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The wheels were obviously unsuitable, being steel, chrome and rusty. I removed the spokes and then the hubs. I bought two Borrani alloy flanged wheels complete with tyres from an Ebay seller who lived nearby for the grand total of £80. When taken in the context that the cheapest of flanged alloy rims are over £100 new, this purchase was bordering on robbery! The tyres were Avon race tyres and are only about 25% worn, the rear wheel was complete, with drilled and lightened hub, brakes, spindle etc, and was identical to the rusty and corroded original. The front wheel was a disk brake model which I didn't want to use as I am adamant that I want to retain the TLS drum brake. So I removed the tyre and stripped the rim off. I made an error here as the rim was a 40 hole whereas the Honda hub is 36 so effectively, the rim was no use to me. However, looking at the price of second hand rims, I think I can get about £50 - £60 back on this one. I sourced a new flanged rim from a specialist called James Wheildon (No, really - say it out loud - WHEEL DONE) who was about as helpful as anyone could possibly be. The price for a new rim, drilled to suit the Honda hub and delivered was £70. Not a Boranni, but identical in appearance and perfectly suited to the purpose. Details of this supplier are here James Wheildon. Thoroughly recommended. When the rim arrived, I cleaned up all the old spokes from the original front wheel, polished and zinc plated them and rebuilt the wheel. Once again, I dispelled the myth of wheelbuilding as a black art. I may have been lucky (again - see my Bantam pages) but having measured the offset carefully and built the rim on, it was just a matter of spinning up the wheel on supports and adjusting spokes until the wheel was true. The front hub and brake plate were polished using blue polishing wax and these came up beautifully with just a few deeper scratches remaining. These actually enhance the appearance by giving the items a "Used but cared for look". Holes for cooling were drilled and backed with zinc gauze from a car body repair kit which I Araldited in. I think the pictures below tell their own story.
I made up all new spacers from aluminium to save weight, fitted the tyre and the wheels were ready to fit. |
