Hi Folks,

I've got a 2014 Street Bob in charcoal pearl (2" tank lift, black 10.5" Burly slammers, black fin derby/primary covers). In my humble opinion, chrome just doesn't suit the grey and black look, so I've hit just about every easily-accessible chrome bit with the scotch-brite treatment and plan on hitting up the gas cap/gas gauge next. Getting decent lines on a flat and circular piece of chrome is a little tricky, so I'm just wondering if anyone has done this to their ride and whether youdecided to go straight across the caps with their lines, like left-to-right when looking down at the cap, or whether you worked the lines in a circle. Am leaning towards keeping the circular shape, but am open to any input.

Cheers!

Also, I'll try and post some pics of the progress later...would love to hear what people think of the look so far.

 

Looking forward to some pics.

For our last shop build, we did a Sportster in similar fashion to what you are talking about. We scotchbrited every single piece of aluminum or chrome. We found that going with a straight pattern (as much as possible) on the longer parts kept it looking the most consistent. Though like you said, it takes some patience, especially around the curved cam and primary covers. But trying to keep it as straight as possible in one smooth direction yields the best looking results.

Here are some pics:





We've done both the circular and the same straight pattern on the gas cap (though I don't have any closeup pics), but the one major issue with doing a straight pattern is that you then want to keep your gas cap facing in one direction and it looks a little off if the pattern is not straight forward when you tighten down the cap. So you don't have to worry about that, you may want to just go with a circular pattern.

 

Hey, thanks for pointing that issue of doing a straight pattern on a gas cap...I totally would've taken the cap off to eliminate the risk of scratching the tank (and may very well have forgot to mark the final landing place). Wou'dve looked really stupid with a ****-eyed pattern! I'll likely do the circular pattern just for the challenge, but I was considering the straight look, just because the window on the fuel gauge sits at a weird angle and looks like it might bugger up the circular aesthetic.

That Sporty looks great by the way! Especially like the heat shields over top of the wrap. Did you do the bars and/or any stationary bits on the forks?

 

Thanks! Glad you like the bike.

We didn't do the bars or the forks on that bike (the bars were black), but on our Springer Sporty build we did the bars and the top tree of the springer front end. We went with a straight pattern along the length of the bars from end to end and did the same with the top tree. Since they were originally chrome, the scotchbriting gave it a really nice brushed finish.

Here's some pics:

 

Looks cool! What tools do you use for it?

 

All you basically need is some of the thin green scotchbrite pads and some patience. Just take your time and brush it in one direction in a straight line. If you are doing a flat surface, you can go back and forth but be sure that it is only in straight passes. Any slips from side to side you will notice and it takes a few more passes to straighten those out, especially on chrome. Aluminum is a bit easier and more forgiving. It's really a very simple process though and gives everything a low luster brushed finish. It's also easy to maintain and clean and if it ever gets scratched up, you just brush it out again. Just be careful on chrome because if you rub too much you can brush through the plating and cut into the copper/nickel plating underneath.

 

Wow DCC, those bars look awesome. I was hemming and hawing about doing them because of the p.i.t.a. factor of taking everything off, but that looks too good not to. Looks like a winter project!

 

@izhd - There are different grades of scotch-brite you can use that vary grit by colour and most hardware stores will carry a whole range. Conversely, if you're super-steady with your hands, you can always use a Dremel-type rotary tool with the scotch-brite buffing attachments to do the heavy lifting and take off the first very thin layer of chrome, and then switch to the pads to manually finish the job. You just have to be SUPER-careful that you don't go too deep, unless you're looking for the super-white nickel look...or perhaps even the copper look if you go waaaay too deep.

 

Thanks!

A possible quick tip for you: to lessen the PITA factor (depending on your bike's handlebar setup), you could always just leave everything attached to the bars, but unbolt the control perches (the half circle ones that hold the mirrors/are to the inside of the switch housings), then take just the top clamp of your risers off. Now you can lift up on your handlebar and take the thin green scothbrite pad and wrap it around the handlebar and move it end to end in a straight line across the whole length of the bar. Removing the perches will let you get under the area that will be covered by the perches and you will never see that the ends of the bars weren't done when you put it back together.

Just an idea to save some hassle of taking everything off.

Best of luck with your project.