H: Hubs, Wheels and Tyres Which rims & spokes?

[Speedtwin]

Winter project for the touring Rapide is a set of stainless rims powder coat black with black spokes.
Have had great results with vapour blasting stainless then coating adheres beautifully.
Tried light blasting with aluminum sulphate also works very well great key.
My kickstart is nickel plated as where all the fasteners when I got it it was very ex factory well patinated and original.
A chrome free touring Rapide.
I have kept all the original stuff in case I ever sell to a puritan.....
Al

 

[oexing]

Anyone believes the chromed fuel tanks or rims were sandblasted at the factory before painting the tanks and lining them ?? Nooo, never ! I say nobody has ever found sandblasted lines and patches that were painted originally and later the paint stripped for restoration. And nobody has ever found gold lines dropped on the ground from engine vibrations . Sandblasting would not be practical to do in the paint shop at the assembly line and tens of thousands of bikes . Same goes for stainless polished parts, not any need for special treatment before painting. You just mask the tank or rim with tape and degrease with silicone remover thoroughly and paint as usual, no troubles. . .

Vic

Horex 600 4V , stainless Devon rims from Doug Richardson 30 years ago, rear ss spring shrouds too, meant to go on the Rapides :

 

[Shane998]

and don't forget, some wheels were painted all black. Did I just get the last word ?

This is I believe to be an original front wheel from that time that I have Painted rim in very good condition maybe they didn’t rust like the chrome did

 

[Shane998]

I would expect if you were having a hard time finding someone to build a wheel for you that your local moto-cross bike shop should be able to advise on who can do it in your area.

Also is there a source for the striped rims now or do people organize it on their own? Obviously its not easy as getting the paint to stick well is going to be a bugger to chrome or stainless.

Some time back I got 21 front and 19 rear stainless rims from Devon they had black centres and red lines ( done with tape not painted ) Very good they are. Maybe they don’t offer that anymore but worth asking

 

[Shane998]

With black centers and red pinstripes of course?

Using old rims donated by members of the old Victorian section I had them rechromed then I masked up and had centres water blasted then I painted black centres and had an old style signwrighter paint the lines

 

[oexing]

Would you have a freshly chromed fuel tank sand blasted before lining it ? I doubt it. Nobody did that at factories lik BSA, Enfield and all, as no use.

Vic

 

[LoneStar]

Would you have a freshly chromed fuel tank sand blasted before lining it ? I doubt it. Nobody did that at factories lik BSA, Enfield and all, as no use.

Vic

Well, it's conventional wisdom that paint adheres poorly to a highly-polished surface - hence the very common advice to wet-sand or blast, improving grip. That could be wrong, of course.

Do you know for a fact that the factories never roughed up their chromed surfaces before painting? It wouldn't have been hard to mask the remaining chrome and lightly blast the areas to be painted.

 

[oexing]

You had a look in my photo above, the Horex with the chromed tank plus the painted ss rims from Devon ?? I did the paint 20 years ago, certainly no blasting before paint ! Did you ever see a tank that was chromed and later had the old paint stripped in a restoration ? There would have been clear marks from earlier sand blasting under the original paint - if that ever had been the case . It was just no way to be practical to exactly sandblast all lines or painted areas within the production timing. Well, Vincenteers typically got no knowledge about chromed tanks I guess when thinking about traces of sandblasting as you imagine. So in doubt ask any BSA owner or other brands with chromed tanks if they ever found sandblasting on old chrome. No necessity for any extra sandblasting job just for lining tanks and all - unless people test fingernails on these lines.
When thinking about painted/chromed tanks, it amuses me finding these horrible fake leather covers on British bike tanks - for protecting paint under them. Why have paint at all when never shown in public ? Same amusement with those ridiculous crash bars across Vincents, nobody does this on the continent. Why at all on a bike with a simple black painted tank? I´d be extremely worried with a chromed tank as any accident is an extreme cathastrophe compared to a painted tank. Even so, on our Horexes I´d never ruin looks by bolting a crash bar on them. People would point fingers at me . . .

Vic

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

Well, it's conventional wisdom that paint adheres poorly to a highly-polished surface - hence the very common advice to wet-sand or blast, improving grip. That could be wrong, of course.

Do you know for a fact that the factories never roughed up their chromed surfaces before painting? It wouldn't have been hard to mask the remaining chrome and lightly blast the areas to be painted.

Occasionally there is a motorcycle in the Vincent factory records that has written in the remarks ares of the works order form “wheel rim centre dull chrome“. Sometimes it also says “no paint”. So it looks like there was something different with the finish of the centre of the chromed wheel rims. Why some bikes didn’t have the rim centres painted I don’t know.

 

[Chris Launders]

Possibly they didn't polish the centres if they were to be painted.