painting spokes

[brand new bike zealot]

I have been toying with doing the black spokes, chrome rims look and was wondering if anyone has tried painting their spokes? I'm thinking of doing it with a small foam brush maybe using gloss black tremclad. Seems like a bit of a chore cutting in where they lace into the hub, but way easier/cheaper than replacing the spokes.

Any opinions?

[Agemax]

would be very difficult to prep spokes properly for painting, and like you say, a lot of fiddly work. also they would look terrible when the paint starts to chip and flake off. would be more work than its worth IMO

[brand new bike zealot]

ya, the chipping would look look like hell... But my spokes look like hell as it is. We'll see. Maybe I'll look into how much it is to re-lace, or just not worry about it...

[Agemax]

have you got chrome spokes or stainless? stainless polishes up real nice

[wayne cooper]

As long as you tape up your bearings properly you can have your wheel sandblasted and then paint with Tremclad or something similar. The shop I use charges $30 to blast 2 wheels and the tire can be left on. The wheel pictured is finished in base coat/ clear coat because I was the payee not the payer.

[TheCafeKid]

I did my cafe's wheels. Stood up quite nicely. I used MANY coats of Rustoleum gloss black. Narry a chip, but it comes right off if you drip some brake fluid on it while bleeding your system. Re-lacing can be had for relatively cheap. I would suggest checking out your local dirtbike shop. They will likely do it way more often than your standard bike shop, unless of course you hit a *gasp* Harley shop, who will prolly charge you 4 times what its worth because of the Harley logo on the building outside.

[brand new bike zealot]

thanks for the ideas guys. I've got some stuff at the chrome shop, I'll ask them what they charge for sandblasting. I think I'm more inclined towards the elbow grease el cheapo route. If the spokes end up looking like hell, (and they already do, not sure if they're chrome or stainless agemax, how do I tell?) I can just trash them and get the wheels relaced with what I want.

[TheCafeKid]

thanks for the ideas guys. I've got some stuff at the chrome shop, I'll ask them what they charge for sandblasting. I think I'm more inclined towards the elbow grease el cheapo route. If the spokes end up looking like hell, (and they already do, not sure if they're chrome or stainless agemax, how do I tell?) I can just trash them and get the wheels relaced with what I want.

Are they rusted? If so, they're likely not stainless.

[Dan Ruddock]

Powder coat woluld be the only way to go for black spokes. Dan

[TheCafeKid]

Powder coat woluld be the only way to go for black spokes. Dan

The BEST way for sure, but not cheap. They'll have to be completely disassembled and then reassembled and trued up.