Yokes

Neil · Mar 14, 2007

Hi,

Just had my Commando yokes shotblasted by a local firm in preparation for some spray hammerite. The finish is fairly rough but completely free of the old paint and crap that was originally on.

Would sanding it down to a smoother finish yield better results with the spray hammerite or would this paint cover any imperfections up?

Cheers,

Neil

79x100 · Mar 14, 2007

The paint will cover some imperfections but I think that you would be well advised to dress it down a bit. Not to the extent of polishing it but simply to take the "edge" off of the blasted finish.

Did you discover any extra numbers on the headstock ?

Coco · Mar 14, 2007

No intention to hijack here, but I'm about to send out my triple trees for a chrome plate. Is there any kind of prep work I need to do like a polish or sand/bead blast to smooth the surface before plating?

tpeever · Mar 14, 2007

Coco said:
No intention to hijack here, but I'm about to send out my triple trees for a chrome plate. Is there any kind of prep work I need to do like a polish or sand/bead blast to smooth the surface before plating?

Just paint with Rustoleum Aluminum. Looks great.

Coco · Mar 15, 2007

tpeever said:
Coco said:

No intention to hijack here, but I'm about to send out my triple trees for a chrome plate. Is there any kind of prep work I need to do like a polish or sand/bead blast to smooth the surface before plating?

Click to expand...

Just paint with Rustoleum Aluminum. Looks great.

I'm going for a bit more of a "bling" factor. I need chromy goodness. 8)

Neil · Mar 15, 2007

79x100 said:
Did you discover any extra numbers on the headstock ?

The top yoke has M&B ANG 064084 stamped into it whereas the bottom yoke reads ANG 064083.

CommandoRoadster · Mar 16, 2007

Coco said:
No intention to hijack here, but I'm about to send out my triple trees for a chrome plate. Is there any kind of prep work I need to do like a polish or sand/bead blast to smooth the surface before plating?

Quick! Somebody stop him! His next post is gonna be on how to extend the forks,and install a sissy bar! :lol:

Cheers,
Bruce

kommando · Mar 18, 2007

My Combat came with chromed yokes, must have looked good all those years ago. Now they are a mess and the chrome is lifting badly, loads of work to do on them before powder coating back to grey.

Coco · Mar 19, 2007

CommandoRoadster said:
Coco said:

No intention to hijack here, but I'm about to send out my triple trees for a chrome plate. Is there any kind of prep work I need to do like a polish or sand/bead blast to smooth the surface before plating?

Click to expand...

Quick! Somebody stop him! His next post is gonna be on how to extend the forks,and install a sissy bar! :lol:

Cheers,
Bruce

Sissy bar? No f****** way. No fork extensions either.

Maybe I'm the only guy that dosn't like the stock silver/grey paintjob on the yokes? :?: I think it looks cheap and crappy so I'm going for a chrome or nickel plate.

Now if I could only fit a 230 tire on the back.....................

I'm kidding.

tpeever · Mar 19, 2007

I am not really a fan of chrome and it sounds like several others on the forum aren't either. I prefer polished aluminum infinitely more. The silver paint on my yokes is close to original and doesn't look cheap. One day I would like to install a set of those billet alloy yokes as sold by CNW but I haven't saved up enough cash yet!!. Have you looked into these? They are pretty pricey if I remember correctly. I would just hate to see you get too carried away with the chrome!!

Coco · Mar 19, 2007

tpeever said:
I am not really a fan of chrome and it sounds like several others on the forum aren't either. I prefer polished aluminum infinitely more. The silver paint on my yokes is close to original and doesn't look cheap. One day I would like to install a set of those billet alloy yokes as sold by CNW but I haven't saved up enough cash yet!!. Have you looked into these? They are pretty pricey if I remember correctly. I would just hate to see you get too carried away with the chrome!!

Yes, I have looked into them but I have that ridiculous plastic dash to deal with and don't know how to mount it to the CNW triple trees. Besides, a centre console and instrument buckets will hide that nice billet set of triple trees so it almost seems pointless to spend that kind of cash if you can't see them.

They were unavailable and now they are again. They are around $600 US for the polished ones.

I too prefer a polished aluminum to chrome as well so I might get the stock triple trees nickel plated instead. I still would prefer chrome to the stock paint but I think I'll go with Nickel.

tpeever · Mar 19, 2007

Coco said:
tpeever said:

I am not really a fan of chrome and it sounds like several others on the forum aren't either. I prefer polished aluminum infinitely more. The silver paint on my yokes is close to original and doesn't look cheap. One day I would like to install a set of those billet alloy yokes as sold by CNW but I haven't saved up enough cash yet!!. Have you looked into these? They are pretty pricey if I remember correctly. I would just hate to see you get too carried away with the chrome!!

Click to expand...

Yes, I have looked into them but I have that ridiculous plastic dash to deal with and don't know how to mount it to the CNW triple trees. Besides, a centre console and instrument buckets will hide that nice billet set of triple trees so it almost seems pointless to spend that kind of cash if you can't see them.

They were unavailable and now they are again. They are around $600 US for the polished ones.

I too prefer a polished aluminum to chrome as well so I might get the stock triple trees nickel plated instead. I still would prefer chrome to the stock paint but I think I'll go with Nickel.

Yeah, I suppose the CNW triple trees are really designed to be run without instruments so they are in full view. Do you really need a tach and speedo? I have thought about ditching mine. If you decide you need instruments, a really nice touch is to use the earlier alloy instrument buckets rather than the later black ones. Let me know if you find a source for these. I'd like to switch my black ones out at some point.

Coco · Mar 20, 2007

tpeever said:
Coco said:

tpeever said:

I am not really a fan of chrome and it sounds like several others on the forum aren't either. I prefer polished aluminum infinitely more. The silver paint on my yokes is close to original and doesn't look cheap. One day I would like to install a set of those billet alloy yokes as sold by CNW but I haven't saved up enough cash yet!!. Have you looked into these? They are pretty pricey if I remember correctly. I would just hate to see you get too carried away with the chrome!!

Click to expand...

Yes, I have looked into them but I have that ridiculous plastic dash to deal with and don't know how to mount it to the CNW triple trees. Besides, a centre console and instrument buckets will hide that nice billet set of triple trees so it almost seems pointless to spend that kind of cash if you can't see them.

They were unavailable and now they are again. They are around $600 US for the polished ones.

I too prefer a polished aluminum to chrome as well so I might get the stock triple trees nickel plated instead. I still would prefer chrome to the stock paint but I think I'll go with Nickel.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I suppose the CNW triple trees are really designed to be run without instruments so they are in full view. Do you really need a tach and speedo? I have thought about ditching mine. If you decide you need instruments, a really nice touch is to use the earlier alloy instrument buckets rather than the later black ones. Let me know if you find a source for these. I'd like to switch my black ones out at some point.

It is the law up here to have instruments, turn signals ect. If the bike came with such things when it was bought new, the bike has to have those parts on.

Either way, once the bike is inspected (I bought it out of province) I'm dithing the rear signal lights in favour of a two light rear stop light and I'm wiring each seperate light to act as a signal flasher.

Regarding the black instrument buckets, I'm just getting mine polished when I get my lower fork legs and calipers done so they will be nicer looking like the older ones.

fastback · Mar 20, 2007

I had mine chomed, they look great. 8) The plater did the polishing. I would suggest you be very specific and picky about the masking of threads and watch clearances for the bearings. I've got pre '72 older style yokes.
P.

Coco · Mar 20, 2007

fastback said:
I had mine chomed, they look great. 8) The plater did the polishing. I would suggest you be very specific and picky about the masking of threads and watch clearances for the bearings. I've got pre '72 older style yokes.
P.

Those are good points.

I havn't ripped my forks apart yet but I was assuming the top and bottom yokes detach from the steer tube?

I have a 1975 MKIII.

I should revisist my parts book/manual and have a closer look at the exploded drawing.

Yokes

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