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Fork reconditioning ?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:44 am
by lambs
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with fork reconditioning, particularly the section at the top of the slider. The 150 Autostrada I have is particularly bad in this area (wear, rust, pitting). A set of forks I've picked up for the 202 also needs reconditioning. Attached are pictures of one of the 202 sliders. The section at the top is chrome-plated steel and not very good quality chrome (typical Italian chrome some might say...). What makes reconditioning more difficult is that the chromed section is not removable from the aluminium lower part.....the two parts are permanently crimped together. That makes re-chroming more difficult. Simple polishing after removing the old chrome is not an option as rust will soon set in.

Also, where can I get replacement rubbers,etc for the forks ? The fork seals themselves I can get from my local bearing supplier as they are standard size. Ariete apparently make a fork kit (COD.07860) for the 175-202 but I haven't been able to find out what parts are actually included in that kit. The kit is relatively expensive so I would rather know what I am actually getting for the Euro's involved (plus shipping.....)

TIA

Re: Fork reconditioning ?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:39 pm
by Nozem
Hi lambs,

It's true, reconditioning these forks is pretty difficult. On the older Gilera models you can simply unscrew the chromated part, but this is not possible on the later Giubileo 175/202 models. Luckily I found one local chromating business overhere that would dip the forks legs.

Here is a link to a well known Italian parts supplier with pictures of the kit you mentioned: https://www.bebmeccanica.it/index.php/r ... 860-detail
This kit contains all the rubbers that you need.

Greetings,
Nozem rulez

Re: Fork reconditioning ?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:43 pm
by lambs
Thanks for the reply. I have a local chrome plater that I have used before so I will see what he says. I think I will need to mask the aluminium alloy part of the leg for the plating process, but it should be possible.

I asked bebmeccanica to send me a photo of what is in that kit just to be sure and you are right it looks like it contains everything, although the 202 legs I bought have a plastic ring covering the 'groove' at the join between the chrome part and the aluminium part of the leg. The plastic ring will have to be removed to get the chrome restored, but I'll just have to live with that, I think.

The other problem is that their shipping cost is expensive because they use FedEx :shock:

Re: Fork reconditioning ?

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:20 am
by lambs
An update.....my usual chrome plater was reluctant but I have found another that is confident of success. I've given him one set to try out so will see how that goes. Not cheap but has to be done 8)