Chrome Plating Rims vs Buying New

[barry.krauter]

Regrettably, most of my rims have rusted while in storage. I see new Ariel Rims are available from Devon and Feked at about 90 pounds for chrome plate and 145 pounds for stainless. So $180 and $290 Canadian these days. This gets expensive in a hurry!

Plating in my location (Toronto Canada) seems very expensive. I've seen $300 per rims quoted.

What do you do over there?

[Simon.Gardiner]

Some people like to re-chrome, some buy new. The new rims don't seem to be dimpled in exactly the same pattern as the originals but most people seem to get them to work fine.
I think personally I'd always go for stainless 'cos no matter how hard I try chrome rims always seem to rust inside in the wells (I don't have a heated, air-conditioned garage and the bike does encounter the wet despite my best intentions to use it only on the most enjoyable dry and sunny days....)
However I've got a set of 1951 rims that have lost most of the chrome but are otherwise extremely sound and I'm tempted to get those re-chromed as it goes against the grain a bit to just chuck them.
We also have Central Wheel Components and opinions seem to be split over which is best, Devon or Central Wheel. Some people source rims from one and spokes from another.
There are quite a few threads on rims and wheels in the forum and a forum search should pick up enough references to get you thoroughly confused.

SG

[keithberry]

Devon are by far the best . The amount of hassle people i know and myself have suffered because of central wheel is unbelievable, there arrogance is the biggest bug bear ,EVEN WHEN THEY ARE SO WRONG AND YOU PROVE IT TO THEM THEY NEVER NEVER SAY SORRY.

[Brian.Fosh]

Hi. My last experience with central was 4 years ago with a BSA Sloper.They took 3 painful months of waiting and spokes broke within 800 miles of use. This was with their black Chrome Spokes and was probably plating embrittlement. None-the-less, they were unhelpful and arrogant when they continued to break after a 2nd build (add another 2 months!) at the next gauge up...and their painted rims are now crazed/corroded beneath the paint.. those little spiders of rust that you get with poorly prepared parts. the arrogance came initially at their reception desk and again via the owner, who is the son of the guy who originally set up Central and who originally gave such an excellent service.

However, Central were at that stage the only spoke manufacturer in the UK.. so even going to trusted builders like Alf Hagon meant using the same spokes. I Therefore used BUCHANAN'S in the US... They have a good on-line ordering service and are a family based business who really know their stuff. www.buchananspokes.com .

I was at an advantage when ordering these because i already had the breaking set of spokes, so it was easy to sketch them and fine-tune their lengths and shorten the excessive heel lengths that Central had used ... Which I think was a lazy thing for them to do to make lacing easier but meant they flexed more. The failures I experienced was the heads breaking off with a 45 degree cone... Which i recall from my college days is a classic tensile failure for brittle materials.

I therefore used plain unplated spokes from Buchanan's but painted in a black etch primer with simoniz tough black polyurethane single pack paint. This worked treat and they have lasted superb and longer than the rims. If had used the same solution through Central t would probably have been as good but hey.. why give custom to arrogant suppliers who are great if things go well but that is far as it goes.

4 Months ago i bought Rim and spoke sets for my Square 4. One set from Feked on ebay, the other set from the Devon rim Company. I believe the owner of one sold up and started trading as the other. Both Rims are stamped Devon Wheel. The rims are Chromed . The spokes are stainless, and I would guess are possibly from central Wheels spoke division. The rim Chrome quality is superb and they were wrapped with care. I Built them up in the frame and am really very pleased with the results. The Rims have got that nice rounded Dunlop rim shape. rather than the Italian? patterns that have been in use for a couple or more decades and that have a relative flat side to the rim.

I Would hazard a guess you get the same High Qulaity Devon items if bought through Draganfly?, who as always, support us with excellent information and rather usefuly supply spokes individually if needed..

Good luck with your build.

Brian.

[paul.jameson]

To true a wheel to fine tolerances, you need the weld joining the rim to be as true as is possible. If you buy Devon rims from that company you will get rims with good welds which will build and true easily. They also provide the 3 and 1 dimpling used by Ariel on the single sided brake hubs. Devon do feel that they know which spoke specifications to use better than the Ariel works did which is why I use Central Wheel to provide my spokes since they will do this exactly to my (ie Ariel) specification.

You can buy Devon rims elsewhere and pay less for them. These rims somehow seem to be more difficult to get true............

[Leejm]

I have always used central wheel for all my bikes I never had a problem. central wheel is about 20 minutes away from me I just pop in when needed. and guys having always been very helpful and friendly. But I will say if you phone the person you speak too is not helpful or friendly!

[robjameson]

I have built wheels using Devon rims direct, and have also purchased them from central wheel as Devon rims, the level of finish on the ones from central wheel was not as good as the ones I acquired through Devon direct.

Both sets of wheels were built by myself and trued by myself and dad, and the central wheel ones were noticeably further out of tolerance compared to Devon.

My advice would be to use Devon rims direct and build them yourself if you can, otherwise find someone local who can.

When we talk about tolerances, we are talking about thousands of an inch, but it is worth bearing in mind that a modern manufacturer such as bmw will work to a +\- 3mm tolerance, which is a bus ride away from what I would accept on my own motorcycle!

[Brian.Fosh]

I've rebuilt before to within say 10-20 thou, weld permitting, because that's what I saw others do in magazine articles but my last 2 rims were just laced by eye to clamped edges and reckon I was well inside 1-1.5mm.

With a shiny chromed rim, the lateral movement helpfully looks double what it really is thanks to the reflection. My reason for slackening off on the precision these days is when I was extra fussy, I got more variability in the sound/tension of the spokes. The 2 Devon rims I laced in 2015 seemed quite precise in the weld area and nicely round at the outset, so lacing went well.

I make a point to get the tyre equal on the rim too, using the fitting line on the tyre to be sure its equally spaced off the rim all the way around on both sides. This can be surprisingly hard to achieve and involves plenty of pumping up to high pressures and walking around the tyre walls to be sure it seats,

The MOT standards in this link permit 3-4mm depending on whether it's eccentricity or lateral movement, which I have to agree with Rob, is far more than I would ever want for my bike, but given this is how it's always been, I wonder how critical it really is for my kind of pottering.

http://www.motuk.co.uk/mcmanual_420.htm