1932 Chief Front Wheel - Spokes question

[bdawson]

Hey everyone. I Have a question on what I should consider with the spokes on my Chief front wheel. I realize that the spokes should be Cadmium plated, but as you can see from the photo, someone painted the rim and the spokes black all at the same time. I would like to make the bike as accurate as possible, so should I..... 1) remove all of the spokes and replace them with new cadmium plated spokes OR 2) Should I remove the spokes and send them to a cadmium plater and reinstall those spokes OR 3) should I put some type of paint remover on all of the spokes and remove all of the paint and leave them as bare metal (rust issues?) OR 4) What other options are there? Should I not even attempt to restring the spokes as that is a job for an expert or at least someone who has done it before?

Thanks for your input here. And for those who are thinking about the rear wheel....yes, they are all painted black as well. Appreciate any input

[exeric]

I think a black rim looks great with cad plated spokes so I would agree that you should make that happen. If budget isn't an issue; get new cad plated spokes. If you intend to strip, and cad plate your existing spokes, you'll have to do a lot of work to get them ready for a plater; and then you have the problem of finding a plater that still does cadmium plating, doesn't loose a spoke or nipple, and charge a high price. I had a miserable time with a cad plater last year who wouldn't communicate, took 3 months, and doubled the price on top of high UPS shipping costs both ways (absurdly expensive for what I had done).

10 years ago I had a friend who had a business account with an industrial plater who would cad plate a 5 gallon bucket of parts for $50.00. That plater only does defense work cad plating now so those days are over. I called every plater in Florida and none of them will do non-industrial accounts. I do see 'Plymouth Plating Works, Inc.' in our club magazine will do cadmium plating so that is where I would go if I need cad plating done.

I had the original spokes cad plated on my '48FL (same 5 gal. bucket plater). The spokes looked good for about a year and then got spotty, and discolored. Since then, I have painted spokes, and nipples with dull aluminum paint (after careful prep on the bare steel). Painted spokes look as good as cad, look good longer, easy to touch up, and they never leave your shop.

[RichO]

I just dust my stainless steel ones (looks like cadmium from 5 feet) but I'm not into judging just riding..

[PaulCDF]

If you are considering a DYI

1. Check out caswellplating.com

2. Consider remove spokes and nipples (Not all at once but few at a time) paint them silver. Then when cured replace and do a few more.
(I think there is a faux nickel advertised in the club magazine) Need to look into silver paints before going this route. Just a thought didn't say a good thought