having to "touch up" all the time. Clean and free, Ripp'n

 

Perhaps many of haven't heard about a cleaner and polisher by the name of NEVER DULL. It can be found in the cleaners section of any grocery store.

 

Does anyone know if using oven cleaner first rather than sanding first helps get off the first layer off the frame?

 

i use a drill with a 80 grit sandingwheelto get the clearcoat off, it's a lot faster. and when your done with the sanding, use the same drill with a buffing wheel and some white rouge to make it really shine, then finish it all off with some mothers gold. oh, and don't plan on having fingerprints left when you're done, they're overrated anyway. my bad, i posted under frame polish when i meant wheel polish.

 

is this for any frame?? So i can do this on my 06' F4i aluminum frame?!?! does anyone have any pix of what it looks like b4 and after they did it themselves??