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Hi,
Just bought myself used Claris cranks, for my do-it-all Charge Plug.
I'm a bit of a oldschool and prefer silver stuff on my bike.
Therefore thought I will give it a good polish to add some bling.
Crank is still on the way to me but already started tinkering how to strip the paint (?) out before buffing.
I believe it is painted, not anodised...
Cheers!
I.
The easiest way would be buy some silver cranks, stripping those will be a fair bit of elbow grease, and you will need to keep doing it, as they will then oxidise.
Easiest thing I've found is to take it to your local strippers/anodisers/powder coaters and bung them a fiver for them to dip/chemically strip it. Not sure if it is powder coat of some type but very hard to remove with DIY chemicals.
Thanks!
Valid point.
Silver, compact cranks, for Octalink...
Found some new but that will see me about 50 quid lighter. These I've bought for 8 quid.
And just preemptively, not interested in cranks with external bottom bracket bearings. They are rubbish.
Last Octa seen me through around 15k miles in various conditions.
Cheers!
I.
I know one person who's polished up a set of cranks, just used fine wet and dry and a bit of patience followed by autosol, the result looks really good.
They don't really need sealing as unlike rust, aluminium oxide is harder than aluminium so naturally forms a protective layer.
Can’t argue with a £42 saving like.
Used wire wool to strip my black Deore cranks (and a Dremel with a wire brush fitting for the awkward bits), although I didn't polish them just left it raw.
It does take some elbow grease mind.
Wet and dry, start with 240 grit and work your way up to 1200.
Then use polishing wheels/ mops and soaps if you have them. This will bring them up to a mirror finish.
Finnish with auto sol or mothers metal polish.
Don't strip too much off them, they might weaken and then catastrophically fail