Polished front forks

Triumph Thunderbird Sport

Ok, I’m going to write up some general stuff about the bike and pass on any maintenance tips I think are worth sharing.

This bike came supplied with polished front forks. Ramoto had obviously taken the trouble to strip the bike and had the forks professionally polished. This removed the lacquer finish because on a 9 year old bike it would have been showing signs of wear and tear. Also, worn lacquer can make things worse as any corrosion that occurs underneath the lacquered finish has the effect of lifting the lacquer and trapping moisture which then causes more corrosion. So it’s all been stripped off.

Here is a photo of the front fork assembly:

Now I like to take advice, so I asked the guys about how best to look after the polished front forks. They told me that any good metal polish would be fine, even Brasso, but that I should NOT use Autosol! Apparently Autosol contains ammonia which is bad for aluminium.

So off I went to do some research online, looking for a good metal polish and hoping to find one that was specifically designed for polished aluminium surfaces. Well I found what I was looking for, it was Meguiars Motorcycle All Metal Polish. I paid £9.99 for a 6 oz pot.

When it arrived, I could see it was a white paste with no strong odours. According to the instructions, it seemed simple enough to use. Apply, let it dry and polish it off. No great effort required. So I did……. and the results were both instant and fantastic! It lifted the polished surface into a fantastic deep lustre shine. It was so noticable that I showed my son the difference between the two forks before I polished the second one up.

Now I don’t think the difference would show up in a photograph, but it is certainly visible to the eye. I’ll be interested to see how long the shine lasts and what the long term use of the product is like. Might post an update at some future stage.

I also ordered the Meguiars Motorcycle Liquid Wax Wet Look polish. I used that on the petrol tank and whilst it was good and gave a nice shine, I can’t say it particularly popped out to the extent I would actually recommend it over other similar products.

But at least I’m pleased with the All Metal Polish! Sets off the front end of the Triumph Thunderbird Sport a treat.