Spoke Cleaning - An Inconvenient Truth !!

Now I know why I have alloy wheels!!

Good work and for effort.

Thanks, they look great! BUT you have me decided. my bike spokes are only 1yr old and look like yours, IF I spend £20 on cleaning crap and several hours/weeks cleaning them they will look as good as new....for a few weeks! ergo when I have the time/money/inclination my wheels will be in a workshop, possibly haggon and having the spokes changed for stainless steel. I admire the hard work and time you have put in but I know regardless of the cleaning you mean to do everyday/week in order to keep your spokes looking good at some point they will end up looking tired again. The moral of the story is  once again we get a great product BUT the company's skimp on the things WE think matter, if its a car they fit a mild steel exhaust that will discolour and rust in the first few years and on a bike they fit either cheap chrome or spoked wheels that will pit and grey over a very short period of time, instead of spending an extra £20 to them or consequently £200 to us on stainless steel!!!!!!

I agree with you on that Justin - the manufacturers do cut corners.  I'll be honest - I have no idea what the spokes are made of - I'm assuming a they're a zinc-plated steel - I'm sure either Sim, Mr I., or someone knows for certain.

I don't intend to go through this whole process on a regular basis.  My intention is to make sure that I give them a wipe over (once a month or so) with either a spray polish, WD 40 or something else that will keep the bulk of the grime at bay.  I know from years of detailing cars that if you spend a little time regularly building up a wax coat on the paint, the shit don't stick as well.

And if, in a years time, they're back to looking the dirty grey colour they were when I started, I'm going to bite the bullet & have the whole wheel powdered.  I'll keep this posting updated as to how they're going.

Great write up Dave! What a great job of doing the spokes too, they look amazing! I'm sure they'll look even better when the suns shining on them in summer 

Now I know why I swapped my wheels from spoked to cast ones Dave!  
Good job though matey & if you want another set to do I still have my old wheels that could do with a clean, if you're not too busy of course 

Never appreciated how easy the Katana wheels were to keep clean till now.

Tell you what - you give me a hand to sort out my diff conversion & I'll clean your wheels !!

OK, IF I wanted to change my wire wheels to alloy can it be done! I have looked online but nothing has come up...............

Yes Justin these will fit straight on.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291367296262?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291367296329?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

or you can put VZ800 wheels on with a little more work on the front.
https://www.suzuki800.com/t3899-cast-wheel-conversion-mod-for-2010-c800-intruder

You can fit VZ wheels Justin, no real problem in the general fit except  the front disc will be no good to you from your old VL, all the spacers etc from your old wheels will cross over though.
I had to fit the early vz (1998/2004) dished front disc as the VZ & the VL are flat centred. 
Also you will need to get new disc bolts & get an engineering place to redrill & re-tap the disc bolt holes in the wheel as the centres are different on the disc as you may be able to see from my write up that I did last year kindly put up by Sim as above, thanks Sim!
It you want anymore advice then contact me ok?

Dave I was joking mate & I'll help you anyway as we said earlier ok 

cant read German is that a rear wheel of the new c800 they have wheels like that don't they? is it just the rear wheel for that price I love them wheels of the new c800 wish I had em on my bike

  I'd posted the rear wheel twice lol, I'll edit the front one in 

peardrop3 wrote:

Dave I was joking mate & I'll help you anyway as we said earlier ok 

You're a star Pete - managed to pick up an 800 shaft & spacer, so I could start on striping that down.  I'll let you know when I have the 1400 unit as well.

OK Dave, will give you a bell during this week sometime & arrange to nip over to see you ok?

Justin, yes they are the new C800 cast wheels but expensive as you can imagine. They will fit straight on yours so you'd not have any problems with the disc as I did.

OK mate - look forward to it

Thanks BUT I was hoping someone new of some GOOD looking alloys, the new c800 casts are a little bland! I have no problem finding wheels for most other bikes but I cant seem to find them for ours

Strangely, I reckon they'd work well on my bike - one mans meat, as they say !!

Justin I think you'll have a very long search my friend as there are very few other wheels out there suitable to fit so you would have to get them made which will be an exorbitant cost so why not try some VZ Marauder one's like on mine as they do look different.

Thats one hell of a job done, well done matey 

Thanks peter but I am tooo much of a tart to accept same ol same ol, if I cant get different from the crowd guess I will have to stick with spokes! cheers

Have a look at Sanos's wheels in the showroom Justin he has some fancy alloys and it'll tell you where they're from, not cheap mind.

Best be stocking up on your cleaning crap then Justin lol !!!!

simbo wrote:

Have a look at Sanos's wheels in the showroom Justin he has some fancy alloys and it'll tell you where they're from, not cheap mind.

Where?