RAW for lowers

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Edited Date/Time 4/13/2020 6:38pm
Had a few beers and been wondering if anyone had RAW'd there lowers? With all this spare time and boredom on my hands Im wondering what I can do to the bike, I have 36's if it matter's but Im sure its the same for any fork.
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4/13/2020 12:23am
Well, I polished the lowers and the crown. . .
.
. . .and the brake caliper mount, and now I'm working on the lock rings for the grips. Then comes the seat clamp. . .
2
Big Bird
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Location
Oceano, CA US
4/13/2020 8:49am
Magnesium, which most fork lowers are made of really likes to corrode. They won't stay polished for long.
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1
4/13/2020 10:38am
I once removed the paint from a RS SID. The paint fell off really quick with a standard paint stripper. The raw magnesium looked as raw as can be, I kinda liked it that way and the corrosion is just a bit white-ish, not your typical rust.

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4/13/2020 1:01pm
Big Bird wrote:
Magnesium, which most fork lowers are made of really likes to corrode. They won't stay polished for long.
Wheel wax works well to deal with that.
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1/31/2025 10:46am
Well, I polished the lowers and the crown. . . [img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/forums/2020/04/13/9442/s1200_Bike_Polished_fork_1.jpg[/img] . . . .and the brake caliper mount, and now I'm working on the lock...
Well, I polished the lowers and the crown. . .
.
. . .and the brake caliper mount, and now I'm working on the lock rings for the grips. Then comes the seat clamp. . .

Do you mind sharing your process for polishing the lowers and crown? I have a Fox 38 I would like to do this to. I have an extra set of lowers I am going to polish off the bike and then install and am wondering how to get started to strip the paint and then polish.

Also, did you end up clear coating these or something to prevent oxidization of the magnesium?

1
TEAMROBOT
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788
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9/2/2009
Location
Los Angeles, CA US
2/1/2025 10:07am
Big Bird wrote:
Magnesium, which most fork lowers are made of really likes to corrode. They won't stay polished for long.

Yeah, I didn't realize this was a thing, but it's really a thing. If you're going to pull paint off your lowers, make sure to put something back on. Could be Wheel Wax as someone else mentioned, but probably don't leave them unfinished if you like your fork/teeth.

image 178.png?VersionId=dzLx 466xIEqMl

Now to be clear, a lot of the bikes Jon works on are heavily, heavily neglected (case in point- rusty steerer tube in same pic), but it still illustrates the lesson that raw magnesium is, as he says, quite reactive: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vzbGvuz6O/?hl=en&img_index=1

3
2/2/2025 1:40am Edited Date/Time 2/2/2025 1:41am
Well, I polished the lowers and the crown. . . [img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/forums/2020/04/13/9442/s1200_Bike_Polished_fork_1.jpg[/img] . . . .and the brake caliper mount, and now I'm working on the lock...
Well, I polished the lowers and the crown. . .
.
. . .and the brake caliper mount, and now I'm working on the lock rings for the grips. Then comes the seat clamp. . .
Do you mind sharing your process for polishing the lowers and crown? I have a Fox 38 I would like to do this to. I have...

Do you mind sharing your process for polishing the lowers and crown? I have a Fox 38 I would like to do this to. I have an extra set of lowers I am going to polish off the bike and then install and am wondering how to get started to strip the paint and then polish.

Also, did you end up clear coating these or something to prevent oxidization of the magnesium?

I did my Pike crown like this. I just used the finest sandpaper I could get in a local hardware store to get the paint off and then used the nearly worn out sandpaper to get them very close to being polished. I didn't coat the crown in anything and it was fine getting wet and muddy, but given the post above I'd want to at least put wheel wax if not paint a clear coat on the lowers.Trek Ticket S - 150mm

1
Primoz
Posts
3717
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
2/3/2025 7:56am

The crown is still a bit different to the lowers, lowers are cast (and contain a lot of magnesium) while the crown is forged and is of a different grade of aluminium.

Raw aluminium will still corrode regardless, even 7075, if not protected (anodized, clearcoated, painted, etc.). I have some raw raw pedals and after a year they are very... patinated Smile

2
xy9ine
Posts
17
Joined
5/1/2019
Location
ZW
2/3/2025 8:19am

i polished a boxxer a bunch of years (~15) back. bit of work to keep shiny (mothers does a nice job), but if you do get lazy, they just oxidize to a dull grey, and are pretty inert at that point (ie, nothing like the above pic). just took a quick fine wetsand + mothers to revive. still have the fork (retired, hanging from the rafters); looks structurally fine. 

2
2/3/2025 11:18am
Big Bird wrote:
Magnesium, which most fork lowers are made of really likes to corrode. They won't stay polished for long.
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Yeah, I didn't realize this was a thing, but it's really a thing. If you're going to pull paint off your lowers, make sure to put...

Yeah, I didn't realize this was a thing, but it's really a thing. If you're going to pull paint off your lowers, make sure to put something back on. Could be Wheel Wax as someone else mentioned, but probably don't leave them unfinished if you like your fork/teeth.

image 178.png?VersionId=dzLx 466xIEqMl

Now to be clear, a lot of the bikes Jon works on are heavily, heavily neglected (case in point- rusty steerer tube in same pic), but it still illustrates the lesson that raw magnesium is, as he says, quite reactive: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vzbGvuz6O/?hl=en&img_index=1

car guy here, who has also done this...

Cerakote trim coat is exactly what you need. wear gloves!

will also permanently changed your matte/chalk finish fox lowers to full gloss. same with sheaply anodized rims. Smile

i do this all the time. quite easy to clean as well, restores/changes gloss finishes BIG time

2
2/3/2025 11:19am
Big Bird wrote:
Magnesium, which most fork lowers are made of really likes to corrode. They won't stay polished for long.
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Yeah, I didn't realize this was a thing, but it's really a thing. If you're going to pull paint off your lowers, make sure to put...

Yeah, I didn't realize this was a thing, but it's really a thing. If you're going to pull paint off your lowers, make sure to put something back on. Could be Wheel Wax as someone else mentioned, but probably don't leave them unfinished if you like your fork/teeth.

image 178.png?VersionId=dzLx 466xIEqMl

Now to be clear, a lot of the bikes Jon works on are heavily, heavily neglected (case in point- rusty steerer tube in same pic), but it still illustrates the lesson that raw magnesium is, as he says, quite reactive: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vzbGvuz6O/?hl=en&img_index=1

car guy here, who has also done this...Cerakote trim coat is exactly what you need. wear gloves!will also permanently changed your matte/chalk finish fox lowers to...

car guy here, who has also done this...

Cerakote trim coat is exactly what you need. wear gloves!

will also permanently changed your matte/chalk finish fox lowers to full gloss. same with sheaply anodized rims. Smile

i do this all the time. quite easy to clean as well, restores/changes gloss finishes BIG time

cheaply anodized*

1
2/3/2025 11:26am Edited Date/Time 2/3/2025 3:00pm

i dont have the before photo, accidentally deleted it. but this is after coating the lowers. you can all imagine the wretched faded "matte" finish we've all seen haha. takes a few minutes to prep, clean with alcohol. and wipe it on, let it set, dont touch it. will give raw/polished finish crazy depth. after it dries; it's super easy to clean, ultra hydrophobic, and permanent of course. 

1 wipe is plenty enough to do the fork lowers, right over the matte decals too, maybe your rims too (you can kinda see the rim in this photo) 

IMG 9874.jpg?VersionId=i kKoUsSngNYiyBR
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