Another tip if ya aint picked up on it.....apply the polish with a rubber glove and rub with the glove. Only use ur rags to clean off n buff to shine. Tip from a body man that hangs out here sometimes.
Yes! I figured this one out doing the very tight areas. The brake calipers and tappet covers come to mind. Surprising how well it works.
I use one flannel to remove polish and a second new or quite clean flannel for final buff ..
Once buff flannel starts loading up I start using it for polish removal and grab a fresh one for buffing .. I go thru 4 or 5 in one good clean up .
Smooth nytril glove to apply polish . Often these are blue ...
I have a JoAnn Fabrics store a couple miles from home. I think some flannel fabric sounds like a great idea - especially some clearance stuff. Old Hanes undershirts work well, they’re super soft t-shirts. But it gets tiresome cutting them up to get rid of seams and elastic necks.
All in all the process has been… educational to say the least. What started as simply trying to make the dull foot pegs match the rest of the bike turned into a full on polishing marathon. I simply didn’t know how much better
all the aluminum could look. I’m pretty much done polishing, and have about 20 hours into it over the past week. Plenty of beer and comfort breaks, so I’m not claiming 20 hours of hard core scrubbing. But definitely that much time “taking my time.” It’s labor intensive, but very rewarding too. Also a great way to just kinda learn the bike.
Was able to discover a loosely mounted headlight that probably wouldn’t have lasted long rattling around in the housing. So I got to learn how that comes apart and goes together. Turned out there was a tiny gap between the headlight and the retainer ring, and the retainer ring had bottomed out. Possibly a wrong lamp, it’s a sealed one piece unit without changeable bulb. Had some 3/16” thick rubber sheet that I used to fabricate a large gasket for in-between the lamp and the backing plate, which essentially moved the lamp forward a bit - just enough for the retaining ring to screw the lamp firmly into it’s properly oriented position. Trim ring then tightened firmly to the retainer, set screws both lined up, seems to be happy and tight now. At least until I shop for an upgrade, I think an LED head would be an excellent and safe addition.
As promised, some pics of the Dog. (Posted in Show and Shine also). Thanks so much to everyone that’s been helpful with tips, answering questions, and just being welcoming and complimentary. I’m really forming a bond with my Big Dog, and I really haven’t even ridden it recreationally yet. Hopefully Michigan’s weather holds out for a few more weeks so I can start putting miles on it. Going to be tough to lay it up this winter.
