SPOKES???

  • April 15, 2010 11:38 PM PDT
    Spokes...  Many of us have them. I have them and hate them! What do you use to keep them from rusting?  (one guy told me Pam kitchen spray)  How do you clean the wheel where the axle area is. Ya can't get yer hand in there. What do you use to remove Rust once it gets started? Does anyone have some magic potion ya just spray on and Wallah!!!  Lets hear it!
  • April 16, 2010 12:11 AM PDT
    The best cleaner I have ever found is called "HondaBrite", it has magic unlike any other product. Spray it on in the shade, rinse it off with soft water it makes nuts, bolts, chrome, paint, alloy shine like new again. Need center stand or pit bull to get wheel off the ground to spin..... Rust?......Harley chrome sucks they all rust in south Florida a couple months after you buy one unlike any other bikes I see.. Harley should sell or have an equivalent to S-100 spray polish for the spokes to slow down the rust, clean them up with a fine scotchpad first to wipe the rust away, spray it on and leave it, dries clear.
    • 568 posts
    April 16, 2010 12:17 AM PDT
    ... or even better, harley wheels should come in stainless steel from stock!

    • 1161 posts
    April 16, 2010 12:26 AM PDT
    Get new wheels but I dont like spokes anyways.
  • April 16, 2010 12:38 AM PDT
    If you have to store your bike outside spokes are a pain. Especially in a place that has lots of road or sea salt. Lucky for me we have neither in So. IL. I dry my spokes (actually the whole bike) with a hand blower as soon as I have washed the bike or had to ride in rain. I am lucky and have a garage so it has not been a big deal for me. My big beef about spokes is that you cannot run tubeless tires on them. I read some articles that there is a process that allows you to seal the nipples inside the wheel and thus allow tubeless tires to be used. I have not found anyone locally who has had this done. I am looking for someone who has had some experience with this on a motorcycle?
  • April 16, 2010 12:46 AM PDT
    Relace to stainless.
  • April 16, 2010 12:55 AM PDT
    I'm surprised you can't use a liner and run tubeless.
  • April 16, 2010 2:47 AM PDT
    EXTREME.... Stainless what? Spokes? Wheels? Hubs? Still have that problem around the Axle area that you can't reach without a stick and a Rag when yer cleaning... Please elaborate on the "Stainless"...   And by the way. The bikes are kept out of the weather in the Garage when not ridden or being "Bathed and Massaged".....  Sarge... 
  • April 16, 2010 3:32 AM PDT
    Can you use stainless spokes on a dis-simular metal rim? I haven't had a bike with spokes since the seventy's, read a blog last year by a "Biker" at an Or-Not Biker site where he was riding down the road minding his own business and his rear hub came loose causing him to crash. Come to find out after he claimed to be a Biker thirty years he never knew you were supposed to tighten spokes. Used to check and tighten them a few times a year in the old days.
  • April 16, 2010 3:39 AM PDT
    Stock spoke wheels from Harley are total shit. Besides the fact that I don't like the spoke wheels to begin with they are a pain in the ass to keep clean. While I did have 80 spoke stainless steel wheels on my old Heritage and liked the look of them, for the year I had them I had to have them fixed once due to the spokes not being set correctly when I bought them and caused some wobble.

    If I were going to do spokes again on a bike it would be the front wheel only and they would be the thick fat spokes colored to match something random on the bike.
  • April 16, 2010 4:10 AM PDT
    Hambone, the Softail Custom is front wheel only spokes. Rear is a disc like a FatBoy. The Indian (PITA) is front and rear... Hmmm... Colored Spokes....
  • April 23, 2010 3:07 PM PDT
    bikersarge1 wrote...
    EXTREME.... Stainless what? Spokes? Wheels? Hubs? Still have that problem around the Axle area that you can't reach without a stick and a Rag when yer cleaning... Please elaborate on the "Stainless"...   And by the way. The bikes are kept out of the weather in the Garage when not ridden or being "Bathed and Massaged".....  Sarge... 


    Stainless spokes. Ran spokes for years and once you get the rim and hub clean, hit it with a good coat of wax. The best way to clean them up is with an AMWAY Scrub bud. Will get rust and other stuff off but won't scratch chrome. Keep it wet with a little degreaser and it works like a charm. (No, I don't sell Amway)

  • April 23, 2010 11:29 PM PDT
    You don't need a stick and a rag using Honda Brite, spray it on, hose it off. Simple Green is good too just don't leave the same shine after.
    • Moderator
    • 19007 posts
    April 23, 2010 11:37 PM PDT
    First spoked (laced) is the best look although I have moved away from it recently. Not by choice but that is another story.
    Agreeing 100% with Extreme.. Stainless is best with frequent mild detergent cleaning. Then once or twice a year wheels off and on the workbench cleaning with various jabby things and rags.
  • May 3, 2010 10:26 AM PDT
    My question is this: I have 80 spoke wheels tubeless and 4 spokes broke in one area. My friend told me they can't be re-laced because they are for tubeless tires. Is that true? So you spend over a grand for these wheels and if a few spokes break you just toss them?
  • January 24, 2012 3:18 PM PST
     I have seen and intend on installing on my ironhead, this nifty system. Take a long piece of an old leather belt or get a wide section of leather that will wrap completely around your hub, inside the spokes, with 1 or 2 holes drilled in each end. Wrap the leather loosely around hub, put 1 or 2 bolts throught the holes so that the bolts will weight down the leather and still sit almost stationary as your wheel spins, polish the hub as you drive!!
    • Moderator
    • 19007 posts
    January 24, 2012 9:38 PM PST
    That hub polisher is an old bicycle trick. I had them on my Schwinn way back when. They could be bought with jeweled reflectors. Sounds like a good idea but...
    I see two possible problems, both related to the speed a motorcycle runs at
    1. If the hub is chrome, over time the road dirt will actually work as an abrasive and remove or dull the shine.
    2. At higher speeds I wonder if it would start spinning with the wheel and possible cause an out of balance condition.

    If you do this let us know how it works out.
    • 9 posts
    January 25, 2012 12:06 AM PST
    Hey Ya'll,
    Ya know what I do for a living right? Two things...NEVER use an oil based product, such as a cooking spray on your spokes or wheels. Oil is a dirt and grime magnet. After you've thoroughly cleaned them (I had to use a toothbrush on my ex's spokes) Grab ya some Mothers Reflections Tire Care and put it on the spokes and all around the rim. For regular maintainance, get Mothers FX Wheel and Tire Cleaner. Spray it on, wait a few, hose
    it off, done. Yes, it can be a little pricey depending on where you buy it. But totally worth it!!! I won more than
    one trophy for "BLUE" (my '91 Sporty) using Mothers' products. Check out their website:
    http://www.mothersfx.com/index.html />
    Ride Free
    Tweek
  • January 25, 2012 1:25 AM PST
    I agree with Tweek on the use of Mothers products. But, do not get the wheel cleaner on ANY part of your brushed metal (read: covers, etc), they will turn ash grey.
  • January 25, 2012 4:59 PM PST
    you could replace your spokes with polished stainless steel spokes and all you have to do is wipe em down now and then and they never rust... on my previous bike I replaced my stock spokes with a set from a company called Buchannans Spoke. You can get them in about a week if their in stock or if you require customs could take up to 3 weeks to get em.