Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Strip and polish the upper and lower yolks?

anyone ever strip and polish their upper and lower yolks? can it be done the same as the lower forks??

I'm assuming you mean the "yokes".. not the yellow bits inside eggs... they'd be a little hard to polish.

They're just brushed alloy so it shouldn't be any harder than the fork legs to polish - same rules would apply, make sure you cover them with something protective or you'll be out polishing them every month. Triumph do sell a chrome cover for the lower yoke, not sure how good it looks, and it's sure to be expensive.

Just be thankfull you don't have an '02 with the bare sand cast lower yoke... Ugly as sin. I've heard of people sanding them down and polishing them. I'd settle for a machined finish like the upper!! Anything that doesn't look like a bean-bag.

I did the lower. I sanded it then polished it. On the bottom edge you'll notice a casting ridge.......i dremeled that off with a sanding drum first, then wet sanded the whole thing with with a few grades ending with about 1000. Then simichrome polish and finally mothers. I only did the edge tho, wasn't about to remove it to do the while thing, plus the edge is what really counts.

thanks guys! has anyone done the top?

That looks really nice! I like the way the top looks. I'm not a super polished chrome-a-holic, I like the machined look, so if I could find a machine shop to take a few thou off the lower yoke for me, that would be great. Also, since I removed my lower shroud, it looks way too big...

It really looks great! If you want a finer finish, there is a company called Micro Mark that sells 12000 grit cloth. I used to build car models and you can put a mirror finish on almost anything if you work down through the grits, using the stuff wet. I've done it on furniture and all sorts of paint but I've never see this grit anywhere else but Micro Mark.

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That looks damn fine! Maybe I'll work up the gumption to do mine this winter.

Yep, guess I should have done mine last winter when I had the front end apart. Alas, I left a project for the dark months. Also had some new ideas. One of these days I might get the projects done in my place. Yeah right. I am looking at picking up another project. News to come.

That looks greay Dale. WAYYYYYY better then the Barney Rubble look!

remember tho, i didn't do the top face, only the edge. I wasn't about to pull the clamp to do that. Besides, i was really only concerned with the part that was always visable and looked like crap. This is one of the many things that i have mentioned in the past about HD's whan i have said thier finish quality is so much better. Of course you DO pay for that. But you'd never find such a horribly finished part on a mid to high end HD. What has me confused tho is why triumph did a nice job on the top clamp but didn't see any need to do the same to the bottom?! If they did things like this and polished the front wheel of the SM and used polished fork legs, no tank seam, cleaned up the wiring at the bars,and a few other things like that, i for one would be willing to pay a couple grand more for the bike. It wouldn't take a lot to make them far nicer and bring them up to the same level as HD. And i'd have it all done for me if it wasn't so much trouble. I'd like to be able to buy the bike like that instead of having to tear things apart and find a place to do the work and all that.

Hey Dale

While I see your point, I disagree with it. In my opinion Triumph have done a good job of making a great bike that's still afordable enough for the masses. It's a real balancing act that means there's more of our bikes out there on the streets and therefore more likelyhood of quality aftermarket parts. It also leaves lots of small jobs for perfectionists like yourself (and me, I like to think) to "finish" our bikes so they really stand out from the crowd. I'd much prefer to have an individual bike with the pleasure taken from "doing it yourself". No matter how good T made our bikes there'd still be things to complain about... "that gold pin-striping is just the WRONG shade of gold for me!"

I see yours too. Theres no pleasing everyyone and triumph i'm sure does the market research enough to know where thier niche is. I'm just saying for those like me they'd do good to up the quality level some and raise the price. It would be nice if they coulds at least offer a few different levels of the same model like HD does. As to the small jobs it leaves, a few years ago i'd have been all over every one of em. But at 53 i'm just too lazy to bother with most of it. I do a few things like that clamp only because it wasn't just a improvment in my eyes, it was downright necassary. looked like ****.

I am extremely happy with the quality of my bike and I am very happy Triumph does not offer bikes like HD does. Then they'd be all over the road like HDs are now and there would be nothing unique about them.

Perhaps you should have bought an HD instead of settling on these inferior Triumphs?

Who said anything about making triumphs like HD?! I'm talking quality level. Has zero to do with uniquness.

How does that make a triumph like a HD?! How would anything such as giving you more options have anything to do with making a speedmaster or america like HD? It's like going to mc donalds and ordering some food. Yea, you can order food at jack in the box too, but a jumbo jack still tastes different than a big mac. I don't see a thing i said that has anything to do with making a triumph more like a HD. Are you saying a higher quality speedmaster or the option top buy one or the other will make the bike a HD? What has any of this got to do with a triumph motorcycle being more like a HD? Triumph offers saddlebags, so does HD. Does the fact triumph offers them make a speedy the same as a HD I gotta say, i'm truly confused as to what you are insinuating. Offering different levels of the same model is done by hoards of bike and car makers. How does this make a triumph a HD?

Im going to have to agreee and side with....both of you...I see what dazco's saying, there are a lot of things that they could have done to the bike to make it better without costing any more money. For instance the lower yokes and the lower forks...if anything it prolly cost them More money to paint them and cover it up?? doesnt make any sense...I thin alot of the frusteration is that with our bikes...unless you completely stripping them down, fabricating your Own parts or getting them off of different bikes, thats there's not a lot of things you can do to make them stand out from Other Triumph Americas and speedmasters. It's just hard because all the aftermarket things for our bikes all give a similar look so its hard to stray from the "mainstream". Now...Because our bikes our so much cheaper...(even though yes they are half the engine of a harley and yes we do pull off better from the line)...it does afford us more budget to build up our bikes and try different things...If you buy a Harley I think you'd feel bad tearing stuff up and putting on new parts because then your like " what the hell did I just spend 20 grand on if im taking it off and replacing it with custom parts!"

You see gentlemen...you are both right...and is till like my Triumph better than Harley...I just wish they put out more of a Retro Triumph because I wish I lived in the 1950's....But I digress...I bid you all adu

Sigh.... I will try this one more time. Again, I quote you "It would be nice if they coulds at least offer a few different levels of the same model like HD does"?

Sounds to me like you want Triumph to be more like HD and I do not mean a specific Triumph or a specific HD and I don't believe you meant that either. I stated my opinion as I perceived your comments and that's all. I insinuated nothing.

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Offering different levels of the same model is done by hoards of bike and car makers. How does this make a triumph a HD

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Thank you! It does not and that was my original point.

Ryan, we need to get a big group ride together man, you need to see some of our bikes

no no dont misunderstand me...but most of the bikes that look soo unique parts from "triumph"...the owners went else where....so my point is that triumph doesnt provide a large variety of aftermarket parts

Now THAT I can agree with!

hmmm how do you forge iron?

They do make a chrome cover for it. But i think it's around a hundred bucks, and i'd rather have it polished than covered because the cover is going to LOOK like a cover.

no no he means the hollow piece underneath...boy o boy...i have so many ideas for what they should make...new dash flush mounted perhaps...or a headlight nacelle? you all know Ive been wanting a darn nacelle for 3 months! Hey..not to start a fight again but how come Harley' engines are all chrome covered and ours arent?

Hey Itlnstalian, Take a look at the link below. It goes to some postings and picks. I polished my fork tubes and top clamp, I had a lower triple clamp made out of 6061 billet, No CNC stuff manually cut on a mill.

http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...=true#Post11430

Hey Terry...How did you polish all that? I knew that the lower forks and the yoke could be done...but the shrouds too? did you just keep sanding them down than high speed buff?

I have the Ma's signal relocation bracket, and it covers most of the underside of that bottom yoke. That would be a REAL easy thing to make. Just cut out a piece of aluminum to shape and polish the crap out of it, and bolt it up using the holes in the yoke itself.

hmm im relocating mine now...I made 2 c clamps and Im attaching them to my triumph crash bars...so we'll see how that look