How do you plan to go about this? I’ve got a Sram 180mm compact that is very black and looks incredibly out of place on my steel roadie. Silver 180mm compacts seem pretty uncommon so I’m looking into the options. Was thinking about getting them media blasted, or maybe just hitting them with some wet and dry? Surely oven cleaner won’t actually work?
If it’s anodised then oven cleaner (the real evil stuff) / caustic soda (the stuff in drano / evil over cleaner) will work.
If it’s painted, then paint stripper.
Or get a T.A. Carmina crankset if you’re made of money, they go to 185mm.
^ Yeah I was gonna go with some badass oven cleaner or just buy some caustic soda from the DIY hardware bloke store
Oven cleaner works pretty well in my experience, probably safer than mixing up caustic soda. I stupidly forgot to read the ingredients of some Kenco Shift-It cleaner the other day and managed to strip the ano off half the chainring and crankarm on some 600 cranks I’ve got, d’oh moment.
yep, oven cleaner is my first port of call.
draino works great. it also doesn’t touch paint so you can get some cool effects going.
hey Asher, was that just draino ‘in then out’, or did you need to use a scourer etc?
draino and a rag. so basically in then out.
also i didnt get time to get stickers, got fecked at work today. back in there tomorrow evening though so will send then.
no rush man, cheers!
Thanks for the tips guys. I’ll give it a go and report back.
Sorry about the thread-jack.
Asher… was that seriously dropped in draino then rubbed with a rag???
That looks RAD. might just be the finish my DA7800 SSCX cranks/ring have been looking for…
also… has anyone had issues with polishing raw allow and it going a misty/matte kinda finish after a couple of week… anything i need to clean it with after or put on top? #threadhijack!
I’ve been told that Mr Sheen helps in protecting the surface finish, or you can routinely rub them down with Autosol to rejuvenate the polished finish. I blasted then polished a set of Sugino 75’s and never really had an issue with them going dull even after 4 years of street use.
There’s a used set of XX1 cranks on BNA… BNA - Australian Cycling Forums • View topic - [MEL] Mountain, Road, and Commuter Shed clearout
Not very low budget though 
Like all the others say Go SRAM spiderless with a Wolftooth chainring
X0, X01, S2210, X9, S1400 or Truvativ AKAs.
E.thirteen have released an equivelant to Raceface’s spiderless Next SL, at a similarly outlandish price.
Edit: … Sorry, missed some posts.
Oven cleaner worked perfectly! The black layer just washed off they polished up nicely with autosol.
Probably should have hit them with 1500-2000 wet and dry for a mirror finish, but they look great as is. The Sram decals did stay on too. I didn’t picture that working well at all, but it was very straightforward. Nothing like as messy as stripping paint either.
Don’t use this one as it has small metal shavings in it that I’m guessing help clean a drain but will scratch alloy.
Diggers do plain caustic soda with no other bit. Cheap as.
Warm water, not boiling water - made that mistake. Luckily was wearing gloves & eye protection.
How does the Shimano Shadow+ compare to the SRAM Type2 rear derailleurs?
The Shimano clutch is serviceable while Sram’s is a sealed unit. I know plenty of people running both without issue - both seem solid and reliable. Have heard that the Shadow plus can become unclutched mid-run, due to its switch design. While others grumbling about SRAM… Yet someone whose opinion I trust recommended me to go with SRAM, says the clutch is more durable. To be honest I think they both work well and its really a matter of which shifters and shifting feel you prefer.
I’ll be running SRAM X9 w X0 shifters on my new rig so will be able to give my first-hand experience in the next few months. Will be running it with a direct mount Wolftooth 30T (or maybe 28T) ring.
Had three chain jams on FD upshifts on my last long ride. Okay so the weather was rubbish but still front shifting on MTBs is arse. Time for 1X is long overdue me feels.
ftfy