RAD Hard Chroming - A BIG Shout out!

Quality...

It's sad, but in the thirty-something years I've been involved in the motor trade, I've seen a huge decline in the pride that a tradesman took in his work. What happened to "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right"?

But recently I came across a proper old-school business that restores faith in the ability to repair something properly. 

RAD Hard Chroming.

The Yamaha FZ750 forks were far too pitted to reuse as they were, so I needed them re-chromed. A quick look on Google, and then on various bike forums, was all I needed to see that RAD Hard Chroming were the guys for the job. 

After a quick email for a quote, I had them dropped off at the Brisbane business, and I waited.

They were just too far gone.

I called and spoke with Mark on the phone a week later to see how things were going, and it soon became obvious how many sets of forks were waiting at any one time, let alone all the other hard chroming work they do. These guys are really busy and the number one choice for a very good reason. After a few weeks, I was able to go and pick them up.

I met Mark, one of the owners of RAD Hard Chroming, and he is a top bloke. More than happy to answer my questions and show me round. He also let me take a few quick pics in the workshop while he showed me the FZ forks, which looked superb! 

When I got them home, I had a really good look over them. Absolutely perfect! 

If you were wondering, or concerned, that they might not be the same as when manufactured, don't be. In fact, I'd go as far as to say you would be better off having your original forks re-chromed rather than buying aftermarket. 

Aftermarket components rarely match up to the manufacturer's, and this keeps your bike original too. 

RAD Hard Chroming can also rebuild your forks for you too if need be. Not only that but they also do bar risers for KTM's and some of the Husky and Husaberg models. Check them out.

It seems the only thing they don't do is decorative chrome, so don't ask for your bumpers or wheels to be done!

Time to reassemble. 

I'm reusing the bushes as they don't seem too bad. Not even sure you can get new ones anyway, but might've been worth asking.

They were soon back together with new seals and filled with 408ml of ATF. They are also air-assisted but I'll dabble with that when the bike is back together.

The pic below shows the air-assist pipe in place. There are rubber buffers between the top yoke (triple clamp) and the air-assist assembly, and wire circlips locate in grooves in the stanchions to prevent them from sliding down. Rubber grease was applied to the O-rings prior to fitting. 

Maximum pressure according to the Yamaha manual is 39kPa or 5.7psi.

One clip-on fitted. I still need to replace the tube on the right side clip-on.

Thanks to Mark and the team for a great job. If you need your forks repaired, just give them a bell or check out the website. 

We now have progress on the FZ...