Skynet
Senior Retro Guru
There's also Velo Orange for about Brooks price, around £40 over here
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... plugs.html
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... plugs.html
Cinelli Supercorsa, Let's Try Again Shall We
- Thread starter Skynet
- Start date
Konsta
Retro Guru
If you really want to "save" some money and are not afraid of little work the Velo Orange sewn-on covers are very nice:
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... overs.html
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/ ... overs.html
Skynet
Senior Retro Guru
Thanks. It's nothing complicated and it's all probably all been said before.
De-anodise if need be with oven cleaner as detailed above somewhere.
You need to decide on quite shiny or mirror polished, some think they're the same thing but there's a clue in the name mirror polished!
If you want it quite shiny you can often just get at it with Peek or whatever, no need to sand (or not much). There's nothing wrong with that finish at all if that's what you're after.
Mirror polishing is a whole lot more work, especially by hand. You need to get rid of most if not all marks and high and low spots. Getting rid of low spots tends to take the time. In most cases you obviously want to keep the same profile and need to be careful of flat spots on curves etc.
So for sanding I've been using 800 grit to start with as the parts have been in good condition, if they weren't you'd probably need to start courser. You basically want to use as fine a grit as you can get away with or you end up spending needless time removing sanding marks plus you normally want to take as little metal off as you can.
You can always go courser if you're not shifting enough metal but not the other way around, once you've started course that's it. So start fine and go from there. Same with polishing if you have multiple grades.
Keep the paper wet from a bowl of water with a drop or two of washing up liquid.
Then it's just elbow grease. Low areas show up easy enough as the sanding misses them so you see patches of untouched metal. You needs to sand the surrounding until those areas have gone.
If you're using 800 or even 1000 to start with then it doesn't take much work on the other grades, I have 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 papers. I've also some 3M polishing cloths, look and feel like J Cloths, nice on round surfaces and I have 400 to 8000 in those but you don't need them.
If you have deep scratches then you're sometimes better off improving them rather than removing them. Like my bar sleeve, there are still some marks but they're not obvious enough to make it worth completely removing and taking a chunk of metal off in the process.
Even with mirror polishing there's levels of it. If you want it absolutely perfect then you'd shine a light across it to show up any swirls and keep going until they're gone. But for parts that will go on a bike I'm not sure there's much point going that far.
Then it's polish. I prefer Peek over Autosol and prefer a terry cloth to apply & polish then buff with microfibre. I've recently bought Final Finish that has a very fine cut and is also a sealant. As with any polishing don't mix cloths up, don't want Peek on a cloth you're going to use for Final Finish. So a plastic bag with your polish and it's cloths isn't a bad idea.
Oh, I found that all purpose cleaner does a pretty good job at cleaning hands if you haven't worn gloves.
That's basically it, nothing clever or secret about it, just takes time. But once you get going it quite a rewarding thing to do, although once you've done a bike's worth the reward isn't as great and you're glad you're done!
Might be getting a second hand stem for the flat bar setup, if I do and I polish it I'll take pics of the steps.
De-anodise if need be with oven cleaner as detailed above somewhere.
You need to decide on quite shiny or mirror polished, some think they're the same thing but there's a clue in the name mirror polished!
If you want it quite shiny you can often just get at it with Peek or whatever, no need to sand (or not much). There's nothing wrong with that finish at all if that's what you're after.
Mirror polishing is a whole lot more work, especially by hand. You need to get rid of most if not all marks and high and low spots. Getting rid of low spots tends to take the time. In most cases you obviously want to keep the same profile and need to be careful of flat spots on curves etc.
So for sanding I've been using 800 grit to start with as the parts have been in good condition, if they weren't you'd probably need to start courser. You basically want to use as fine a grit as you can get away with or you end up spending needless time removing sanding marks plus you normally want to take as little metal off as you can.
You can always go courser if you're not shifting enough metal but not the other way around, once you've started course that's it. So start fine and go from there. Same with polishing if you have multiple grades.
Keep the paper wet from a bowl of water with a drop or two of washing up liquid.
Then it's just elbow grease. Low areas show up easy enough as the sanding misses them so you see patches of untouched metal. You needs to sand the surrounding until those areas have gone.
If you're using 800 or even 1000 to start with then it doesn't take much work on the other grades, I have 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 papers. I've also some 3M polishing cloths, look and feel like J Cloths, nice on round surfaces and I have 400 to 8000 in those but you don't need them.
If you have deep scratches then you're sometimes better off improving them rather than removing them. Like my bar sleeve, there are still some marks but they're not obvious enough to make it worth completely removing and taking a chunk of metal off in the process.
Even with mirror polishing there's levels of it. If you want it absolutely perfect then you'd shine a light across it to show up any swirls and keep going until they're gone. But for parts that will go on a bike I'm not sure there's much point going that far.
Then it's polish. I prefer Peek over Autosol and prefer a terry cloth to apply & polish then buff with microfibre. I've recently bought Final Finish that has a very fine cut and is also a sealant. As with any polishing don't mix cloths up, don't want Peek on a cloth you're going to use for Final Finish. So a plastic bag with your polish and it's cloths isn't a bad idea.
Oh, I found that all purpose cleaner does a pretty good job at cleaning hands if you haven't worn gloves.
That's basically it, nothing clever or secret about it, just takes time. But once you get going it quite a rewarding thing to do, although once you've done a bike's worth the reward isn't as great and you're glad you're done!
Might be getting a second hand stem for the flat bar setup, if I do and I polish it I'll take pics of the steps.
Wow thanks for such a comprehensive explanation! I have a lightly pitted SR Custom stem that I went to work on last night- it had a few deep scratches so started 400 grit but had to go back down to 180 grit and work up through to 1200. I've now started with a 3 stage polishing kit that i had bought a while ago in my drill (this one http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk ... g-kit-8pc/ ).
I'll see how it goes and post pics. Reading a few threads on Caswell plating forums it seems many people do not use any wet and dry but go straight to buffing wheels and compounds. Not sure if I'd have got all the scratches out that way but sounds like its possible and a lot quicker . I think these greaseless compounds can be used prior to polishing compounds http://www.caswellplating.com/buffing-p ... -grit.html
I'll see how it goes and post pics. Reading a few threads on Caswell plating forums it seems many people do not use any wet and dry but go straight to buffing wheels and compounds. Not sure if I'd have got all the scratches out that way but sounds like its possible and a lot quicker . I think these greaseless compounds can be used prior to polishing compounds http://www.caswellplating.com/buffing-p ... -grit.html
Skynet
Senior Retro Guru
I have a bench grinder and all the mops and soaps just not set up yet, read/watched about it but not tried it so can't really say much. For example not sure how careful you need to be using a course mop/soap to remove scratches, is it easy to go too far.
I've never used 180 grit, 400 is as course as I've gone but I've not had any really bad condition parts. Using 400 dry gives more cut, but clogs quickly, used it that way a few times.
Anyway it's not rocket science just normally takes longer than you hoped it would, but even by hand most things, cranks being the obvious exception, can be done in an evening or so.
I've never used 180 grit, 400 is as course as I've gone but I've not had any really bad condition parts. Using 400 dry gives more cut, but clogs quickly, used it that way a few times.
Anyway it's not rocket science just normally takes longer than you hoped it would, but even by hand most things, cranks being the obvious exception, can be done in an evening or so.
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