A previous owner had painted the wheels. I really liked the idea of having red centers with silver edges for the wheels. Unfortunately, the paint was lifting in places because it seems not to have adhered terribly well to the original silver paint. After I'd given them a good scrub down, with gunk, then Jif cream cleaner, then lots of clear water, I felt I could get some good results with a rattle can.
I found Halfords do enamel paint in two shades of red, one of which was a good match for the bike's Lancaster Red. I'm thinking of it as a temporary measure, pending getting them powder coated some time later on.
I'm keen to get riding so I'm starting to make some small compromises now, thinking I can rectify them after using the bike for a while. I freshened up the silver with a brush, steady hand and Smoothrite. To get an even finish, I put the wheel up on axel stands. That way, I could slowly rotate it on its spindle and rest my hand on the stand whilst applying the paint. I think the results are pretty good considering.
Right-hand side of the hub: disc carrier. There are six threaded holes on the right-hand side of the wheel for the chromed allen-headed bolts that retain the rear disc. I lightly smeared lithium grease around the edges of them to stop the disc from sticking to the paint. I then used non-permanent thread lock on the thread of the bolts to keep them in place and copper grease under the heads to prevent them from seizing. I had found a build up of dirt and rust in these special bolts which made them difficult to remove. Also, the rust had started lifting the chrome where the finish had presumably been damaged in previous tightening. So I put blobs of grease in the bolt heads and banged in plastic caps to prevent corrosion from building up in them in the future.
 |
| Grease around the disc bolt holes to stop the disc from sticking to the new paint ... |
 |
| ... and thread lock to hold the bolts firm after torquing them up. |
 |
| Plastic caps to prevent corrosion from building up in the bolt holes. |
Left-hand side of the hub: cush drive
 |
| Installing rubber 'cush drive' blocks |
 |
| Installing a greased spacer into the sprocket carrier. |
A rubber O-ring sits in a machined groove around the wheel bearing so I put rubber grease around it to help keep dirt and dust out. It helped me to ease the sprocket carrier into the hub as well because it is a fairly tight fit. I'm very pleased with the finish I managed to obtain on the sprocket carrier - very satisfying indeed. I'm hopeful it will be a permanent (whatever that means on a motorcycle) whereas the wheel paint is more of a stop gap measure.
 |
| Installing the sprocket carrier to the rear wheel hub. |
There is a small alloy spacer that fits into a rubber seal just outboard of the left-hand wheel bearing. The action of the rubber seal rotating around this spacer tends to wear a groove in it. Plenty of grease should help. Job done.
3 comments:
Wow, that is red! Looks good and a lot of work. You going to do the same on the front?
Thanks. I'll probably do the front too though the paint is in better nick that it was on the back. I guess the chain grease/road dirt was more severe on the rear wheel. I might hold fire on the front end when the back and engine covers etc are done, to give myself some riding time. Depends on the weather in some ways.
I'm being tempted by a Daytona fairing job the way you did yours. Must resist ... might resist ..... could be a cool thing to do ...... the twin headlights are wicked .............
:-)
Post a Comment