custom 888R top caps

[DH-Rooky]

Does anybody know a manufacturer selling red anodised top caps for the 888R? The golden ones doesn't look good on my bike.
I tried to search this forum about that but didn't find anything

[Kornphlake]

send your gold ones to an annodizer to have them done in red. Annodizing usually has a minimum price, unless you can find a shop that is planning on annodizing a lot of other custom parts red it would be cheaper to have 2 stock top caps annodized than to have 2 custom top caps machined and annodized.

[jon-boy]

Oh come on, Gold will go with most colours. Unless you have a Yellow bike.....

[DH-Rooky]

very helpfull jon-boy :rolleyes:

@ Kornphlake: I think you're right bringing the original caps to an anodizer would definitely be cheaper than buying some new an sending them to Germany because I think I won't get those caps here.

[JRB]

You can make them silver with some ez off oven cleaner.

[DH-Rooky]

nice idea loco-gringo ;)
I'm thinkin about tryin that

[Zark]

nice idea loco-gringo ;)
I'm thinkin about tryin that

Wear a mask and do it outdoor, that sh*t is gnar!

[Kanter]

Will that work?

[Mackie]

Will that work?
Yeah, it works, but you have to be careful - leave teh stuff on too long and iut will discolor & pit the aluminum.
Just wipe it on, wipe it off repeatedly. Then spray some clear-coat on the caps or they will dull up over time.

Did this in a set of RF cranks back in the day. In retrospect, I should have just stuck with the ugly color.

[JRB]

You gotta wonder why someone was spraying oven cleaner on parts to figure this out. :think:

[MikeD]

You gotta wonder why someone was spraying oven cleaner on parts to figure this out. :think:

Maybe they heat-treated their frame in a greasy old oven...

[Kanter]

I tried it last night and this morning and it turned the caps a dark grey color and now they are really ugly. Thanks for the advise. :( Ill keep working at them.

[Brian HCM#1]

I tried it last night and this morning and it turned the caps a dark grey color and now they are really ugly. Thanks for the advise. :( Ill keep working at them.
I could have told you this.

[Kanter]

Nice... oh well.

Has anyone actually tried this on the caps and got it to work or was this just ...... I think it will work.

[joelsman]

paint them if ya have to.

[Kornphlake]

You might be able to clean them using muriatic pool acid. I don't know if you won't get that same ugly grey or not but you could try it. I know there are recipies for doing annodizing at home, search for annodize and bathtub and you might get some clues on how to clean them up. During a real annodizing process the aluminum is etched with an acid to clean it off before the color is applied. I'm not entirely positive what that acid is though or where to get it. If all else fails you could get some fine grit sand paper and sand off the discoloration where it would be visible, or if you have a dremel tool you should be able to polish the caps with a cotton buffing attatchment and a little bit of rubbing compound.

[JRB]

Nice... oh well.

Has anyone actually tried this on the caps and got it to work or was this just ...... I think it will work.


Never tried it. I have thought about it, but the only thing I really want a different color is a set of road wheels and it sounds like a pain in the ass, so I never did.

Can you polish them with a dremel tool??? I wouldn't say all is lost yet.

edit - cereal boy beat me to it. :D

[Brian HCM#1]

Automotive Mag wheel cleaner will have the same effect on anodizing, I found this out myself 25 years ago when I tried to clean the wheels on my BMX bike.

[Brian HCM#1]

Can you polish them with a dremel tool??? I wouldn't say all is lost yet.

edit - cereal boy beat me to it. :DYep, you can.

[Mackie]

I tried it last night and this morning and it turned the caps a dark grey color and now they are really ugly. Thanks for the advise. :( Ill keep working at them.

Shoulda read my post first :eek:
The oven cleaner must be used SPARINGLY. If not, the alu will discolor (as you found out).

Sorry bout that. Polish them as best as you can (try the dremmel, as others suggest) & then clear coat them.

Good luck.

[KleinMp99]

Yea uhh......spray paint them.....

You can even sand the paint off if you want to chance colors! :eek:

[Kanter]

Sweet, a little Mothers aluminum polish and fine steal wool and bada bling.

[JRB]

Sweet, a little mother aluminum polish and fine steal wool and bada bling.


I'm glad that worked. I felt like an ass after the other trick seemed to fail. Got any pics???

[Kanter]

I suppose you wanna see. I think it matches the crowns, Thompson seatpost, Goodridges, downtube cover, bar caps, and XT nicely.

[JRB]

Turned out really well. :thumb:

[BigHit-Maniac]

That looks a lot better than the stock gold.

N I C E. I may have to do something similiar to mine sometime soon, since they're all scratched up anyway... LOL.

-Matt

[Kanter]

a little closer look. You can see the holes in the aluminum where it is a little poris. My camera sucks

[MikeD]

It's funny that if the caps were plain AL, and he'd had them custom anno'd to gold, he'd be regaled as pimpmaster of the century by 3/4 of the board.

[Transcend]

just get some jewelry polishing stuff like mothers polish. It'll shine those things up like crazy.

dammit, beaten like a redheaded step child

[Kornphlake]

I actually like the grey color...

[Dunshee80]

i'll have pics of black ano'd caps in a few days. should look sick.

[RaID]

wouldnt it be just easier to sandblast the caps to remove the gold?

[Dunshee80]

wouldnt it be just easier to sandblast the caps to remove the gold?
sandblasting usually removes alot of metal, especially if you were trying to remove anodizing

[Kanter]

It was actually pretty easy using aluminum polish and steel wool

[Alloy]

I suppose you wanna see. I think it matches the crowns, Thompson seatpost, Goodridges, downtube cover, bar caps, and XT nicely.

That looks really good, I might do mine tonight... I'm not in to all that fancy smancy gold stuff... Unless of course of my frame was black :D

Also I remember reading somewhere that lye is suppose to also take off anodizing. Maybe oven cleaner is lye?

[Kanter]

I thought I would bring up this old thread.

Has anyone tried this to the red preload adjusters on the 2006 888?

[JRB]

I thought I would bring up this old thread.

Has anyone tried this to the red preload adjusters on the 2006 888?
Can't stand it clashing with the orange, eh???

[bullcrew]

I tried it last night and this morning and it turned the caps a dark grey color and now they are really ugly. Thanks for the advise. :( Ill keep working at them.
I ano parts Kanter!:cool:

[Kanter]

Can't stand it clashing with the orange, eh???


No and ya..... The red just doesnt match anything on my bike. The red on the 888 is a weird red that would be hard to match on any bike.

[Ciaran]

You can make them silver with some ez off oven cleaner.
I haven't done that in years.

And yeah, there is a trick to doing it right and you have to clean and polish afterwards. A total PITA, though.

[in the trees]

I ano parts Kanter!:cool:

bullcrew did my adjusters and foot nuts off my '05 888rc in flat black . I like them much better than the gold. Sorry, no pics, though.

toby

[Kanter]

hmmmm, now I need to decide on a color. Ideas?

[sn0wboarder]

sandblasting usually removes alot of metal, especially if you were trying to remove anodizing Not necessarly, I use glass beads in my sandblaster which are purposly used for aluminum.

[Tattooo]

hmmmm, now I need to decide on a color. Ideas?

Pink, baby**** green?