Triumphrat

03cruiser

Good Morning, I have been looking into adding a backrest on my '03 Speedy but the $200+ price from Triumph seems a tad high to this Air Force SNCO. So, I went to a local motorcycle swap meet last weekend hoping to find one. Guess what? Seems that "Motorcycle Swap Meet" here in Southern Illinois actually means "Sell your old Harley Parts for WAY Too Much". There wasn't one non-Harley part to be had in the area.
So, being the type of person who loves a challenge, and has a "modification" genome solidly planted in my DNA, I picked up a complete backrest assembly (brackets/tower/pad) for an unknown year/model of Harley. It's in really good shape and the pad is perfect. Thankfully the only Harley logo was on the back of the pad mount and was easily removed.
I do have a question, and I thought I would poll all of you extremely knowledgeable people. What is the best way, besides sanding, to remove the chrome? The chrome on the assembly is in really good shape but I want to black it out to match my Speedy. Are there any "chemical peels" or the like I can use? Any help is greatly appreciated.

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bog_rat

I'm not really an expert, but I don't know of any chemical method for removing chrome. Chrome is very hard stuff, so mechanical removal will be hard work. If it's well chromed, then it would probably be best to key the serface with abrasives, and then paint over it. If you really need to take it all off, then you're probably best taking it to an engineering shop. They will either use shot blasting, machine it off, or maybe use ultrasound if they are that advanced. On the other hand it may be worth using heat as in theory at least, the chrome should expand at a diferent rate to the base metal, and may become unstuck.

Like I say, I am no expert, so someone else might have a better plan!