does anyone know how i can get my frame back to its original condition even when ive cleaned it it still looks old i was originally going to powdercoat it black but im having big second thoughts now and much prefer it to look standard and i dont want to polish it ive been down that road on my aprilia rs 250 and it looks crap unless u polish it every day

Get it anodised? Or you can sand in one direction to get the brushed effect and matt laquer it to stop it corroding?
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it wouldn't be fun if it was easy!

i dont wanna sound stupid but are they anodized silver from the factory then laquered? or bare metal and laquered? is anodizing very involved?

Not entirely sure, thought they were laquered over the bare metal, sure i'll be corrected if wrong!!
Anodising usually requires the frame to be sent away, but you can have whatever colour you like.have seen people do it themselves but it seemed very involved!
Some people spray paint them too?
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it wouldn't be fun if it was easy!

ive been thing of painting i just really fancy the silver metal look, i was reading a older post i might try some sanding a alloy wheel cleaner with a couple of coats of laquer over if that dont work black spray here i come
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if dont fall off every now and then your not trying hard enough

I definetely wouldnt polish it, it would take forever and look awful. How bad is your frame, is it just dirty or is it corroded or scratched?

The frame spars are anodised, I have always used car wheel cleaning acid on the cast sections on mine but you have to be careful as it can discolour the alloy if you leave it to long. it really cleans all the grime and dirt from the cast areas well and brings it up like new, brillo pads do a good job as well.

Any small scratches or areas of corrosion on the anodised sections can be polished out with wet and dry and "re grained" with scotch brite to blend in with the original finish.

its not bad mostly just dirty in the cast sections a a few scratches on the beams and it looks like corrosion all over. it just looks tired and showing its age but i will try what you said i remember trying to clean it 5/6 years ago when i was gonna rebuild it but it didnt come out to well but i think i only used jizer to clean it up
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if dont fall off every now and then your not trying hard enough

Hi Chuck,

I painted my race bike's frame and swing arm and what I have learn is that it doesn't last very long, small stone chips everywhere and it does scratch easily.

The reason I went for paint is because powdercoat weighs a ton and when it chips it is really deep. Originally I wanted to anodize it but there is a 50/50% chance that it might not work on the cast bits. When it doesn't work then you end up with a green looking piece of metal which gives off a green "dust" every time you touch it.

Its all to do with the % silicone inside the metal, some manufacturers use very low % of silicone( Eg. Honda ) and some use a lot. BUT there is no guarantee that it will work, you have to try before you know. Even one frame of the same model bike will work and then the next wont...

If I could give you some advise, try to get it cleaned with vapor blasting and then treat the metal with something for oxidation. I dont know if clear coat over it will be the answer....

Cheers
Mario

thanks i my 2 old race bikes i carnt bare to let them go but the aprilia rs 250 is polished i thought it was a good idea at the time and 30hrs later it looked nice 6 yrs on and it looks bad, and my sv650 race bike was powder coated and where i crashed and gravel rashed the powder coating it looks terrible thats why i want to keep the original look

vapor blasting thats a new one to me il have to read up on that i have got a few things to try now thanks for all the info guys i will let you all know how it goes

Nice info here, perfect timing for my project.

ok well i spent all day trying to bring my frame up to a nice finish, upon closer inspection the main beam rails are corroded and no amount of rubbing back with wet n dry are bringing them back to a nice finish the only way forward is to paint it black, or to buy a new frame!
the alloy wheel cleaner worked wonders on the cast bits they look quite good its just a shame i cannot do anything about the main beams especially as these are the bits you will see the most
now the question is do i paint or powder coat the frame, im thinking paint a nice matt black im not going to be racing it and to be honest its going to be a long time before i can ride again and i doubt she will get ridden much just something nice to look at.
any thoughts would be greatly appricaited

Can you post some pictures of the frame?

I've been working on my forks today, they were in a terrible state with pitting but they look new now after about 4 hours of sandpaper.

Did you start with coarse paper like 220 grit? That stuff rips through corrosion.

my i phones broke and i dont know how to post pics
i was using 800 grit wet n dry from what i can gather its gone thro the anodizing but i might try something a bit courser i got nothing to lose

800 won't remove the corrosion.

Start with 220 followed by 400, 600 & 1500.

The 220 will really go at it but the last three will get it smoothed out. You might end up with a polish effect though...I don't think the brushed/anodized effect would survive 220 grit.

i just tried with some 220 and its gone thro the anodizing its looks nice and shiney
im just gonna rub it back and paint it black, its what i was originally going to do 5/6 years ago
black frames do look nice im my opinion