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Paint coming off wheel rim

waz

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Dec 21, 2007
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Location
Asheville NC
I have an '07 1250 w/ 6k miles on the clock.

As I was giving it a (rare) bath yesterday I noticed an area about the size of a dime where the paint had come off the rim of the rear wheel. When I looked further I noticed that the paint was bubbled up in several more places.

I haven't gotten anything on the wheel other than chain lube and dirt, although I do use kerosene to clean the chain.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Any ideas on what might have caused it?
 
Geez, I hope not.

I hadn't thought of brake fluid, but if that's what it is, I guess it's better to find out about it in the driveway than out on the road.

The last time I rode it was almost 2 weeks ago and everything was copasetic w/ the brakes.
 
I had read something about this problem on UK bike forums. Apparently the paint work on the rims from some earlier model B1250s was defective. I believe they were getting the problem sorted under warranty.
 
I have an '07 1250 w/ 6k miles on the clock.

As I was giving it a (rare) bath yesterday I noticed an area about the size of a dime where the paint had come off the rim of the rear wheel. When I looked further I noticed that the paint was bubbled up in several more places.

I haven't gotten anything on the wheel other than chain lube and dirt, although I do use kerosene to clean the chain.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Any ideas on what might have caused it?

I purposely bubbled the paint off of my rims, maybe thats what you should do also. :rider:

91b69764ffbd57c19a66550927762c710_large.jpg
 
Bandito:

I had thought about doing that, but was concerned with upkeep.

What do you have to do to keep them looking good, and how often do you do it?
 
Bandito:

I had thought about doing that, but was concerned with upkeep.

What do you have to do to keep them looking good, and how often do you do it?


I wipe the rear off occasionally with brake cleaner on a rag as it tends to get dirtier than the front, and then every month or so I'll polish them with Mother's aluminum polish which only take about 3 to 4 minutes per wheel and thats it. It's really not a problem to keep looking good, but I did do a lot of sanding on the rims initially to get them pretty smooth and the whole project of stripping off the paint and sanding the rims took me about a 16 hrs, but if you can live with the as machined surface finish on the rims as a lot of people do you won't have to sand them. :rider:
 
Waz,

One option is to polish the rims since the paint is already coming off. Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you the directions I used for polishing your rims. I Polished my whole bike based on these instructions and it looked nice.

The other option is to have your rims powder coated to a cool color. In VA you could get this done for $200-$300.

picture.php
 
I purposely bubbled the paint off of my rims, maybe thats what you should do also. :rider:

91b69764ffbd57c19a66550927762c710_large.jpg

That is a great looking rear wheel set up. I see lots of WORK there. Dang! Even the chain is shiny. I'm amazed the inside of the sprocket is not polished yet. Are you slipping Bandito. :lol2:
 
Doing the outer lip is actually a lot easier than the whole wheel. The center of the wheel is pitted and requires sanding to get a smooth surface. If you do the outside its a weekend project.
 
I guess I need to do the outer part at least since it's all scared up from two tire changes. ;-)

USMC '61 - '66 ;-).
 
I guess I need to do the outer part at least since it's all scared up from two tire changes. ;-)

USMC '61 - '66 ;-).


This is what I used and it quickly removed the paint off of the rims. I did mine on the bike and applied the stripper to within about 3/16" of the center step by first spraying the stripped into a small plastic cup and using an acid brush to apply it carefully to the rim.

Then I discovered that Q-tips dipped into the stripper worked great for applying the stripper up to the edge of the step on the center of the rim, which has a radius to it which the Q-tip fit up against quite well and allowed me to maintain a nice sharp edge. :rider:

http://www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=72&prodid=112
 
Thanks for the info Bandito. Next time at the lumberyard, I'll get a can of paint stripper for the future project. Heck, I just ordered spark plugs and air filter today for my bike. Getting close to 14,000 and have never had the gas tank off yet. May just do a total job on it while there. I still have a set of your blocking plates ready to go when I decide to check the valves and have to move all that stuff to get there. Just need to get a resistor in stock also.
 
I used air craft stripper from walmart or autozone and it works pretty well.
 
I'm thinking that the only answer to all the chips, stripes, and dings to my wheels will have to be removal of the black paint. I've never had a bike so prone to mucked up looking wheels as this Bandit.... and I've only been through a few tire changes (a lot of punctures forced early & frequent tire replacements).

In the mean time, I'm choosing to do nothing.... I'm sure I can strip the paint away, but I have no desire to put work into sanding, polishing, and maintaining exposed virgin alloy.

It's popular around here for the local "stuntas", posers, squids, and "pimp my ride" groupies to seek that 'chrome' shine to their frames, swing arms, wheels, etc. I may take my wheels off and give 'em to somebody to do it right for me. I want that shine, and a protective finish over said shine.
Someday, someday....
 
I'm thinking that the only answer to all the chips, stripes, and dings to my wheels will have to be removal of the black paint. I've never had a bike so prone to mucked up looking wheels as this Bandit.... and I've only been through a few tire changes (a lot of punctures forced early & frequent tire replacements).

In the mean time, I'm choosing to do nothing.... I'm sure I can strip the paint away, but I have no desire to put work into sanding, polishing, and maintaining exposed virgin alloy.

It's popular around here for the local "stuntas", posers, squids, and "pimp my ride" groupies to seek that 'chrome' shine to their frames, swing arms, wheels, etc. I may take my wheels off and give 'em to somebody to do it right for me. I want that shine, and a protective finish over said shine.
Someday, someday....


So Fitty,

If and when you do have your wheels polished, just which of those groups do you think you will be affiliating with . :-P :rofl:
 
Straight up,
I'm a proud "Poser".... not a poseur.
Can't be do'n no stunt'n.... feel me?
But I might be a wannabe "squid", albeit in full gear (no shorts), no juvenile antics, and no disrespect to cages with whom I share the road.

And the ONLY other person who keeps his ride as clean & shiny as I do mine, would be THE Bandito himself...!
 
Straight up,
I'm a proud "Poser".... not a poseur.
Can't be do'n no stunt'n.... feel me?
But I might be a wannabe "squid", albeit in full gear (no shorts), no juvenile antics, and no disrespect to cages with whom I share the road.

And the ONLY other person who keeps his ride as clean & shiny as I do mine, would be THE Bandito himself...!

Count me in as part of the anal crowd:rider: I would clean the inside of my tires if it was easy to get to:eek2:
 
I've been getting kinda sorta teased by my buddies on me keeping the Bandit way cleaner than I've kept any of my bikes in the past 40 years. ;-). I had a KLR / GS attitude about cleaning. Head for a rainstorm! ha ha ha ha. But, I've always took my hat off to one that takes the time and effort to keep their ride nice and clean and shiny. Especially when they do the polished stuff. My 3rd bike in life was a '59 500 Triumph in 1960, which I had painted with 40 coats of deep blue metalflake. A common paint job back then. After getting it home I commenced to polish all the aluminum to where it looked better than the small amount of chrome on the bike. Course, back then I was going to school and had two jobs to pay for the Triumph so not a lot of ride time to get it too dirty. ;-). But lots of time at the Service Station at my 7 to 10 pm night shift to polish between customers. Back then it was full service only. Fill up , check fluids and if the customer wanted check air in the tires and vaccum the inside floorboards.
 
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