Hi guys,

I'm after some advice on anodizing wheel rims.

I've got a pair of good condition old rims off a early Gas Gas I believe, the rear is tubeless but is the older type with the spoke nipples through the rim.

The rims were a dull silver colour as common on most bike of that era.

I took them to a small local Anodizing company who reversed the anodizing process so I could get the rims polished. They now are nice and shiny with no scratches.

I took them back to the anodizing company to have them done black, I asked the knowledgeable gentleman to HARD anodize them but he was very reluctant and advised against it due to a high copper content of the alloy. He said there would be a real risk of losing the rims during the process but would be happy to do the normal anodizing process to turn the rims black. 

Question is will the normal finish be durable enough for wheel rims? Are most rims just anodized not HARD anodized?

Thanks in advance.

Prelit.

 

I think Hard anodising is more for making the wear surface 'hard' and there is no choice in the finished colour, whereas colour anodising is a slightly different process and is more aesthetic than wear resistant, it does however protect the surface from oxidising whilst unfortunately being easy to scratch.

 

Thanks for the response,

I have had in the past belt driven camshaft sprockets that were anodised but the belt quickly wore the colour off and began to wear away at the alloy teeth. The later ones were described as been HARD anodised and these still look perfect after many thousand miles. The new ones were available in many colours, red, blue gold, black etc.

So the question is are modern rims HARD anodised or just a coating as you say for the aesthetic look and corrosion resistance?

Thanks again.

Edited January 30, 20188 yr by prelit

Well a quick look on the internet does show hard anodising available in colour, I have not used that before In fact my last personal experiance of hard anodised finish was 30 years ago and that was a mid grey colour and just done for wear resistance.

The site I found did say colour was difficult to control and usually darker than standard colour anodising due to the extra thickness.

You appear to have answered the question yourself in that you know the coloured finish is available and that the expert you took advice from advised against using it on your rims, since my black Gasgas rims scratch easily I would suggest it is only a cosmetic finish used by the factories, there may also of course be a financial reason why they use it.

Why not leave them polished, looks far more in keeping with the period, I see plenty of 'pre 65 ' bikes with black rims and they look wrong - just my opinion of course.

I'm not being critical, just curious about the logic of going to the effort of polishing just to cover the surface in black.  Wouldn't the new anodising need a keyed surface for maximum benefit?

I don't think anodising would need a keyed surface as there is no extra material being applied (like plating or paint). It's just a chemical conversion of the surface material.

Can't open link above, but otherwise its all very interesting stuff gents.  Could anyone please advise me on a good anodising outfit who can deal with wheel rims ?. I 've had them done by wheel specialists before, but it was very time consuming going through the middle man & I would prefer to deal with Anodising company direct. (N.E closest to home

Advice gratefully appreciated.

I have used Niphos who are based at Crewe Cheshire, they have a good reputation and do work for a certain Crewe car company.  http://niphos.co.uk