What did you do to your motorcyle today?

[Billy D]

Wow , looks good !

[Wheels]

Looks very good  Bill

[bajaman]

I got some chrome stuff back from Superior yesterday.

Nice...even better on a Kawasaki !!

[hardrockminer]

They do great work, although they take their time! 

Yesterday I also took the black painted stuff to Wally Routledge for powder coating.  Should be done in a couple of weeks.  The last major projects are to buy new pistons and sleeves and a new set of carbs.  Then it's time to start putting things together again.

[bajaman]

They do great work, although they take their time! 

Yesterday I also took the black painted stuff to Wally Routledge for powder coating.  Should be done in a couple of weeks.  The last major projects are to buy new pistons and sleeves and a new set of carbs.  Then it's time to start putting things together again.

Ya...I also have a few bits going in for powder here in Comox.

I have a rew pieces that need to go to Vic off the wife's Kawasaki roadrunner for chrome...hopefully I won't have to remortgage the house...lol

[hardrockminer]

Chrome prices have gone through the roof lately.  Not sure if it's environmental driving the cost or what.  The only consolation after forking out the dough is looking at a flawless chrome job! 

[Twisted_Twin]

It's the price of copper that's doing it.

They go through a ton of copper getting everything perfect. Think of it as the "bondo" in the process. Copper is used to fill any imperfections, they build up a layer of copper then sand and buff until it's perfect. Then it gets a layer of nickel and a layer of chrome.

Kinda like how high petroleum prices make upholstery more expensive.

[754]

Not sure if I buy that...
 If a third of the work process goes up by a third, does the whole price have to go up by a third..?
 I suspect its platingspeak for... There aint many of us doing this, you're so lucky we are close , and we are doing you a favor..........
The reality may be..we charge way more than for production work, its actually interesting, but we have to get one of our guys to do it, that is actually awake and does not get comebacks.

[Twisted_Twin]

Do you buy that the price of copper has gone through the roof?

That's a cold, hard fact.

These guys aren't really a production shop, they do decorative plating only.

[754]

Yes, well known fact.. But there is always the cost of producing it as well.
Copper pipe. The price goes up and down , but the pipe makng does not fluctuate, like the metal price.

You know hwat went up a lot the last three decades.. Automotive paint.. That got really high..

[Steve G.]

  I agree with Shawn that copper is more expensive, than it was 15 years ago. It's actually down almost 50% since 2012. As of 2017, the biggest cost by far faced by a chrome shop is the environmental fees charged to take away the waste products of the vat, which universally is now considered a hazardous waste product, stage one carcinogen.

 My most recent frame off restoration in 2013 brought this fact to light for me, my chrome budget was 300% more than planned.

[754]

Copper prices now are lower than they were in 2005, labor prices are not lower..

[754]

Environmental fees have risen much more than copper prices, so has paint..
We used to get motorcycle body parts painted, and out the door...for what the paint now costs.
What has gone down..is the amount of chrome shops.

[Steve G.]

Environmental fees have risen much more than copper prices, so has paint..
We used to get motorcycle body parts painted, and out the door...for what the paint now costs.
What has gone down..is the amount of chrome shops.

 
  Correct.

  And the quality of chrome shop work.

[Twisted_Twin]

You know hwat went up a lot the last three decades.. Automotive paint.. That got really high..

Petroleum product...