My handlebars are pretty tatty. The chrome is long gone and at some time they've been painted with silver paint. And now the rust is coming through. Of all the bits on this bike, the handlebars probably need the least functional rework. I could put them straight back on the bike as they are and they would work perfectly well as they were designed...... but something in me makes me think they need to look good too.And so I went in search of a polisher and chromer.
20 years ago, I worked in a business that used a lot of polishers and chromers. There were at least 3 companies I used to work with that were within 5 miles of my house. I set off to say hello to them again. But I should have guessed; a lot of change has happened in Birmingham in the last 20 years, and the companies I used to know are no longer there.... not even the buildings! In their place now are shops, apartments, and building developments for "the creative industry". The face of Birmingham is changing rapidly. Gone is the heavy industrial heritage, welcome the clean & tidy "creative industry"
And so I opened my search out a little wider and thankfully Dudley and the black-country are still hanging in there with their traditional industrial skills.
I phoned a couple of platers and without even seeing my handlebars they reckoned about 60 quid! But someone suggested I go and see Castle Chromers (right close to the castle in Dudley). From what I saw of their unit, they certainly looked like they knew what they were doing (lots of classic car parts around the place)
I showed them my handlebars (and I also had my headlamp bezel with me too). Without hesitation, the response was £60. I tried to bargain with them but no joy. On reflection I suppose its about a right sort of price by the time you've paid a man for a couple of hours work - but sadly its well out of my budget - especially on a non essential job. But before I left the fella at Castle Chrome said "why not just buy a new handlebar?"
"Ridiculous" I mumbled as I drove away. "This handlebar is 60 years old. You cant buy a new one". As I drove home I happened to drive past Streetbike (not best know for its vintage parts). I'm not sure why I stopped, but I did. I felt a bit foolish walking in past all the superbikes and monster machines with my rusty 7/8" scooter handlebar. I dropped it on their spare parts counter and they pointed me to a rack of anodized coloured bars - not really what I was looking for. But then from behind the counter, one of the chaps bought out a chromed handle bar that looked remarkably like mine. Pretty much the same angles and rise - just a couple of inches wider (which I rather like)...... and they were £25. It was a no-brainer really. I could keep my original bars for when I was rich enough to get them renovated, but in the meantime I could have some shiny bars for 25 quid. As for the headlamp bezel, I can think on that for a while
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