Chrome plating motorcycle parts is a beautiful, durable way to instantly customize and change the look of your bike.

Chrome Plating Motorcycle Parts - Who do you trust to take care of your parts? Here are the WiseGuy's Nuggets of Wisdom on choosing a chrome plater.

As we discussed in the motorcycle chrome article, chrome plating your motorcycle accessories is a popular way to dress up your beloved scooter, but the thought of removing parts from your ride and trusting them to someone else may seem unsettling to some, especially if your motorycle is like a member of the family. (YOU know who you are! :-)

To get a quality job for chrome plating motorcycle parts, there are a few things to keep in mind about the shop you want to use:

Experience I want the company handling my parts to be experienced at plating MOTORCYCLE parts. Plating has a huge learning curve and can be a fairly expensive. You want someone that knows specifically how to correctly polish motorcycle wheels and parts, and knows what to plug and mask so you can properly get your bike back together again. Use a chrome plater who will get it right the FIRST time. The bigger the job, the more important your plater's experience is.

Exchange? One option for chrome plating your parts is exchange. In other words, if you send the plater a Hayabusa swing arm, they'll send you a chromed Hayabusa swing arm back, but it won't be YOUR part. Other platers carefully track and plate your parts, returning your original parts back to you. This can work well either way. Exchanging may be the only option if you're extremely pressed for time. Me? I'd rather have my own parts back.

Type of chrome There are two types of chrome. I won't go into the chemistry here, but the two types are "hexavalent" and "trivalent". Both are very similar in terms of chemistry and offering protection for your bike. Trivalent is being used more now because it is increasingly difficult to get licensed with all the EPA restrictions for hexavalent chrome. Hexavalent, however is a brighter, whiter show quality chrome more traditionally sought after for chrome plating motorcycle parts.

Copper buffing step Copper buffing is a step that's bypassed by some platers to save costs, but you definitely want a plater that copper buffs (and one that uses copper). This is an important step to help with pitting issues your parts may have. (Cast parts are made with very fine sand, and it is normal for some very small pieces of sand to disengage from the part, and leave little pinholes a.k.a. ‘pits’.) Copper is a soft metal that, when buffed, will fill in much of the pitting you may have on your wheels and parts.

Suggested Projects

Winners of bike shows get to the top of the podium by paying attention to details. Don't overlook these areas of your bike when chrome plating motorcycle parts.

Brake Hardware (Calipers, discs, master cylinders)

Wheels

Timing Covers

Swing Arms

Triple Trees

Frames

Kickstands

Foot pegs (especially passenger)

Fenders

Derby Covers

Handlebar hardware (controls, clamps, etc.)

Headlight / Taillight hardware

Nuts and bolts

Fork Legs

Dash covers, inserts and panels

Since most of these projects will require vital parts to be removed from your bike, the best time to do chrome plating motorcycle parts projects is the winter offseason.

A good motorcycle plater will get very busy starting in late December or early January. Getting your parts in before the holidays is great timing.

If you live where it's warm and don't have a "convenient" winter off season to have your chroming done, don't even THINK about asking me to be sympathetic! ;-)

Motorcycle Accessories Wiseguy Nuggets of Wisdom for chrome plating motorcycle parts:

* Use an experienced plater.

* Get your own parts back.

* For best looking chrome, choose a shop that uses hexavalent chrome

* Always use a plater that includes a step for copper buffing.

*Keep your new chrome clean, clean, clean. Dirt is the biggest foe of chrome. You can use baby shampoo and water and wax occasionally with a paste wax. Fancy cleaners and polishes are generally not recommended, and many can even harm your chrome. I’ve had excellent results for years from Simichrome polish.

* Ask the plating shop to warranty their work

Happy Chroming!

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