chrome or polished front lower forks.

[carnut108]

I m an old fart and not a big fan of the blacked out look of my 2005 . I've already had the front and rear rims polished to a chrome like shine and IMHO they look much better. I now want to have the front lower forks polished but I see there is some rubber on there that of course can not be polished.

Is this rubber piece some kind of dust cover , is it necessary? I will be polishing everything on the engine from it flat black look to a polished look. I like bling. Is there an aftermarket lower chrome fork cover. I did a search and came up with nothing.

 

[davesax36]

You'll have to take the forks completely apart for chroming. that rubber thing is a dust cover. You'll also need to remove the seals and other stuff. It's all pretty easy to do, just have a bucket handy to catch the oil. Sean's got a video on here of his daughter taking a set of forks apart. No lower covers that I'm aware of, but you might be able to find dust covers from another cruiser that might fit our forks.

 

[one2dmax]

I have chromed lower 2005 fork lowers on hand! Got new seals and even new bug guards if you need them too! Easiest way to get them off (or on) is to warm them up with a hair dryer or heat gun. Even have some racetech internals if you want to upgrade while you're at it!

 

[carnut108]

Sean
My forks have new seals and it looks like new dust guards. I already have the progressive springs upgrade. I've tried paint remover but it does not work, I suspect these are powder coated from the factory. I'm going to get an estimate from the guy who polished the rims. His work comes out looking like chrome. What do you want for your forks with mine in exchange ?

 

[fmcandrew]

If chrome is out of budget, then you could polish to mirror finish (I've seen chrome-like results on this forum that are amazing), but after that, to protect the finish from oxidation you should coat with something...paint or powder, either will keep that shine. Chrome, however, will be the most durable...

If you have concerns about disassembly/reassembly, check out Sean's video...real easy and the parts to reassemble can be found at local hardware store...