Winter project: Wheels are going white ala 93 VFR 750

Well, after much humming and hawing the wheels are going to be powder coated white.

Pearl white to match the bike.

They will be powder coated as well as clear coated. 

Scheduled in about 4 weeks.

Missed the white wheels from my RWB.

I guess I'm a glutten for punishment when it comes to cleaning white wheels but boy do they look good.

I love my white 8th gen but to me it was always missing something.

Once the wheels are white the bike will be where I want it to be.

Sold my panniers for good money that will cover the cost. 

Its my XMAS gift to myself. LOL

Photoshopped image attached.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

White wheels are awesome and much more visually appealing than the popular gold. 

4 hours ago, VFR80025th

after much humming and hawing the wheels are going to be powder coated white.

You chose... wisely. But then, when it comes to wheel colour I may be biased.

Good luck, hope it turns out nice!  

Curious where you'll get this done in T.O.  (Maybe one day I'll need some powder coating done).

Lorne, your gaggle of VFRs with white wheels all look amazing.

On certain bikes, white wheels are best. 

That's gorgeous...even in red. 

Good call in my opinion.

But I am biased somewhat 🙃

I use Flash Fire Coatings just outside of Toronto in Courtice ON. Small shop, excellent service and great results. I know several bike shops that use them for everything. This is is for an 88 Hawk GT project. They also did the rims on my 95 VFR in gloss black.

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As the original owner of a '90 VFR750FL who powder coated the wheels black in 1992, all I can say is: once you go black, you don't go back...  :wink:

(That said, black wheels on a white bike would look weird.)

Ciao,

JZH

10 minutes ago, JZH

(That said, black wheels on a white bike would look weird.)

JZH

 I don't know...

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What does powder coating a set of wheels cost? 

This topic is giving me bad ideas!

Drink the Koolaid Wald.

Drink the Koolaid. 🙂

For the Do it your selfers here, the following.

I've had a few things powder coated in the past working on boats, but found it does not work well is salt air environments.

I live next to the Atlantic Ocean in a place where we get salt and sand on the roads 7-8 months a year. My bikes take a beating.

In 2015 I bought a 91 in England, rode it for 8 months then sold it when the ship left with the caveat that I kept the rear rim. It was in tough shape after a winter on the roads. When it arrived back in Maine I had a think and decided to try painting it myself. I sanded, taped and cleaned it with alcohol, the applied 3 coats of this.

Specialty Appliance Epoxy Spray Product Page (rustoleum.com)

Ran it for a year and decided to paint my front rim (had a third gen front in white but wanted to keep the floating rotors on my 97.)

Since 2016 I've put around 40K on the bike, have touched up the rims occasionally when putting on tires, but that's it.

For me the benefits are.

1. I do not have to ship my rim and worry that the sandblasting will damage the bearing/bead surfaces or the tire stem.

2. The cost is about $15 for paint, tape, and alcohol.

3. Most importantly, I can repair/touch up the rim myself, which really is not possible with powder coating unless you strip the rim.

Just my 02 cents and Humble Opinion.

FWIW, its says Epoxy on the front label, l but is really an Enamel when you look at the specs and on the back of the can. No idea why they do this, but enamel is far easier to work with and repair.

My 4th Gen has the Rustoleum on the rims, my 86 and 90 are OEM. I can't really tell any difference.

I paint all of my rims for all of those same reasons, plus one:

Those fuck sticks like to disregard masking instructions and get baked powder where it shouldn't be and is a bitch to remove without damage.  At least it was expensive.

I know there are good PCers out there, and I've dealt with some.  But have (and witness) a few bad experiences and it leaves a taste for sure.

2 hours ago, FromMaine

For the Do it your selfers here, the following.

I've had a few things powder coated in the past working on boats, but found it does not work well is salt air environments.

I live next to the Atlantic Ocean in a place where we get salt and sand on the roads 7-8 months a year. My bikes take a beating.

In 2015 I bought a 91 in England, rode it for 8 months then sold it when the ship left with the caveat that I kept the rear rim. It was in tough shape after a winter on the roads. When it arrived back in Maine I had a think and decided to try painting it myself. I sanded, taped and cleaned it with alcohol, the applied 3 coats of this.

Specialty Appliance Epoxy Spray Product Page (rustoleum.com)

Ran it for a year and decided to paint my front rim (had a third gen front in white but wanted to keep the floating rotors on my 97.)

Since 2016 I've put around 40K on the bike, have touched up the rims occasionally when putting on tires, but that's it.

For me the benefits are.

1. I do not have to ship my rim and worry that the sandblasting will damage the bearing/bead surfaces or the tire stem.

2. The cost is about $15 for paint, tape, and alcohol.

3. Most importantly, I can repair/touch up the rim myself, which really is not possible with powder coating unless you strip the rim.

Just my 02 cents and Humble Opinion.

FWIW, its says Epoxy on the front label, l but is really an Enamel when you look at the specs and on the back of the can. No idea why they do this, but enamel is far easier to work with and repair.

My 4th Gen has the Rustoleum on the rims, my 86 and 90 are OEM. I can't really tell any difference.

Hey FromMaine, this is a really good idea! I have painted my car rims in the past when nobody offered black alloy rims but did not think of painting bike rims!! (Senior moment kicking in)

I am not married to powder coating as I have seen good and bad results in the past (had damaged threads on a bike frame due to not masked off threads) Can you post a close up picture of the paint on the rim? This would be much easier than PC . 

Thanks

Wald, 12/18/2021 at 12:43 PM

Hey FromMaine, this is a really good idea! I have painted my car rims in the past when nobody offered black alloy rims but did not think of painting bike rims!! (Senior moment kicking in)

I am not married to powder coating as I have seen good and bad results in the past (had damaged threads on a bike frame due to not masked off threads) Can you post a close up picture of the paint on the rim? This would be much easier than PC . 

Thanks

Hi Wald:

Sorry for the delay, for the life of me I could not upload the original of this pic. I resized it but hopefully you can expand it a bit. both rims are the rustoleum appliance paint.

I am ashamed to say I cannot take a pic of the rims close up as my last ride was 600 miles to Madawaska in the rain mostly on Rt. 11 which is a logging road. The trucks lumber out of the woods covered in mud and debris and promptly dump it on the road. I pulled into my driveway and looked at my bike and thought, this thing is absolutely filthy, then wheeled it into the garage.............

Hey FromMaine,

Many thanks, yes it looks good. I checked out the paint site already.  This may lead to a winter project.

Is 5his a red windshield on the bike? What brand?

Thanks,

I have a spare set of wheels that were (poorly) painted white which I used to use for track use. I may try this. Any tips of removing the existing paint, or do I just scuff them up and paint over it? Is any primer needed? 

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Hi Wald:

Yes it is a red windshield, its made by zero Gravity. 

I flew out to Iowa to pick up the bike, and when I saw it was a bit skeptical. I boxed up the oem shield and shipped it to Maine just in case, then headed to Colorado to a SabMag meet.

After 3,000+ miles I decided to keep it. I have just under 53K with it now. Its fairly effective for its size, to the point I can ride with my visor partially open. That said I am only 5'7"

21 minutes ago, bmart

I have a spare set of wheels that were (poorly) painted white which I used to use for track use. I may try this. Any tips of removing the existing paint, or do I just scuff them up and paint over it? Is any primer needed? 

[image: 20211220_114512.thumb.jpg.9cf8060c909de35b3bc39249c3ceb46d.jpg][image: 20211220_114527.thumb.jpg.813ad1b10ea9182874792b6f3727a0d2.jpg]

I just sanded the rim rather than strip it. I did take the time to feather any bare spots into the existing paint, then quickly wiped them down with alcohol and touched them up with a few light coats of the paint before applying the final coats ( 3 light coats). The quicker you coat bare aluminum, the better. If you have an aluminum compatible primer you could try it, but think you will have to let it dry and sand it. I did not have any primer so I just followed the instuctions and recoated every 1/2 hour or so then let it dry for a few days before mounting new rubber. Also before painting I cleaned the bead with 3M adhesive remover, sanded a few divots with 120 (I think) then wet polished the bead with 1500. My rear rim was white to begin with, my front was oem black, use the same process and coats on both.

16 minutes ago, FromMaine

I just sanded the rim rather than strip it. I did take the time to feather any bare spots into the existing paint, then quickly wiped them down with alcohol and touched them up with a few light coats of the paint before applying the final coats ( 3 light coats). The quicker you coat bare aluminum, the better. If you have an aluminum compatible primer you could try it, but think you will have to let it dry and sand it. I did not have any primer so I just followed the instuctions and recoated every 1/2 hour or so then let it dry for a few days before mounting new rubber. Also before painting I cleaned the bead with 3M adhesive remover, sanded a few divots with 120 (I think) then wet polished the bead with 1500. My rear rim was white to begin with, my front was oem black, use the same process and coats on both.

This is my process too. 

Most of the time I will mount the tire before the last coat(s), then clean everything really good, feather any tooling marks, and slide some masking tape down into the bead area with the tire deflated and spray on the last beauty coat(s).  That way I have a whole tire's life of curing time before any tools touch the rim.  Takes some more time. but works really good.

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FromMaine, 12/18/2021 at 9:54 AM

Specialty Appliance Epoxy Spray Product Page (rustoleum.com)

And it comes in colors, including stainless. Interesting. 

FromMaine, 12/20/2021 at 12:06 PM

Hi Wald:

Yes it is a red windshield, its made by zero Gravity. 

I flew out to Iowa to pick up the bike, and when I saw it was a bit skeptical. I boxed up the oem shield and shipped it to Maine just in case, then headed to Colorado to a SabMag meet.

After 3,000+ miles I decided to keep it. I have just under 53K with it now. Its fairly effective for its size, to the point I can ride with my visor partially open. That said I am only 5'7"

Hey FromMaine,

Thanks again. I will check it out. As they say, red is faster!