My new-to-me 87 K75 has tired looking aluminum. All of the Engine, trans, final drive, and wheels, look dark, mottled and have lost there original factory patina. I believe its all raw (non-annodized) as I tried cleaning the cam cover earlier today with a wire brush chucked in my drill, and,.....it actually started to buff and shine up almost immediately. Too shiny actually,....the original raw aluminum finish looked more like it had been glass bead blasted (or similar).

My hope is to find a method that I can use while the bike is still assembled.

I did a search, and did see the reference to the home-made $5 soda blaster, and I may try that,.......a bit concerned about blasting around the bike as I would assume that dry Baking Soda has some level of abrasive character.

Any suggestions?

Brian

Check out what Mike P hase been doing.
Any of his posts will do.

Lovelly work and he even tells us how he does it.

As Rosskko said try to emulate MikeP s work, basically brass wire brush for the worst oxidisation. Lots of elbow grease with steel wool and an old fashioned soap bar. Sunlight is our brand here, it's not that critical IMO. That has worked for me, pick a surface and work on it till bored, tired other reasons, next session is easier and so on. The good thing is the first go will give good results which is really inspiring. Check out the Your Own Renovation for Mike P and others, I think Halo, could be wrong, has soda and other blasting home made and cheap, though most of these bikes were stripped which makes it easier to control where the medium goes. Basically any of the threads in that section will wow you. 

Read away but don't hesitate to ask questions someone will know or collectively diagnose, 99.999% guarantee and FREE yay!