The Hodaka Club Forum

The original wheels for my Ace100 are pealing and there is some pitting on the edge of the wheel rim. I took them to a local auto chrome plater and he wouldn't touch them. Can these be re-chromed?

Well if the chrome said he wouldn't touch them, he would know right. What kind of restoration are you doing? Full 100% or just a nice clean bike to ride? Good rims are still easy to find

In a similar light, for a daily rider, not a show bike or a race bike, how much rust on the interior of the rim is tolerable? Heavy rust through the chrome plating can be removed chemically or mechanically and the bare steel can be painted with a rustproof primer. And rusted-stuck spokes/nipplescan be replaced. But how much metal loss from rust can be tolerated before it becomes a structural strength problem? I don't know what the "inside" of my shined-up rims is like, but I'll find out if I ever break the tures down.

I would think the chrome guy would know .... but I couldn't tell if he just didn't want to mess with them or if he was concerned about the results with the pitting or what. My Ace is a rider ... I actually have some replacement wheels and spokes on there now. Those cheap ones off eBay from China... Yeah, I bought a set of those to put on while I figured out how to fix or replace the originals.

While the replacements from China work, they are smaller gauge spokes and lighter gauge steel wheels. I would like to put originals back on. The front I think I can clean up and it would look pretty good. So, I just need the rear. But if I was going to chrome one, I would chrome both.

So, I'm trying to understand can they be re-chromed and at what cost. Or, does it make more sense to replace with an original that I find somewhere.

The structural aspect is a good point... I had not really considered. The rust doesn't seem to be that bad, but maybe all the more reason to consider replacement. I'm not racing, mainly around town riding and some light trails.

Oh! Here's the bike!

Great looking bike. Consider this - you have an operable bike which, by your description, you are not subjecting to severe service conditions. You have knock-off wheels? So what. As Kelly said, replacements are available for 40-50 bucks and often much MUCH cheaper. You'd pay much more than that for rechroming. If I was you, (Step 1) I'd wrap the rusty rims in towels and absolutely soak the whole works with Evaporust and place in a contractor grade garbage bag sealed for a couple weeks. Once derusted, rinse, dry thoroughly, and spray with a waterproofer (paint, silicone, grease, whatever) and store. You may want to have them restored one day so halt further deterioration now. (Step 2) Ride the living crap out of that sweet Ace 100. You should give those cheapo chinese wheels a brief inspection at regular intervals (actually not a bad idea for 50 year-old OEM Hodaka wheels for that matter) and ENJOY RIDING IT! Trust me, if your Ace 100 is like mine, there will be plenty of things along the way you will want to spend your hard-earned money on. Also, keep your ear to the ground. I scored complete Ace front/rear wheel assemblies for $20 at a swap meet a few years back. They're out there and, happily, you are under no time pressure to take a financial beating. Also check out the used parts inventory on SH. I'd be willing to bet Paul has a few (hundred) in his stash.

There are a lot of used OEM Ace rims on eBay right now!

http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40& ... a+100+rims

Also, Check with Bruce Young! I'm sure he has s lot of wheels. All you need to give him is sizes! ; D Victor

I'll spend some time salvaging an old part, but you reach a point where it pays to get something in better shape. On my daily rider, I'd feel bad about taking a pristine OEM wheel off the market-- save that for a concours resto.

Well eBay wheels usually aren't pristine! They are typically just good daily riders. Can't hurt. There's a lot of them out there.

And like I said, Bruce probably had a lot of wheels. Wheels which aren't pristine but which would be good every day riders & stronger than the Chinese ones you have now. ; D Victor