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.
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 12:55 AM PDT
I'm surprised you can't use a liner and run tubeless.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.