Hey guys,

After 16 years the rear wheel spacer on my bike is a bit faded. I bought one which isn't quite as bad but the fading is still clearly evident. I tried using the wire wheel on a grinder to clean it up but it didn't do much besides scratching the hell out of it. I tried to sand it as well and not much success. I then spray painted it gold but the gold was a wanky brownish-bronze colour (nowhere near the colour on the lid of the spray can bottle!)

My wheels are getting powdercoated pearl white (they should have been done by now but they 'forgot' to sand blast them, and they just powder coated over the old paint.. and when I went in and asked why they had a few small bubbles they said it's because they weren't sand blasted.. even though I clearly stated numerous times that they were to be blasted ) and I polished the hell out of my rear wheel nut so the faded spacer doesn't look too crash hot..

The one I spray painted looks a bit better than the standard one but it turned out very brown-ish. Any ideas how to get a nice subtle gold colour (perhaps like the HRC gold) on my spacer? Try different spray paint? Anodize it?

Cheers

I'd just buy a gold anodised spacer if that's what you want? And as a bonus, they weigh more than the standard item (just a cone - no machining).

Not sure where you get them from in Aus, but 75% of VFRs I've owned have had them. Oh, and I promptly removed the anodising and polished them You really need some polishing mops Jonno! Enough of this wire wheel stuff - it pains me In fact, if you want any small items polished PM me, I'd be happy to do it for the cost of postage to stop this crazy talk Just playin', but seriously, the offer stands!

hey superlite,

Thanks for the advice. Sorry but Im only 18 and this is my first bike so I had next to no knowledge about bikes, polishing stuff, painting stuff etc before a few months ago.. The wire wheel attachment on the grinder has done wonders for everything I've used it for but if you think polishing mops are the way to go, then let me know exactly what you suggest I should get and I'll grab it straight away :)

Also, I've never seen an anodised spacer before and I couldn't find any spacers for sale on the net.. I didn't know they were prominent, but now that I do I'll do some searching and hopefully I can find some more info on them!

Cheers
PS: Where in Australia are you?

jonno92 wrote: My wheels are getting powdercoated pearl white (they should have been done by now but they 'forgot' to sand blast them, and they just powder coated over the old paint.. and when I went in and asked why they had a few small bubbles they said it's because they weren't sand blasted..

WTF?

you cant powder coat painted wheels as you have to charge the suface ie the metal for the powder to cling before baking. ill bet my bottom dollar the company you used probally just sprayed them thinking you wouldnt know the difference.

id be a bit concerned if my PC decided to TRY coat a wheel without blasting its virtually imposible buddy, its like saying you had plastic powder coated, again virtually imposible.

well, believe it or not, even though they do it ever day, they managed to stuff it up

They apologised and promised to fix it ASAP but I still fail to see how you could think someone would want to powdercoat white straight over dodgy black paint without preparing the surface first..

Anyways, as long as the end product turns out well I'm happy.

This is the type of spacer I was talking about. Not sure where they come from? Possibly come in from Japan?



That one was originally red (pink!) I think, so I stripped it with acid and polished it. I highly recommend something like this for the job Jonno:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Bench-Grinder-Ra ... 2ead9fe2a4

You can get all that from Bunnings though. You'd need a 200 mm bench grinder, because the polishing compounds create a lot of friction (100 mm are rubbish for polishing). You'd also need a couple more polishing compounds: Fine, med, hard, is a good kit.

I'm on the NSW/Vic border. I'm on holidays, so like I said, happy to do any small parts you may need.

superlite wrote:This is the type of spacer I was talking about. Not sure where they come from? Possibly come in from Japan?

Yeah from Japan, I have a polished one like above on my roadbike also. Alloy construction, but they're heavier than the standard spacer.

Not sure of the brand of these ones, but Posh also made them in Japan (they look slightly different to the one above).

You can probably find one on yahoo Japan.

Rick Oliver does the smooth spacers - they aint expensive & a lot easier than all that polishing!