got some 960 cranks that need doing what do you reckon i need to do to get them spick and span?
Bruce

Just finished mine-4 days it took!!About 10 hours of 400 grade wet and dry,then 800,then 1200 and finally autosol and a buffing pad.
And then you have to keep doing it….forever.

If they are aluminium try putting them into caustic soda for 10 mintues. Dissolves the top layer and removes any anodising. If the caustic mixture is lukewarm it improves the reaction time. Then wet and dry paper for an hour, finishing off with a polishing mop and Brasso. I use a Dremel for polishing – small enought to get into the nooks.

was thinking of doing this to some old XT’s, how do the XTR Jones ones i’ve seen prevent oxidisation after polishing, i guessed they were just laquered? or left bare??

With the 960’s just ride them, eventually they polish-up nicely!

Pay a metal polisher £20 to do them for you? 🙂

IMAG0027 by ten_sim, on Flickr

Did an old cheapo one on the commuter. Took all the paint off with an electric sander then just buffed up with some metal polish. Still took around an hour.

Not tried it on the RF Next Carbons on the race bike….

If they are aluminium try putting them into caustic soda for 10 mintues. Dissolves the top layer and removes any anodising. If the caustic mixture is lukewarm it improves the reaction time

I could recommend not doing this! I got the ano off no bother with this method but must have affected the hardness or size or something of the splines. Crank kept creaking and slowing slipping off the axle… Nice shiney crank but useless.

Once I got the ano off I just used polishing mops and paste and got the cranks nice and shiney after a few hours. Had no problems with oxidation after but they were kept in a dry environment.

Is there a point to stripping the anodizing off?
there are a few companies that claim to be able to spray a chrome / polished alumnium effect onto various surfaces.
http://www.chromespray.co.uk/flashchrome.html

I think the idea is to end up with a finish that can’t be scuffed off by shoes – applying anything to the cranks will just leave them open to it happening again. 960’s seem very prone to this due to their shape.

that crome finish is a paint on effect, won’t last to long. I have a set of 960’s polished and to be honest the only thing you really can do is just re-polish when they get tatty. Looked at other options (work at a plating and anodising place) and they just are not feasable.