Chromium (Cr), atomic number 24

When uncle Fester made the sissy bar for the Rising Star we left it raw, partly because I just didn't have time to take it somewhere to get chrome plated, partly because I thought I might have just painted it black.

It was fine leaving it as a purely functional piece just to carry gear to the Old Irons rally; that said, right from the start we both agreed we did not want to see his creation tarnish and rust away. We can finally take care of this and after some thought I ruled out black paint (too crude) and bright chrome plating (too flashy). The proverbial Goldilocks zone turned out to be trivalent chromium:

Thanks to the uncle Fester connect, the electroplating was done by Galvanica Partenopea in Casandrino, just outside Naples and they did a really good job.

Before handing parts over to them, Fester cleaned up every minor imperfection that was left over from when the sissy bar was welded together (again, at the time I needed it in a hurry and didn't have time to make it look pretty). At first I thought we could have preserved the weld at the top because I think it looks cool, but on second thought it was better to smooth it out for a cleaner look once plated. 
What you don't see in the finished product is all the time and effort that goes into getting a part ready for plating: "molding" the imperfections away to obtain a smooth surface is labor-intensive and takes real dedication. Then plating itself: copper first, to create a generous layer, up to 2mm thick in some cases, to preserve the original part and cover up any imperfections, followed by nickel. As we're talking about microns for the final stage, even the slightest imperfection will show through if you don't get rid of it first, on the bare metal and every subsequent step of the process until the part is ready for nickel and finally chrome.

I'm happy with the way this turned out, it has a nice hue, a bit warmer in appearance than the type of super bright plating you often see these days.

In addition to the sissy bar, I decided to have the short fender struts, the steering stem top nut and the kickstarter pedal plated as well. The short fender struts can be used in lieu of the sissy bar and give the bike a much sportier appearance. It takes only four bolts and a few minutes to switch over. The kickstarter is something that had been bugging me for a while because the overall finish didn't match and ended up being untidy. Also, in terms of color, brass doesn't really go well with the rest of the bike. It's ok to have one or two little details with the taillight and license plate light, but in general I think it's better to tone it down a bit.

I shouldn't be surprised by what a big difference it makes to have the sissy bar and the other parts all shiny and clean, but I am! These little touches are the kind of thing that's going to make the bike look a bit more refined overall. A bike like this should not look shoddy...

Perhaps the biggest difference is when looking at the sissy bar mounted on the bike. The way it was before, all you noticed was the topmost portion, above the rear fender and I must confess it always seemed a bit short that way (cue usual jokes of "it's never big enough"). I'm well aware that dimensions haven't changed, but now that the chrome makes it stand out so much more, you suddenly see the whole thing and the proportions appear different, better in my opinion.