Birmabright??

Phil Baker

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
I am wary of making a tit of myself on here (again!) but my brief experience would suggest that aluminium guards are fairly easily bent and panel-beaten without any heat treatment whereas Birmabright is a much harder material and needs annealing before it can be reformed successfully. Price is a good indicator .... if it's 35 quid then it's aluminium, 500 quid and it could be Birmabright!!
 

Vincent Brake

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
brimabright polishes very nicely, and leaves then as if there are very small holes in it say 0,1-0,2 mm, its not perfectly smooth, well my language gets short here....
 

clevtrev

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Kevin, You cannot identify Birmabright from aluminium, because Birmabright ( BB 2) is aluminium.
Birmabright is a trade name foe materials produced by Birmetals Limited, what you need to know is the specification for the alloy used. As I have just told you, it is BB2. Modernday equivalent 5251.
It`s a bit like calling all Hoovers, Hoovers, when it could be a washing machine, not a sucking device. :)
 

Monkeypants

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Because the original Birmabright mudguards lasted so well, I wanted to use Birmabright for my project bike. Not knowing the modern day equivalent of Birmabright at the time, I ended up with 5052 Aluminium which is a similar alloy. The idea to use 5052 came from a Landrover website. Several members there had been using 5052 for years to do repairs to the Birmabright Landrover bodies. They claimed that the 5052 was an even tougher and more vibration /crack resistant material than the original Birmabright. 5052 is readily available here in North America. It is fairly tough to shape even after annealing, but rewards you with a very sturdy product that does not dent nearly as easily as the more common and softer alloys.
I used it for both mudguards and the seat cowl, but decided it would be too much of a struggle for the petrol tank, that I did in a softer alloy.
Glen
 
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