Suzuki 2 Strokes

Just got back from the local chromers shop. Took the parts from my GT500 restoration project to them to have rechromed. This is my first time having parts rechromed and to say the least I was a bit shell shocked when he handed me the quote for the work. I basically gave them everything chrome from the bike to have redone. Most the parts were in decent condition, just showing their age with some light rust & pitting on a few items. The larger items I knew would be expensive, but some of the smaller items is what really surprised me. The quote for doing the job, including the large ticket items like the mufflers, wheel rims, fenders, etc, came back originally at $3785. My eyes literally popped out of my head.

A few individual piece prices for example are:
1. Mufflers - $400 each
2. Wheel rims - $300 each
3. triple tree stem top nut - $20
4. stem washer $10
5. rear brake pedal - $90
6. shifter - $65
7. exhaust header pipes - $100 each
8. kickstarter - $75 ( plus another $30 for the lower swivel)
9. handlebars - $150
10. front fender stay / brace - $75
11. front fender - $225

There were a total of about 50 pieces for the whole bike. Do these prices seem about right to everyone else that's had parts rechromed, or did I get taken to the cleaners?? He explained he has 3 main levels of chrome. The first being a "car lot" cheaper chrome, the 2nd being a show chrome, and the 3rd being a high quality, "never leaves the trailer" show queen chrome. I opted for the #2 level which he said is 90 % of what most people choose.

I decided against having the mufflers and wheel rims done for now, as they were the most expensive parts on the list. After removing those items, and giving me a "discount" for paying cash, I got it down to $2000 for the job.

Just thought I'd see what others thought of their pricing. Is it about right on with other shops, or did I overpay.

Now you know why we see so many old bikes with the chrome pieces blacked out.

It seems ridiculously expensive to me.
I know there is a ton of work involved in plating but...

I'm in Australia, the last guard I had done for example was extremely rough with lots of rust etc - it cost $80.
Kickstarter was $20.
Its a quality job too.

Just my opinion...

Re-chroming is very labour intensive, so the price you pay will generally just reflect what the labour rate is in your area. Wheel rims have all those little bumps around the spokes and each one has to be buffed out - takes forever which is why generally rims aren't worth doing unless there isn't any other option. The exhaust quote actually looked too low, but with the exception of the quote for the front fender which looked high, the other prices were generally in line with what it would cost locally. Note that I'd go for a stainless top nut for the triple tree - these are available from several places globally, and I'd just buy new bars direct from Suzuki as they are still available for under $100.

Ian summed it up good in his post for the pricing structure. The rims are not worth re-doing so just get new stock, stainless or aluminum ones if its not a concours bike.
My plater told me steel rims are about $250 each because of the labour intensive work they require. I have not even asked them about doing my Titan pipes yet...

Your lucky to get a plater who will even touch pipes I reckon.
Ive tried 3 and the answer is always "Nah the oil will contaminate my bath, no way"
Makes sense but thats why my pipes will be black..

Thanks for the feedback. I pretty much figured on the wheels I could just buy new ones cheaper, didn't think about the handlebars though. I know there's several other pieces that I could also buy new or NOS cheaper than their quoted rechrome price, but he said that part of the price was already discounted for doing everything as a large batch, and if I started pulling out individual pieces, that it really wouldn't be any cheaper, because I'd lose the "batch" discount. I already left the non-refundable 50% deposit, so I guess I'll just grin and bear it this time, but I'll know better what to expect next time. And I figure their rechrome work will look nicer than the chrome on the New stuff suzuki sells.

On the mufflers, he said about $100 of that $400 would be spent cleaning out the insides of the them before they got to the plating portion. So I'm gonna try and clean them out myself and see if that might save me a couple hundred bucks there. (any tips on cleaning the insides?) But eventually before the bikes done, looks like I'll be forking over another $600-$800 to have them done too. Old mufflers on a restored bike would look like crap.

Heres a few other prices from the list.
1. rear fender - $250
2. taillight bracket - $100
3. chainguard - $150
4. headlight bucket - $125
5. headlight front ring - $75
6. headlight mount brackets - $100 each

seems a little pricy if the parts aren't dented or too rusty. I got a fender, stays, healight ears, radiator crash bar and air cleaner cover for $540.00 including shipping back. Haven't gotten them back so I cant attest to the quality but I thought that was a good price for all that. One thing for sure is that rechorming aint cheap. I've got some pipes I'd like to rechrome and I was also told that cleaning the inside out is a part of the expense.

BTW I used New England Chrome platers.

wvc wrote:..... So I'm gonna try and clean them out myself and see if that might save me a couple hundred bucks there. (any tips on cleaning the insides?)

Getting the insides of these pipes clean is not easy - although I'm thinking the T/GT500 pipes should be a lot easier to do than the ones on the triples. On the basis of what others on this board and elsewhere have suggested previously, what I will be doing is taking the pipes (minus the removable baffles of course) to a rad shop with a hot caustic bath and have them do the cleaning.

polishing itself is labour intensive and do I know it.
it takes me twenty minutes just to do one grab handle and I can't even get it like a pro.
its also very messy,your absolutely covered in fibre dust etc.
and I could spend the next hour cleaning all the mess up after I've finished polishing.
to get one grab handle chromed here 7 or 8 years ago would cost £35($56)
wouldn't like to think what they would cost now

this some times piss me off when folks enquire about my price and don't reply when I give a quote.what they don't realize is its not a case of bending a little tube etc. to make one grab rail/polish can take 2 hours to complete and then I have to drive 15 miles to the chromers. at the mo I charge £55($88) .so if you take into account..the cost of tubing,brackets,chroming,then all the other sundries such as heating,electricity.tools etc that wear out like grinding pads,welding gas/wire.
this doesn't leave a lot of profit does it.
yes chroming is expensive.