Brand new CB750 spokes - colouring?

[HurtinAlbertan]

Alright lads, first time poster, very long time lurker.

I am in the finishing stages of a 1978 CB750 Chopper, I have a fresh wheel set that I am putting together on the side as the ones that came with the bike were rusted out and rims slightly knocked.

I have stripped and vapour blasted the rims and hubs separately, and have a new set of spokes from VintageCB. I would like to colour them Gold, having seen some horror stories online about powder coating making the dimensions wrong I am hesitant to pull the trigger on it.

Spokes are zinc I believe on the rear, cad plated for the front (for some reason that was cheaper)

Any advice is appreciated, and thanks for helping me make poor decisions over the years with this forum

 

[teazer]

Cad was the standard finish for years before it was deemed to be too unsafe and since then I think that most spokes are zinc plated or they are made from stainless. Normal steel spokes could be stripped and replated with passivated (gold-ish) zinc and hit with clear coat. They won;t look like actual gold but might be close enough.

You could have then plated with real gold I expect, but my budget and taste never ran to that.

 

[HurtinAlbertan]

Cad was the standard finish for years before it was deemed to be too unsafe and since then I think that most spokes are zinc plated or they are made from stainless. Normal steel spokes could be stripped and replated with passivated (gold-ish) zinc and hit with clear coat. They won;t look like actual gold but might be close enough.

You could have then plated with real gold I expect, but my budget and taste never ran to that.

Actual gold plating is absolutely not in the budget! My general dilemma is to try the powder coat route, look at copper plating or hit it with a rattle can and some clearcoat (curing it for about a week)

Any ideas?

 

[Rider52]

It should be fairly cheap to have the spokes stripped and gold zinc/cad plated. The current zinc plating finish has to be stripped and the spokes cleaned prior to doing the new zinc plating process . Bright zinc plating looks good for a decent amount of time as does regular zinc plating. IF...a big "if" you plan to ride in various weather elements or store the bike outside you will probably get about 12 months out of any zinc plating. Any zinc/cad finish will eventually get discolored/splotchy in appearance. A knowledgeable powder coater could cover them with a thin enough layer of powder to prevent interference with rim and spoke nipples but it could get really expensive. Copper plating is OK but will be more expensive than zinc. The rattle can finish might be the cheapest option and may have the same durability as zinc. If you decide to replate them, Caswell offers some home options that are moderately priced.