one down, one to go

[jezza]

It still needs to be properly polished, just been sanded / autosolled so far. Sanding the machine grooves out is the most time consuming - it took about 20 minutes to smooth the rims out for polishing after about 5 hours of sanding with 320, my thumb and index finger are shagged! I ground the writing off of the spokes and painted the inners with black gloss. Good thing I had nothin better to do on nightshift

[rentlr]

10 out of 10 for determination,thats hard work.
look great

[bx-459]

Looks sweet, but what a bitch to keep clean... Keep up the hard (I mean good) work

[tl1000lasse]

Nice work looks

[dragonbro]

looks great ..........what did you use to paint it black? i know it was paint, but what kind.

[horkn]

yeah, what he said. i was thinking of doing the same, and using the engine enamel to paint the spokes. that is some tough stuff (hopefully durable enough for paint....)

[SDTLR]

That took some effort! I can't believe you're going to do the front too

Great job, I always noticed that writing on the rims

[jezza]

I put it on the bike this morning, I'm not sold on how it looks - I might just paint em both all black yet! i'll wait for a bit and see if it grows on me...the cleaning bit has me worried too. I think once they're polished right up they'll be harder to keep clean, but easier to clean, if you know what I mean While they're still a bit flat I think they'll hold crap a bit more - might look into some clear coat too, will have to nice and strong tho!!! The black I used was - wait for it - a rust protector! On the back of the can it explains that it is formulated to bond directly to metals without the use of primer, and it specifically lists aluminium. I used a crap paint stripper that only really managed to take the top layer off the original paint, but after prepping left a nice porous base to paint on. I think if all the paint was removed the sanding job would have been alot easier. i have give the paint a good blast with a pressure cleaner and none came off, but I'll have to see how it goes on the road, but I find most of the rocks and crap hit the outers and not usually the spokes. Time will tell

[Marshall]

I'd like to see a pic of it on the bike, as I'm thinking of doing the same, either polished lip with black or polish the whole thing.

looks good

[PeteW]

I like the look of polished rims. Not so blingy like chromed rims. Plus, after seeing cracked rims on an R1 after getting them chromed, I just don't think it is safe. If your worried about maintenace, buff the wheels real good, and coat them with some clear coat. No more maintence.

[eddii]

that looks sweet jezz, i'd recommend using 1200 like what i did to finish it off. then hit it with autosol i dont recommend putting a clear coat on top of it cause it will make it look dull

[Stabber]

I know a guy who polished his back wheel with it on a stand. He puts it in 6th gear,lets it idle, and uses the sandpaper like a lathe and works his way down to a fine grit. It looks like chrome when he is done. He is making a stand for the front that runs off an electric motor to spin in. He said to be careful on the sprocket side if you like keeping all your body parts

[jezza]

hey there mista eddie! if you put your avitar as the back of your bike everyone will know who ya are righto heres a piccy on the bike! I took so many good pics today! If ya wanna see em they're in the members gallery I used 1200 but I probably didn't sand as much as I could have... might just borrow your mates idea there Stabber... between that and the guy across the road having a bench grinder/buffer (I never could understand why you would want to grind your bench...) I should end up with some super shiny rims!

[eddii]

is that better now jezz? it took me a while to shrink my photo to fit in the avitar anyway, nice touch on the rear tyre

[horkn]

welcome to the planet eddii

that sure is a nice looking exhaust on your tiller