stained wire spokes

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Apr 30, 2009 | 07:08 PM

purproadking

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6th Gear

Joined: Mar 2009

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stained wire spokes

i have the stock harley spoked rims i took off my rk that are stained pretty good, i think from bleach white? any good easy way to clean back up?

Apr 30, 2009 | 10:12 PM

Beemervet

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Joined: May 2006

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From: Ohio

Rims or spokes? Spokes are zinc coated, not chrome. They never stay nice.

Apr 30, 2009 | 11:58 PM

becket

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Joined: Apr 2007

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Had a 79' shovel Sporty with nasty crusty dull wires. I used Easy-off
oven spray to coat them, wait a five or so minutes, and spray them off. Did a great job; just keep it off the fender paint, it may be bad for it probably.

May 1, 2009 | 02:02 AM

RangeRat

Outstanding HDF Member

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 2,542

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From: Cocoa Beach, Florida

What year is yours purpleroadking? My '07 has the HD optional chromed spokes and rims and now, major crud from stock brake pads. Switching to Lindalls Z pads but need to get the crud off the spokes too.

Last edited by RangeRat; May 1, 2009 at 02:05 AM.

May 2, 2009 | 10:50 AM

purproadking

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6th Gear

Joined: Mar 2009

Posts: 13

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they are wire spokes, they are off the bike now, trying to find something good to clean them today

May 2, 2009 | 12:40 PM

Beemervet

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From: Ohio

You can use a lot of different things to clean spokes, just not anything to abrasive. And a lot of elbow grease. Dealers at least since the sixties have always said "don't forget to wax those spokes!"

May 2, 2009 | 04:30 PM

paudia

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Joined: Nov 2008

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From: Torrington, Ct

I had a 01 RK with the same problem. I had a local shop re-lace the wheels with stainless spokes. Looked great and won't discolor as easy.

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May 2, 2009 | 06:23 PM

RangeRat

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Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 2,542

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From: Cocoa Beach, Florida

Quote:

Originally Posted by paudia

I had a 01 RK with the same problem. I had a local shop re-lace the wheels with stainless spokes. Looked great and won't discolor as easy.

I've heard the same thing from locals here in this salt-laden soup we call air. When one buddy saw I opted for chrome spokes on my (then new) RK, he laughed quietly and said, "The iron OEM brake dust gets turned into mud spots and then, after it gets blow-dried to hardness for about 15 minutes, the front side of those chrome spokes will turn into a lot of little black pimples and it will probably happen before the next fill-up. Go get some polished stainless."

He sure was right about the black pimples, frequent washing just wasn't enough, and I think you're both right about stainless. Still gonna try a Beemervet style serious (lots of elbow grease) clean-up first but...