Anybody painted spokes?

mallorcajeff

I know I know vain but I have a real inkling to change the spokes on my cosmics to white. Anybody got any idea if its even possible to I presume have them powedercoated? Obvioulsy the wheels will need to be stripped down spokes painted then rebuilt. Anyone got any ideas on if its even possible and how much its likely to cost. i saw a set of lightweights the other day with white spokes and thought on my wilier that would finish the look off. I would buy lightweights but still just too heavy for them! any help appreciated.

k-dog

I don't think that would be possible - it would to powdercoat or paint the spokes but then threading them through the hub would strip most of it.

It would also cost a fortune - 2 wheelbuilds and the powdercoating would probably cost as much as a half decent set of wheels.

If you really want to do it then you could mask everything off and then carefully spray them - would look okay for a while but would eventually chip.

mouth

We go to great, great lengths to save every gram of weight we can and you want to do WHAT?

mallorcajeff

i guess its a big chore. Mouth, I am fat and savign a few grams wont make much different to me the difference in the weight of the paint would be the difference in carrying 3 energy gels or 1 and seeign as I dont really carry any on my rides I dont see the extra weight as a penatly and if i was really bothered I could always take a P before leaving the house. Seems like its yeah too much trouble have to loose anouther stone then go for a set of lightweights!
cheers

clu

You could perhaps give Argos Cycles in Bristol a ring to see what their thoughts are.

http://www.argoscycles.com/

Monty Dog

Argos will probably charge £5 per spoke....look up powdercoating in yellow pages and try some local providers. Might be tricky not to get a build up around the spoke elbow which will crack and flake off. All threads need to be masked too.

schweiz

If you must....mask everything off and spray them. Get a tin of dupli-color, a roll of masking tape and some newspaper. It'll cost about a fiver. Don't overdo it with the thickness of the paint to avoid runs. You can always add a second coat. There will be loads of wasted paint but the only way to reduce that is an electrostatic spray gun.

Powder coating is too thick.

geoff_ss

One of the problems might be getting the paint to adhere to polished stainless spokes. It may be necessary to etch the spokes first to give a key for the paint. Or you could use 'rustless' spokes which are cadmium plated I think.

Can't think why it would be worth the bother though.

thel33ter

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=434

Save you the bother of painting.

pinno

Painted spokes on my old Ksyriums black. However, they were black in the first place but the stainless steel that was exposed by stone chips took very easy to the paint.

One word of advcice: do not use Dupli colour or any other enamel or solvent based paint, it can react with any old paint, lacquers etc
I used Acrylic - no reaction and you can get a huge range of Acrylic paint from most car parts shop or even Tamiya model paint - Very easy to use, water washable when wet. Mask the wheel up properly - that took me ages. I bought Tamiya black spray and Tamiya black brush on for the ends of the spokes in the hub etc: no difference to the finish when brushing. Clean the surface of the spokes with a very fine steel wool - no need to prime with Acrylic. 2 coats probably weigh pointeleventytwertythree grams - so I would not worry about weight - have an extra piddle before setting off.

Alternitavely, take the tyres and tubes off, fill a bathtub with paint and dip them !
However, Unless they are badly chipped, I don't see the point really.
Good luck.

colsoop

Mask the life out of the wheels and use an etch primer on the spokes this will give the adhesion for the top coat.



Alternatively have them powdercoated.

Work out how much thread will need to be threaded through the rims and mask to that point with 3 or 4 wraps of masking tape.

Any local powdercoaters will do it, ask them if they have a batch of white parts going in as that will save you some cash as they can do the spokes at the same time for a cash in hand job. Shouldn't cost more than £10.

P_Tucker

You could buy some white DT Aerolites and replace the existing spokes. Not cheap though.

cjblake15

spokelab.com just launched. We do spokes in about 20 different colors. We have pics of the powder coat colors posted while we're waiting on a photographer to do pics of the product. We only use DT Swiss Champion spokes. They look great!

http://www.spokelab.com

cjblake15

UPDATE!

We now sell DT Competition Spokes and anodized nipples. There's plenty of pics on the website and we offer samples as well! spokelab.com