Swingarm finish

[Ronniei]

Hi, what finish did the swing arm have out of the factory on an E1? Mine currently looks like aluminium/silver paint. Was the original bare alloy or polished/lacquered. Many thanks for any assistance.

[LondonZ1]

I'm 99% sure the original finish was painted. It certainly wasn't polished or lacquered or bare. Judging by the state of the arms I have seen, it was pretty poor paint as well. I removed the bearings and got mine powder coated.

[Ronniei]

Mine is definitely painted with a crappy aluminium type paint that's flaking off. It's so bad I thought it had been painted by a previous owner with a scotchbrite! I was favouring powder coat with a silver or aluminium type colour so your reply has confirmed that

[Brad Beers]

I have just finished a restoration of my 750 Turbo. When I removed the swing arm to restore it to like new condition, I discovered that if you clean off all of the dirt and grease, then glass bead it using “fine” beads as to not rough up the smoothness of the aluminum, then dehydrate the aluminum using a map gas hand belt torch (you will see the moisture evaporate out of the aluminum) which will make the paint soak into the aluminum pores. This will assure the paint will not flake off.

Then, while the swing arm is still warm to the touch (after dehydration), them paint using VHT brand spray paint for calipers. The paint label says “cast aluminum”, and the part number is SP735.

It came out as if it was never installed on a bike at the factory yet.