After about 14 years of trail riding my wheels were a bit sad and needed some love, front rim had a crack and was welded up back rim looked very used with a small flat spot and the hub was discoloured and the spokes were hard to clean.
Pulled the wheels apart cleaned up the spokes hubs and rims. Painted the hubs, polished the spokes and got the rims powder coated in matte black and had them all laced up and trued again.
Put some new side plastics on just for the photos. (they are wrapped up and packed away again now :)
Ballards tank graphics are disappointing, bubbling off over summer and the tank has been drained that whole time waiting for cooler weather to ride in.
I'm pleased with how the wheels came up.
-- Edited by Kaos on Thursday 4th of March 2021 06:23:54 AM
I made the mistake of having a pair of wheels blasted and powder coated whilst they were in one piece. After a few months the spokes started to come loose and I had to strip the wheels and respoke them. Having the bare rim powder coated is the way to go!
Do the coaters mask the inside of your rims or did they coat the whole things?
I love the forks! Were you able to use the original triple clamps? Oh, the wheels look sweet! I should get my spare ones redone.
The whole front end, forks, triples, bars, wheels, Brembo brake is out of a CCM404 so 48mm WP. Was a bit of a bastard getting bearings to make it fit. Great forks though. My advice if you want an USD fork use a yamaha front end from a YZF WRF easier conversion.
-- Edited by Kaos on Thursday 4th of March 2021 09:39:59 AM
I made the mistake of having a pair of wheels blasted and powder coated whilst they were in one piece. After a few months the spokes started to come loose and I had to strip the wheels and respoke them. Having the bare rim powder coated is the way to go!
Do the coaters mask the inside of your rims or did they coat the whole things?
Brian
The rims were stripped and then the whole rim powder coated. The hubs were cleaned and and painted.
My Ballards decals fell off during a cool change, I came home & they were on the floor covered in crap
Terry
Bad luck Terry
I have found they seem to stick and stay on better if you can leave the tank empty and airing out for a week or so.
The ones Steve now sells to be pretty good. Just have to squeeze any bubbles out occasionally which is the norm for any make of tank decal. (The colour is a lot nicer than the photo on the ad shows!)
My Ballards decals fell off during a cool change, I came home & they were on the floor covered in crap
Terry
Bad luck Terry
I have found they seem to stick and stay on better if you can leave the tank empty and airing out for a week or so.
The ones Steve now sells to be pretty good. Just have to squeeze any bubbles out occasionally which is the norm for any make of tank decal. (The colour is a lot nicer than the photo on the ad shows!)
Brian
I drained the tank and its been empty since the decals went on. They seem to get bubbles coming up in the slits in the graphics, I have used some heat to try and re stick them on a few times. I think the adhesive is crap.
My Ballards decals fell off during a cool change, I came home & they were on the floor covered in crap
Terry
Bad luck Terry
I have found they seem to stick and stay on better if you can leave the tank empty and airing out for a week or so.
The ones Steve now sells to be pretty good. Just have to squeeze any bubbles out occasionally which is the norm for any make of tank decal. (The colour is a lot nicer than the photo on the ad shows!)
Brian
I drained the tank and its been empty since the decals went on. They seem to get bubbles coming up in the slits in the graphics, I have used some heat to try and re stick them on a few times. I think the adhesive is crap.
The OEM copies I fitted are much more sticky & thinner, the Ballards were pretty thick & didn't follow the shape of the tank & perhaps the glue is rubbish as well.