More Polishing Fun!

[John Rinker]

Here's a fun, rainy-day diversion. Recently, I had to repair a bar-end shifter and when I took off the mounts I began looking at the shiny silver under the worn coating. I decided to remove the stock coating on the Shimano mounts and ended up with some very shiny new mounts. 

Cheers, John

[Patrick Moore]

John: Lovely. I’ve got an Ultegra R8100 crankset in anodized black waiting for shining up. (Someone posted a photo of a similar crank that he’d painstakingly polished to Superbe Pro shininess.) What do you charge?

Back in the real world, years ago someone sold me cheaply a Shimano Dura Ace centerpull brakeset (I was told that Shimano made these for 6 months in 1976 before switching to Campy caliper copies; were they Tourneys with a different model name etched into the metal?) that he’d painstakingly and lovingly polished to a full-moon-like shine. Really lovely. I wish I’d kept them.

[Ted Durant]

On Monday, October 20, 2025 at 7:01:14 PM UTC-5 John Rinker wrote:

 I decided to remove the stock coating on the Shimano mounts and ended up with some very shiny new mounts. 

Reminds me of the SunTour BarCons on Grant's Pal Jeff's bike. As some of you might recall, Pal Jeff is an ironworker. The palms of his hands could probably smooth off the edges of a brick. His Riv had mustache bars with BarCons on the end, and they were the shiniest bits of aluminum I've ever seen on a bike.

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA

[Gordon Stam]

I took a buffer to these brass wing bolts and shined them up a bit. Not much though, given the surface finish, but they catch the light a little more now. 

BTW these work really well for rack bolts, back there under the seat where there's not a lot of room for a tool ( I removed the pump that's usually back there in the way for the picture).

[Michael]

I like this...could you share the tools you used and your process?  

[Steve]

Here's a link to a piece by John Watson (The Radavist) covering his technique for stripping an anodized a seat post and then polishing the unfinished aluminum. I've followed his steps with a few small bits and was pleased with the results. I do use a bench mounted grinder with a buffing wheel for the final polish.

https://theradavist.com/tutorial-how-to-remove-anodizing-and-polish-bicycle-components

Steve in AVL

[John Dewey]

Here's a link to the best polishing materials I've ever used—and I'm a serial polisher. Had to join Polishers Anonymous in an attempt to break me of the habit. Didn't work.

Jock

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/supplies/sanding-and-polishing/sandpaper-and-finishing-papers/micro-mesh-touch-up-stick/?mtm_source=google&mtm_medium=cpc&mtm_campaign=%7c+GOO+%7c+SHOP+%7c+BR+%7c+BrandUS&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=412050672&gbraid=0AAAAADcBv9iMJbvbXtlaS6eqmXeBimHpQ&gclid=CjwKCAjwpOfHBhAxEiwAm1SwEjOB2QFQ6vd-XQDNBnUB1Ru4tuO-5vfUF5JDGoD8-yD8KplHHl-qixoCMBYQAvD_BwE

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b0b846b0-db71-46c5-8e4b-4b938122ac14n%40googlegroups.com.

[George Schick]

Anyone here ever tried using Simichrome polish? And then finishing with a coating like Protectaclear to keep it from oxidizing?  It's worked well for me.

[John Rinker]

Hey Michael,

Others have more experience to share about this, but here's what I did.

I used a Dremel with a wire brush on the lowest speed to remove the remaining Shimano coating. Then, briefly, I used a 1200-grit wet paper to smooth things out. I also used a Dremel polishing pad with compound briefly. Finally, I finished it off with Mother's aluminum polish for the shine. 

It was a quick job, and I suppose if I wanted a mirror finish, I could spend more time with the wet paper. 

I have another set of bar ends that I'll try some of this other fine advice with and then compare the results.

Cheers, John

[Garth]

I've done a couple of Salsa Shaft seatposts. My neighbor has a sandblaster at this store and he strips them for $10 cash. That's the hardest part and I just can't do the chemical approach.

I then use some 3M 1500 and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to smooth off the surface, by hand. Finished with a rag and Mothers and/or Blue Magic. BM shines a little better and lasts longer. I have found that that finishes can vary from brands of posts. The Salsa was very micro-dimpled(from the bead blasted anodising I suppose) and to attempt to make that smooth would risk removing too much if I used a heavier grit to do so. A mirror finish like a vintage Campy Super Record isn't going to happen, but they still look good enough for me. If I do a crankset I'd get some polishing ball for the curved recesses.

On a more simple note, DT shifters are easy, and vintage Specialized hubs are too, at least the middle portion is. I don't try to do the sides or spoke holes, on the bike at least. I could do them off but that's a bit much, I just want so shine while I ride, and that's the middle, visible portion. :)