Yamaha hubs, cleaning up / refinishing

[Colin Jay]

I am doing up a few old Yamaha trail bikes (DT100a, DT2, AT2 to list a few) and want to get the front and rear hubs and brake plates back to as close as possible to their original finish. I have tried having some vapour blasted, but the finish ended not shiney/smooth enough and polishing has made other bits to shiney. Does anyone have an alternate method of cleaning them up, or do I just polish them and then let them sit and oxidise for a few month to remove the shine?

CJ

[mx250]

I leave them shiney  . Bling Hmmmmm .

I read on the American VJMC site someone restoring fork legs back to OEM. IIRC the method was to polish and then use a ScotchBrite pad to take the sheen off - pains taking and directional. And, IIRC, to clear lacquer them.

That would be one method. I think there is another polishing method where the parts are polished with small ball bearings in a drum. I've never seen it and it's hard for me to imagine (doing it without chips important parts etc) but I believe that is the original mass production method. Someone else on this forum might be able to tell you more. You might then be able to find a supplier using this method.

I think there is also variation in OEM from manufacturers according to the original method and standards used.   

[LWC82PE]

What ive done when i want this finish is to hand finish them with black and gold steel wool soap pads and water or scotch brite pads with water. Another thing ive done before is machine/hand polish them, then dunk the part in Septone alloy cleaner for about 10-15 seconds which takes the shine off. Another idea i tried a little while ago was to mirror polish then give the part a really really light dust over with clean glass beads in the bead blaster with the pressure down really low and that gave a really good finish.

[hodaka]

Hi , l firstly have them hydroblasted to a shiny finish . I then have them brightly polished and they are then  "dull down"  polished again with what l believe is a sisal mop on the buff .
I call it sisaled , any polisher will know what this means . You can then clearcoat them if you wish .
I have done dozens of hubs like this and you WILL get the original look . 

[Colin Jay]

Thats guys, there are a few options there that I will give a go and see how it all pans out.

CJ