My 1990 Bullet 350 looks "Royal" after electroplating multiple parts

A bonus of getting the silencer plated was that 30 years' worth of carbon and soot had been cleaned out and the sound became a more Bullet-like thump.

BHPian Vaastav recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

In December, my college winter vacation started, and I was back home for a month. This of course meant that the Bullet would be getting some work done.

At the forefront of the list of things to be done was electroplating. The bike had caught rust on its silencer, bend pipe, handlebar, etc., due to having been standing for a long time, and thus these issues went unattended.

After some asking around, I was told that Meerut was the place to get this done. So I got on the bike and rode to Meerut one morning. Upon reaching there, I found a recommended mechanic who then pointed me towards a plating shop. I was told that the owner was out and I would have to wait for him to return. He turned up after about half an hour, and I told him the requirements. After some back and forth about the price, we agreed to 1200 for the following items:

• Silencer and bend pipe
• Kick, neutral lever and gear lever
• Handlebar, along with its clamps, nuts etc.
• Fuel Cap (the original Enfield one)

The next order of business was to get all these parts opened up. There was a mechanic nearby who agreed to do it for 400, on the condition that he would wait for the work to be done and then fit the parts back on since it was already 1230, and I had been given an estimated time of 1830-1900 for completion.

So, the parts were opened up.

Then they were all taken and dipped in acid after which they were polished using wire brushes, a time-consuming process that actually took up a large part of the time.

After this process was done, they were then plated and then wiped down properly.

By this time, it was about 1845, and by the time they were all fitted and I had paid for it, it was close to 1930. Thankfully my father had arranged for a guestroom in Meerut Cantt, so I reached there, and after some lovely hot dinner, went to sleep.

The next day I was immediately able to see the change in the look of the Bullet. When I reached home, various other people also commented on it, and my mechanic said "Ab lag rahi hai Royal".

To give some idea:

Before

After

A bonus of getting the silencer plated was that 30 years' worth of carbon and soot had been cleaned out of the silencer, and the sound became a more Bullet-like thump, and it didn't feel as choked at higher speeds.

I enjoyed riding it around on my holiday (despite the cold and the fog) and I plan to get it repainted when I have summer holidays.

Somewhere between Deoband and Muzaffarnagar on the way to Delhi...

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