Cleaning and maintaining spokes.

[kstew74]

I'm new to the forum so I hope i'm in the right area.

I've got a beautiful 2000 1200XL Custom, in impectable condition, except for a little bit of rust on my spokes. My question is what should I use to get the rust off and to prevent further rusting?

I've heard to use steel wool or even very light sandpaper, but I don't want to make it worse.

Any advise?

Thanks,
Keith

[thatbikerguy]

Still waiting for that answer myself...

[toe]

Change them to stainless.................

[bshadbolt]

Have you tried chrome polish on them. If too badly rusted then it may not help. For this you can try rubbing them with tinfoil...believe it or not it can help remove surface rust.

Steel wool and/or sandpaper will damage the surface and I wouldn't recommend it.

Cheers,

Brett

[hero]

Yep, tinfoil does help, but not for long. Once the galvanised layer wears away enough for corrosion to start, it's game over. Re-lacing the rim with stainless spokes is a good call & will last for years to come. Whatever you do, don't try polish the standard spokes or bring steelwool near them, it'll make it worse.

[IronMick]

The spokes on my bike were hopeless when i bought it. I used a Dremmel tool with a kind of buffing attachment with metal polish. Worked pretty well. Had to remove the wheels from the bike, and also remove the brake rotors, sprockets, etc. The attachments are expensive [more than $5 each] and they wear out quickly. New wheels might be a better investment.

[Gone]

Folks,

The plating on the stock spokes is very thin. Not that I've ever had it assayed or anything, but I think the plating on the OEM spokes is cadmium. It's pretty soft. It works fine as long as you treat it very delicately. Best way to clean good (new) cadmium-plated spokes is with a rag and some solvent. Steel wool and sandpaper are among the worst things you can use on these spokes. Once you compromise the plating, you're through to bare steel, and they're going to rust, and keep on rusting. Once this happens, there isn't much you can do.

The cad plating dulls after a while, and a little bit of polish, maybe annually, will brighten them up a bit, but again, if you do it too often, you're going to remove the plating. Better than steel wool though.

Best solution is a set of stainless spokes. They're available polished, which is pretty bright, very close to chrome, just a tiny bit yellower, as steels go.

2nd best is a set of chrome plated spokes. But they're more expensive, and not quite as durable. Nothing beats stainless. For anyone interested, we get $85 for plain stainless and $115 for chrome-plated Buchanan's spoke kits. I think polishing on the plain stainless parts is something like $30 extra.

Best regards,

[toe]

The cadium spokes go black very quickly if you're close to the ocean...........

Could be humidity, salt in the air, or a combination.

Brother-in-law's bike didn't have any problem, but they live in the desert.........


Ed

[renegade1]

How badly rusted are they, I used Luster Lace on my 97' with stock spokes. Looks good, just hard to get where the spokes cross.

[Takingabreak]

I found the perfect way to handle it, Replace it with a cast alumiun rim.

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/500/medium/IMG_0061.jpg

Works every time it's tried.

[jrazo]

I have the same problem, but I was thinking of spraying them with rust stopping primer then painting them black. You guys think that would work?

[bsporty]

I'm new to the forum so I hope i'm in the right area.

I've got a beautiful 2000 1200XL Custom, in impectable condition, except for a little bit of rust on my spokes. My question is what should I use to get the rust off and to prevent further rusting?

I've heard to use steel wool or even very light sandpaper, but I don't want to make it worse.

Any advise?

Thanks,
Keith

Hey Keith,
Steel wool can be used on auto glass to remove sticker goo and numerous other things,we use it in the shop to remove overspray on windshields.You can also use it to polish chrome.Be sure to buy triple zero steel wool.

[sanman12002003]

a sos pad will be fine,just rub very lightly and most surface rust will come right off with no problems,