what to do with wheels

Hello All. I'd like to spruce up the old wheels. They're originals and although the chrome is generally pretty good, the edges have a lot of rusty gouges from previous owners changing the tires. Also, the spokes are tired looking and don't really spiff -up very well. Suggestions? New wheels with new spokes? Where to buy? Re-chrome old rims and replace with new spokes? If I decide to have these re-worked, who do you recommend?

Thanks.

Size of wallet a factor here. Get someone competent to lace up new arrangement as both wheels are heavily offset to the side. Photographing this all is good procedure and measuring offset too. Original Zinc plated spokes will not polish up. They're just dull as per original. If you do decide to spend there are alluminum rims (lighter) and shinyer spokesets too. You can lace things up yourself too. Or leave it original and live with it and spend the savings on wine, women n' song !

Rebuilt wheels can get really spendy, but few things can improve handling more. I'd highly reccomend Buchanans for anything wheel related. Dimpleless polished aluminum rims, stainless spokes, sealed wheel bearings was the route I went. More than most would spend and worth every penny!

Radiofun the coinage the Snorter just stated would be quite BIG. But it's YOUR pennies. Should you ever sell you get most of the blingbucks back. It looks like you've sold alot of other machinery though and decided to retain the Norton. Good. Mine went to really nice original rims ,no rust internally (important) or externally. Stainless spokes and I followed Internet offset instructions myself and it worked out fine and was enjoyable too ,even my bicycle builder neighbour came over to help and he had never seen such extreme offset. Switch to sealed bearings as suggested.

You can get the sealed bearings from Walridge, even the double row. Direct replacements. Stainless spokes are nice. Need to decide double or single gauge. Alloy rims are nice, but do you want original look or new look. Stainless rims in WM2 are available. Your only problem is the front disk offset. I did my own re-spoking on my drum brake wheels, but you may think otherwise. If you like DIY it can be done. It's up to you. Depends on how deep your wallet is.

Dave
69S

I kept my hubs and had the wheels restrung with stainless spokes and new rims. A Harley swindler charged me 600 in labor to string the wheels and mount the tires. All told, I had close to 1200 bucks in the wheels and tires by the time I was finished. Someone on here mentioned an old guy he knew up in Milwaukee that strung Norton wheels and was very reasonable.. like 40bucks a wheel I think.

cut the spokes out and send the hubs to Buchanans, they will put in new bearings and new SS spokes to Commando specs, tell them 19 front and 18 rear, rims wide shouldered to fit new tires but with tubes

did this 12 years ago, looks beautiful and handling much better now

Ebay item 261118296224

Radiofun from your profile I don't know where you are from. There is a guy here in St. Louis that can lace your wheels for a reasonable fee. If you want to spiff up your disc's there is a machine shop across the river in IL that does world class work. I went the aluminum rims, stainless spokes and nipples route from Buchanan's. Pricey as stated by others but they look right. One other tip don't mount your tires yourself and maybe nick up your new polished rims. Seek out a Ducatti shop or some other high end MC shop (read not HD) that is used to working on high end and expensive wheels. They should have a guy that can do the work. Talk with the service manager and tell him what you are working on and he will see that you are treated right. All totaled with all the goodies, polished hub, new bearings, rim, spokes and nipples, reworked disc, Avon tire and tube I have a grand in just the front wheel for my Triton project.

With my '73, I re-laced the original rims and hubs with new stainless spokes, around $90 a set. New Norton rims run around $225 or so, and a re-chrome can cost $300 or more (its a lot of work to get around all those dimples).

With my '69, I took out all the spokes and nipples and had them clear cad plated. The rims were a bit rough, so I bought new rims, which cost about $275 each (Matchless, rather than Norton, so more pricey). The spokes were sent in with every single bit that needed plating, and it cost about $80 for the lot.

Some owners of show bikes buy the stainless spokes and then bead blast them - giving the look of cad without the worry of oxidation. The nipples are then polished to look like chrome, and you've got original-looking spokes out of SS.

Just make sure ya alert the lacer that the Norton front disc rim gets almost fully tightened up centered by disc side spokes first before even touching the opposite to nip up or rim gets pulled way off so have to back up and start again.

Another option is to send wheels as-is to Buchanan's so they get the offsets. You can have Buchanans' ship front spool for polish before assembly. SS spokes and alloy rims. My preference is 18" rims front and rear. Better tire selection and performance with 18 wheels.

I got a set of Excel's from Buchanan's. REWM31940H EXCEL WM3 (2.15) x 19" SHOULDERED ALUMINUM RIM - 40H.

Laced them up myself, tune for proper offet and trued them. This is a great project with huge rewards of self satisfaction.

The trick is to study up on the proceedure and save the old wheels for a model.

Tip #1. Don't be shy with the provided spoke thread lube.

pvisseriii said:

I got a set of Excel's from Buchanan's. REWM31940H EXCEL WM3 (2.15) x 19" SHOULDERED ALUMINUM RIM - 40H.

Laced them up myself, tune for proper offet and trued them. This is a great project with huge rewards of self satisfaction.

The trick is to study up on the proceedure and save the old wheels for a model.

Tip #1. Don't be shy with the provided spoke thread lube.

Click to expand...

Side note: the shouldered aluminum wheels weigh about the same as the stock steel rims.

Buchanans knows all about Commando offsets, just send them your hubs

Thanks for all your good advise. Much appreciated.

Radio,

I'm with Dave. Walridge has all of its basic wheelbuilding stuff on sale now; rims, spokes, and bearings. It's more cost effective to buy new parts than rechrome old ones. If you have some mechanial abilty and have access to a truing stand, build up the new wheels yourself. Go slowly, read the archived wheelbuilding stuff here, and enjoy it. This was the most satisfying part of my Mk3 rebuild.

Dismounting the old tires and mounting new ones, on the other hand, is difficult and unsatisfying; have it done by a good shop; it's cheap.

Walridge spokes have cut threads, Buchanan's have rolled threads. Just in case you have a preference.

do yourself a favor and cut the spokes off. I unscrewed mine since I am a glutton for punishment. I dont know what to do with rusty old spokes ahhah


I ordered a stainless kit from buchanans then reversed my original decision to true them and just sent the stuff to them to lace up. I am glad I did, they are absolutely awesome.

I had some rust on the original rims so I had a local place powdercoat them. They did a really good job and they look cool, nothing stock though but that wasnt my look to go for. I sent the hubs to CNW and they turned down the front hub, it really changes the look. its very show quality. They are very good at polishing too, I polished the drum myself and it was difficult to match their polishing quality of work! Also had them install the double sealed bearings, peace of mind. All in all I planned on spending 500 or so bucks but it ended up getting astronomical. I just got carried away, I think its rather expensive but whats done is done?

Only thing I dont like now is mounting tires on a painted rim, I didnt think too much about it when I had em done, now I think its a matter of time before I chip something or a tire place chips something.

They do look absolutely awesome though!!!

Before....




After....

I really can't figure why one wants to pay for machining the hub when we can buy direct replacement double row bearings from Walridge for less than $40 each. But each to his own.

Dave
69S