1. American Revolution provided...
1. American Revolution provided a photo of a black nickel wheel (left) next to a polished wheel to show you the difference in contrast between the two.
Black Nickel & Black Chrome
Obviously, anything on your bike that's chrome-plated can accept the black nickel and black chrome treatments. After talking to numerous plating factories, Patrick Curran from American Revolution, a plating company in Santa Fe Springs, CA, was able to shed some light on the matter by giving us a general idea on their black nickel and black chrome application processes. Both black chrome and black nickel are applied in a similar fashion. Black chrome, when aluminum is used, is plated first with nickel to give it a shiny finish, and then it is dipped into a black chrome tank for a dark tint. Their black chrome bath, which is made up of certain chemicals they wish not to disclose, gives it a dark finish that penetrates the chrome, not just the surface.
Black nickel plating uses the same steps as chrome plating, but instead of going to the flashy chrome bath after receiving the bright nickel coat, it goes straight to a black nickel bath. According to Pat, their process incorporates three different metals: nickel, tin, and cobalt that are all mixed with what's called co-deposition-they start plating at the same time but at different ratios. The tin gives it the tint and the cobalt is used to make it stronger.
2. Here are American Revolution's...
2. Here are American Revolution's Night Chrome rotors against a stock polished disc. Their black chrome is a very deep, dark tone that will definitely stand out on your bike's wheels.
3. Meclec Metal Finishing...
3. Meclec Metal Finishing did the plating on the Jim Nasi cover bike we featured a year ago (Vol. 39, No. 8), so we called them up and asked if we could take a look at some of the stuff they're working on. Here's a shot of one of their black nickel wheels. Their black nickel wheel is applied over bright nickel, and it's brighter and deeper than their black chrome.
4. Be on the lookout for...
4. Be on the lookout for Renegade Wheels' brand new Ebony Chrome Wheel, now available for their entire Elite Series lineup. They spent a lot of time developing "black chrome" that would meet the Renegade standards and collaborated with chemists responsible for the black chrome on some General Motors' Hummer models.
Spray Paint
Spray paint is spray paint. How hard is it to figure out how to apply spray paint? The hard part is deciding on what kind of black you want to use, because there are about 72,000 different kinds of black-do not take that literally, it's just a gross exaggeration. But we thought we would pick out some different shades/textures of black for you to see what would look best on your bike. We went to the hardware store and headed straight for the Rust-Oleum spray paint (flat, satin, gloss, textured, hammered, and hi-temp) to show you what they might look like on your bike.
1. From left to right: flat,...
1. From left to right: flat, satin, gloss, textured, hammered, and hi-temp finishes from Rust-Oleum. We grabbed a piece of sheetmetal from the hardware store and went to town spraying the rattler's one at a time. While we were waiting for our demo piece of metal to dry, our Editorial Director Courtney Halowell nabbed the cans of flat and gloss to paint his rear fender. It's recommended that you sand the surface of the product you wish to coat before applying the paint.
2. Here is the painted rear...
2. Here is the painted rear fender mounted on the bike after the flat and gloss coats dried. These cans only put us back about $5 each so we'd have to say that it looks pretty damn good for the price. Now that you're armed with the tools of how to black out your bike, get out there and do it!