A friend turned me onto the idea of having those old, nasty nuts and bolts cad plated.
After disassembling 4 BMW motorcycles over the years, i developed a few ziplock bags of rusted, filthy, oxidized junk.

After i gathered everything up in a tupperware container, it weighed close to 50 lbs.

I should have had this done before my latest restoration but nothing will beat the stainless steel hardware I have used throughout the bike.

This will, however, save me lots of money and trips to the hardware store.

It was a heavy load for one saddle bag. My bike was all over the road having ‘dead weight’ on one side of the bike.

These were pretty much un-usable parts. I threw in some fork plates, rusted axles, and other bits just to see what would happen. Whatever was aluminum couldn’t be plated but they got blasted clean anyway.

A day later and $80 out of my pocket and into the pocket of the guy who did this ‘under the table’ and this is what I got.

I spent about 3 hours watching TV, drinking beer and organizing everything. I would have been watching TV and drinking beer anyway…
And at anywhere from $.07 – $.60 per washer, bolt, nut and screw from the hardware store or from BMW (some parts are $2 or more), I think just the contents of this container is worth it.