Stanchions - replace or replate

Replaced stanchionswith new ones two years agoon my '73 Mk 1A 850 -supplied by Carl Rosner who presumably gets them from Andover Norton.

Original (Andover Norton) ones are made from the correct grade of steel, centreless gound, then hard chrome plated to the correct diameter.

Given I had a set of stanchions the pedigree of which wasn't 100% certain (Chinese "copper tube" ones? Midlands backyard/chickenshed enterprise ones?) I wouldn't bother to get these replated. On original stanchions the question is how much it costs to get the old chrome off, get them cleaned up, then get them plated to the correct diameter.

On second thought I wouldn't bother, full stop.

Cheapest alternative:- Treat pitting with rust remover (acid), wash off & dry, fill pitting with epoxy resin & rub down when cured, then fit fork gaiters, and no one will know. Worked fine on my 750.

Previously wrote:

Any advice in if I should replace or hard chrome re-plate my stanchions? There is some slight pitting but they appear to be straight so should re chrome okay. What are you view on quality and price of the alternatives and who would you recommend?

Comments welcome

Just replaced mine. Old ones were good, no pitting just worn in the usual place. I bought new from Andover. They are near enough double the price of the best on eBay (£70 pair). Time will tell if they were worth it. However, still cheaper than re-chroming. Mind you, one of the stanchions had a few micro high spots and made the bush stick. Ran some T-cut on it it with the bush and fine now but shouldn't have to do that, especially not from Andovers.

Andy

If they are readily available new, it will be cheaper than a replate. I was looking at stanchion repairs for another of my bikes (not a Norton) a few years ago. It still worked out cheaper to get some new ones sent from the other side of europe! I'd imagine the British Classic market is well catered for buying new, and the re-chrome repairers fill the void in the Classic Japanese scene.