CBG Workshop
RUBBING DOWN CHROME SEEMS ODD, given the beauty of it when in nice condition and the cost of getting any part chromed in the first place. But the silencers on the R100S are heavily pitted with too much rust for even I to face, so it has to go – and that means rubbing it down.
It also feels dangerous, so I wore my spray respirator. I haven’t looked up how noxious chrome dust is, as I’m not sure I wish to know; a vacuous mind has, for most of my life, been too often my default excuse.
Chrome was designed as a protection, with the gorgeous finish a pleasant second benefit. But it is a hard protection and is damn hard to rub down! I’m lucky enough to have a compressor out; with no primer and using spray cans I felt I was cheating somewhat, but they looked alright. As I said that, they were already marking just fitting them to the bike, so I went over the silencers with a tougher paint, as they get less hot. I made a right mess as VHT doesn’t like being painted over and had to rub it all down twice, starting again. But now they’re on, looking alright and ready for the hopeful start-up – much happier with that. Blame the black finish on last month’s Moto Guzzi article; I’ve spent far too long looking at Le Mans fitted with black Conti pipes!
