In caring for your fine Vincent or other vintage, classic, veteran, etc. motorcycle, the freshening of the polish on the alloy is very important. Aluminum mudguards, wheels and more are prominent and dull finishes are especially noticeable.

As you know, there are tubes of goo, cans of slime and jars of cotton made for the polish of aluminum at home. Actually, most of these work and can work well. The first step is to have had a fine polish to begin with. If your surface isn’t already smooth and finished well, your arm may drop off before it gets the look you want.

Assuming that it isn’t, send the parts to a trusted professional polisher. On mudguards, have him do the underside also and on engine covers, do the indentations for screws as well. Great return on expenditure here.

use either the cotton with stuff impregnated or the jars of cream type polish. As long as you follow the two main rules for polishing, either works well.

The first rule is, never try to polish either a hot engine or when the weather is hot and thus, your bike is warm. For whatever reason, the heat makes a great luster impossible.

Secondly, select an old t-shirt or some fuzzy cloth to use. Not terry cloth or anything that coarse. Something fine with lots of area so you can move to any number of spots as you go is the best idea.

NEVER use much polish. Start with what you figure is just a tiny fraction of what work and try that. I mean a tiny, tiny bit, nothing like you put on your toothbrush. Anyway, start with a finger inside the cloth and make small, low pressure circles in a small area. Work it thusly until the polish almost disappears. The cloth beneath your finger will go from black to a metallic luster. Nearing the end of this, switch to a new area on the rag and finish it to a high shine. Move then to a new area. The final polish of the entire cover, mudguard, etc. is best done with a section of the rag which is not clean, but has some remnant of the black you produced before. Circles should be about the size of a silver dollar. Light pressure, cool temp and really, a cold glass of good Chardonnay for the polisher seems to produce the best result. Use more Chardonnay than polish of course.

There is a way to set the shine to last almost indefinitely, but it’s a secret and you have to buy a Vincent from me to find out. Ha!