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By jacobtue
#85512
Hi all... winters project is to have two brand new wheels for my cast iron Bullet 500 from 2003. The wheels will be buildt by a professional; not me. But what kind of spokes and rim to use? Please let me hear all the pros and con for galvanized spokes, stainless spokes, stainless rims, cromed rims or alu rims. My idea is to have the wheel hubs and rims painted black. I prefer to use stainless steel for both pokes and rims, but I'm open for good arguments about the different materials and their capability or restrcitions. Thandks... regards Jacob
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By stinkwheel
#85513
A lot will depend on what you use the bike for, how inclined you are to wash it and if you change your own tyres and how careful you are (some rims and finishes are more prone to damage than others).

So my perfect wheel would be stainless rims and spokes and a powdercoated hub because I am super lazy and can't be bothered washing my bikes. I also change my own tyres and get impatient with the tyre levers.

You might want gucci black anodised alloy rims which will be more prone to damege etc.

All that said. Standard indian rims with galvanised spokes will last a good 10 years/80k miles with next to no cleaning. Even used in Winter. They look pretty tatty by that point though.

Chromed mild steel rims are probably the toughest but they don't take paint well.

I once had a bike with flanged alloy rims. The water used to pool in the bottom of the rim and cause corrosion. They were a pain in the backside.

I'd say having the hub powdercoated while it's apart is a no-brainer if you want it black.
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By Adrian
#85517
Flange-less green spot Morad alloy rims - you can paint the centres black and leave the edges polished.

A.
By jacobtue
#85528
Hi Stinkwheel and Adrian... Thanks for replies. First, my approach to my bike and riding it is much like yours Stinkwheel; I don't use much time to wash it. I like to ride it on all kinds of roads on the countryside and in the city here in Denmark. I also do the occational dirt roads in the Sweedish woods. I do things myself except building wheels and fixing the crank. So I do tyre changes with levers as well... Regarding painting vs. powdercoating it's my impression powdercoating is much more delicate with the risk of flaking off. Alu hubs are ok to powdercoat, but what about stainless steel? Can SS even be painted? Alloy rim can be painted/powdercoated, but I will probably end up damage the black colour when changing tyres. It would be ok with me to have bare SS metal rims, but the new hubs I want black. Spokes will be bare SS metal. Here is (hopefully) a picture of the bike the wheels are intended for.
my Bullet 500 A.jpg
regards Jacob
User avatar
By stinkwheel
#85535
Well applied powdercoating on the hub should be fine. It's all about the prep and temperature. If you can, use someone who has a continuous oven with a conveyor. There is a real tendancy with "batch" ovens to cook the coating then leave the pieces in the oven with the door open as it cools. This can "overdo" the coating leaving it brittle. (the guy at my local powdercoating place explained this to me). I have had many powdercoated hubs/wheels over the years on various bikes, several with drum brakes and they were all fine.

I doubt much will stick particularly well to either stainless or chrome to be honest. I've got a cheap spare rear wheel which was powdercoated in its entirety (complete with spokes!). The coating has broken off in big flakes where it was applied to the chrome rim.

That said, I've also painted really rusty chrome rims before and had the paint stay put surprisingly well. I suppose it depends on the paint and prep as much as anything. Last ones I did was with red iron oxide paint and it keyed really well. I suppose you could then put pretty much anything over the top of that.

It's often worth having a word with a local powdercoating company and asking them, they usually do more finishes than just powdercoating and will have a good idea what does and does not work.

It also occurrs to me that they did bullets with coated/painted rims from the factory. Green ones spring to mind. I'm not sure what coating they use on those. Our hosts have a set of used green ones pretty cheap.
http://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycle ... eels/39296
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By windmill john
#85537
I’m not saying I advocate it, but have a go at building your own.

Assuming your existing wheels are complete for you to photograph, photograph both sides a few times, make any notes you feel you should.
Haven’t done a bullet wheel, so check if some of the spokes are different lengths, different shapes. As you remove the old spokes, lay them in sequence, make a note of how they cross etc.

Once you have all the new spokes laid in place and you try to fit the nipples, this is where it gets Interesting as you knock the rim whilst moving it carefully :roll:

I have one similar to this for truing up after.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Q-Tech-Motorcy ... gITF_D_BwE

I was really anxious when I did my first. A very simple reason, I got a front wheel and brake for my Airhead BM. I paid £170 for something that would have cost me just shy of £500 second hand from Motorworks. It had a badly dented rim, so had to spend a long time hammering that round.
I Was pleased with the job and rode on it five years before selling the bike. I then did a couple of smaller wheels and then a Yamaha rear wheel.

How you feel about wheels is how I felt before I first did a dry clutch on my Airhead.

Going back to the question. Personally due to riding all year round, stainless spokes and either stainless or alloy rim.

John
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By Adrian
#85546
Alloy rim can be painted/powdercoated, but I will probably end up damage the black colour when changing tyres.
That's why I suggested leaving the polished edges of the rimes unpainted, just paint the centres. Powder coating ought to be OK if the centres are blasted and etch-primed, alloy wheels on cars are routinely powder coated.

A.
By jacobtue
#85558
Adrian, it might be a nice and pracrical solution to have partly powdercoated stainless rims, but for me the way they look in the end is also a factor, so for me it's either polished stainless or all black rims. If I go for black rims it could be the old cromed and rusty oem rims I'm having sandblasted and painted. It's the way, it was in the past; steel and paint. Using paint for the rims, makes it easy for me to repair, if the coating is damaged during riding or tyre changes. I can't repair a powdercoated rim the same way. Brand new hubs are ordered, and they are going to be black. I wil find a proper workshop to discuss all the info I have got in the forum (thank you). I have the stainless spokes. Rims are not yet ordered; I have still not decided paint or powdercoat... And tyres. For tyres I have been thinking about Heidenau K34. Right now I ride with Avon AM Roadrider and have for the last 40.000 km. I'm very pleased by their performance, but they last only for a season or two, so Im ready to try something else. Any experience on the K34 or personal comparison on the two different tyres... regards Jacob
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By stinkwheel
#85565
See if you can find some old fashioned machine enamel if you're using paint. It's the stuff they use for painting machine tools (lathes etc) agricultural machinery and refuse skips. Tough as old boots and the black is usually self-priming so can go directly onto bare, rusty metal.

Tractol is one brand I know of.
By jacobtue
#85573
Stinkwheel, that is the kind of paint I have in mind. It's so much easier to work with repair wise than powdercoated items. And it's cheaper because I can do the job myself, but it does lack this speciel feeling a powdercoat has. Well, if I can't have both I choose a process I can handle myself and save the money for petrol.

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