Polishing. An admission.

Me-109 · Post by **Me-109** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:21 am

Hi. My name's Graeme. I like to polish. I like shiny bits. Well, ok, it's not so much the polishing - I feel filthy afterwards. I wonder why I do it. but the buzz from having so much bling - there's nothing like it. Call it selfish; call it perverse; call it what you like - I dare you not to take pride in your mirror finish when you've done it yourself.

So what if the family's not seen you all weekend 'cos you've been in a dusty haze, locked inside your lock-up, shed or previously-pristine workshop? Look at that

work of art!

So what do I have to do to get my brown, rusty-looking headers back to shiny silver? Do I need to dig out my polishing mops and cutting compounds or will that scratch too much? Will my gloves still fit if I have to autosol them? I know there's some Polishers Anonymous members on here! Come on - stand up and be counted!

Adski · Post by **Adski** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:21 pm

Well if you evere feel the need to practice your art feel free on mine!
I'm quite the opposite. I love having a nice clean shiny bike, but I simply cannot be arsed to do it.

Ruffy · Post by **Ruffy** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:09 pm

I love keeping my bike clean Adski,it's the bit inbetween gettin it dirty again that's the problem,it almost turns me into a fair weather rider but i don't mind that at the mo with all the crap on the roads and the salt as well.

oyster · Post by **oyster** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:47 pm

One easy answer is to buy a second set of headers and buff them and then swap whenever required. Full set green/blue copounds required. Well worth it.

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:43 pm

Graeme ... give in and buy a Harley ... you know you want to ... think of the hours of "fulfilment" ... or just let it go, dude ... BMWs were meant to be ridden by proper sorts and take on a brown hue around the header pipe area ... (says he having just dropped his and looking for an excuse) ... H.

Huw · Post by **Huw** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:58 pm

A word of warning, dears

There are several gentlemen (??????) in here to whom the idea of polishing/cleaning and generally adding "bling" is nigh on an addiction. Those of us who have managed to avoid this condition stay well away and snigger behind our hands - but really we sooooooo feel inadequate! If you want to spot the main culprit, see which chappie books out of the B&B in the morning with panniers that you could safely eat off!!

Ride the damn things and when they look shabby it's time to trade in for a nice new shiney big-bucks Beemer!

Me-109 · Post by **Me-109** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:42 pm

C'mon guys, that's not the results I expected! I've done the streetfighter thing and polished my fingers to the bone, then wore out a drill or two whilst keeping on top of bare rims, billet yokes, rearsets etc.

I just think I owe it to my bike (and its resale value, such as it is

) to keep it looking the way it should. That's not the way BMW intended, since they obviously intended the owner to come along for open wallet surgery whilst buying some new headers!

Lee, I'll communicator you tomorrow to discuss your unfortunate incident, thereby saving you further public embarrassment.

....and

what (who?) do you take me for - buying a Hardly Ableson! What kind of forum is this?

Boxered · Post by **Boxered** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:43 pm

Or, if your name is Richard, run your bike till it runs out of petrol and buy another

well, he seems to buy one for every tankfull that I use

Steve[/i]

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:59 am

Where's Bob?
com'on, stop lurking...

Boxadog 2000 · Post by **Boxadog 2000** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:20 pm

Ok here goes

Start with wire wool and solvol autosol.

Then just autosol

About 1 hour per side.

No pain no gain

There aint no easy option.

PBBoxer · Post by **PBBoxer** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:24 pm

One hour per side????
That's bloody 150 miles plus of fun down the drain man!

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:19 pm

Dawg!!! That is the cleanest bike I have EVER seen! Lotta pride there ... good work. How many miles and what year on that?

Boxadog 2000 · Post by **Boxadog 2000** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:39 pm

2000 on a W plate sold it a while ago at 29000 miles.

The bling machine more stainless steel than you could shake a stick at

Now have a very rare red GS1200

Me-109 · Post by **Me-109** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:32 pm

Cheers Bob, I knew you'd turn up eventually

Now, where do you get those rubber tank protector / leg gripper thingys? Seen those on a couple of bikes but not found any listed anywhere. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place?

jivebiker · Post by **jivebiker** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:01 am

Its a well known fact that clean, shiny bikes get stolen more than filthy ones. I always park next to a clean one.

Guess what mine is.

Worrying about the resale value is no good if your bike is in the back of some scumbags van.

I've got photos of mine when it was shiny.... for insurance purposes!