Quantcast

Custom Spoke Colors

Oct 8, 2003
202
0
What do you guys think? I have had powdercoating equipment for a little while and decided it was time to do something for my bike. I have seen a bunch of threads with people intrested in custom colored spokes, so I can answer a few questions, powdercoating does not crack (tested by bending a spoke in half), it adds almost nothing 2-4 grams for 32 spokes, it increased the spoke size from 2.00 to 2.03 practically nothing.










 

al-irl

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2004
1,086
0
A, A
cool did the spokes pass through the holes in the flanges without getting marked. I remember building a bmx wheel for someone with powder coated spokes a long time ago and under close inspection there was lots of srcatches on the spokes when i was done. It looked ok from far away but up close not so good.
 
Oct 8, 2003
202
0
No scratches at all, like I said it added very little almost nothing to the thickness of the spoke so there was nothing to scratch it. I could see if you did multiple coats and the tolorences got too tight it could happen but you would have to do a ton of coats and after 2nd coat the powder does not adhere very well. 90% of the time one coat is all that needed so it should never really be a problem. I dont see spokes ever needing more than one coat.
 

DirtEveryDay

Turbo Monkey
Nov 24, 2003
2,692
4
Pacific North Wet
How much to do other peeps? And how big is your setup? Frames? Doesn't sound like you're a huge operation, so I assume you don't have shelves of colors... For some reason, I can't find a shop that will answer the phone or call me back afterthey say "we'll call you back with a price..."
 
Oct 8, 2003
202
0
I have a rig that holds the spokes upright with spoke nipples. The spoke nipples cover the threads.

I am up for doing other peoples spokes and the cost would be dependent on how many people wanted them done, how many spokes you would want done and what color. As far as colors go I could pretty much do any color people would want Im not sure if they make a specific color called root beer or not but I could check. Basic colors would be a little cheaper than anodized and special colrs but only by a few dollars. Between time cost, cost of powder and cost of electric it would prolly be around 25 for basic colors and 30 for specialty colors and that would be for up to 74 spokes. If lots of people wanted the same colors I could buy the powder in bulk but if everyone wants different colors then thats what makes the price a little higher.

Right now I am not able to do frames I can do spokes and possibly some small parts.

About the rootbeer color not showing up well/looking like dust I think would depend on the color of the bike somewhat. I know gold spokes usually look pretty cool.
 
Oct 8, 2003
202
0
You are right about the spoke nipple but they are not hanging, I have a custom rig built just for doing 2.0mm spokes. (threads need to be 2.0) I figure most people are not using spokes with 1.8mm at the threads) If for some reason lots of people had 1.8mm spokes I could get a new rig set up but I didn't think many people used them.
 
Oct 8, 2003
202
0
I have a seperate oven for powder coating, I DO NOT USE THE ONE I MAKE FOOD OUT OF!

I have the one the comes in the "Deluxe" kit.
 

ChrisKring

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
2,399
6
Grand Haven, MI
I have a seperate oven for powder coating, I DO NOT USE THE ONE I MAKE FOOD OUT OF!

I have the one the comes in the "Deluxe" kit.
cool, thanks for the info. Someday whenever I get a barn built I am going to get a thrashed oven in there just for that purpose. My wife isn't on board with powdercoating in the kitchen oven. He wasn't exaclty happy when I used it to heat polycarb for vacume forming rear fenders a few years ago.