A task for the inventive...

Dremel with a buffing thing, used from both sides of the wheel?

David

Dremel or angle grinder attachment?

-- Adrian C

Well, I must say I expected a little more innovation from the uk.d-i-y'ers I know and love. Sort of. ;)

I had a go at the spokes with a wire wheel in a drill, which is admittedly quite a bit larger than a Dremel, but it's very tricky cleaning the whole spoke without attacking from lots of angles and both sides and even then it's difficult to do the ends, and the wheel skitters off at random intervals and attacks other things. What I was thinking of was something like a small abrasive polo (with a sprung cutout, perhaps, to get it on the spoke) which could be slipped onto the spoke and moved serenely from top to bottom.

Then I wondered if something along these lines had already been invented but I doubted it because I couldn't think of any other uses for such a thing!

Bit'o'string, looped aropund a spoke, and pulled back and forth by hand as it moves up and down?

Thomas Prufer

The message from "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot" contains these words:

A small boy in need of pocket money.

Already requested in ukrm, Guy. Apparently there are no bob-a-jobbers any more due to dirty old men asking them to give their spokes a good clean.

Si

Hmm...that's a better idea. Abrasive string, obviously. Does abrasive string exist? I'm off a-Googling.

Si

=============================== Traditional method - a long strip of cloth (about 1" wide) coated with valve grinding paste. Pull back and forth from both sides. Cover tyres before starting.

Cic.

an electrolytic bath would strip the lot in one go, no physical effort needed. It would mean dunking either the whole wheel under water, or else just do half or a third of it at a time, rotating between dips.

NT

See

Rick... (The other Rick)

Are these traditional spokes similar to the type used on push bikes, or spokes that are part of an alloy wheel?

Chocolate digestive > keyboard interface moment, that caused.

Reminds me of the story of the trainee priest suddenly asked to take confession. Not knowing what penance to impose on a confessant (?) he popped his head out of the box and asked a passing choirboy "What does Fr O'Reilly normally give for oral sex?".

The choirboy replied, "two mars bars and a milky way"

Or something like that.

Owain

I've got some grinding paste. Somewhere.

Ta

Si

It's a chromed steel wheel with traditional spokes. I read that Harley-D coat their spokes with...hmm...cadmium, was it? Anyway, once this stuff is removed it's apparently nigh on impossible to stop the rust coming back. This is a Japanese bike - XV535 Virago - so I don't know if they're coated or galvanised or what but the ones I had the patience to clean came up nice and shiny...

Si

There's even a machine that'll do it for you:-)

More seriously, there's a tool called a "power file": a very narrow, thin belt sander, with the belt sticking out, as it were. Might be worth a look...

Thomas Prufer

Try asking in one of the many motorbike newsgroups or forums. This is a DIY group not a motorbike discussion group.

Further to the dremel idea, can you rig together *two* buffing pads so that you slide the spoke in between them ?

Troll? Miserable sod?

Don't know, don't care...f*ck off.

Si

That's a good idea. I haven't got a Dremel, mind, but it's still a good idea.

Si