1940 Indian spoke finish

[Two lil indians]

I am in the process of restoring a 1940 Indian 4 and do not want to use cad plated spokes as I do plan on driving it after I have it judged.
CAD marks easily so I was told to use Buchanan Stainless spokes, grinding the "B" letter off the end of the spoke and have the spoke and nipple glass beaded.
Has anyone done this and how did the finish turn out?
Thanks for any comments or other suggestions.

[exeric]

I think cad plated spokes hold up rather well, so long as cad parts aren't left in the weather. Of course, S.S. will age better, but the finish, and color is going to be different than cad. From my point of view, I like to try to copy original finishes, but you have to please yourself.

[harleytoprock]

I've glass beaded stainless spokes. They look better and bit more like cad compared to the bright stainless. However it won't fool everyone.

[Two lil indians]

Thanks for the reply, and you are right they won't fool everyone!

[TH47Indy]

I am in the process of restoring a 1940 Indian 4 and do not want to use cad plated spokes as I do plan on driving it after I have it judged.
CAD marks easily so I was told to use Buchanan Stainless spokes, grinding the "B" letter off the end of the spoke and have the spoke and nipple glass beaded.
Has anyone done this and how did the finish turn out?
Thanks for any comments or other suggestions.

Buchanan now has CAD plated spokes with the S stamp, but they're expensive.

[PRG]

Howdy sir,

Elmer Lower and Robin Markey re-cadded the original spokes on my 440 nearly 30 years ago and it not stored in ideal conditions and ridden often since with no ill effect. For the effort required in going back to 18's and relaceing might reconsider using stainless on a machine of this caliber.