Bicycle Mechanics - Painted/powdered spokes?

Hey guys -

Does anybody have any experience with painting/powdercoating spokes? I've prepped, primered, painted many a metal surface in my life, but I'm not so sure about spokes. Is it possible to powdercoat, or should I just do my regular sand/primer/paint/clear routine? If it matters, there are 64 of them, waiting to be built 3x front and rear in a wheelset for a trials bike.

Thanks,

TnT

I've never painted or powdercoated spokes so I don't have any first hand experience.

I'd be concerned about messing them up during the wheel assembly process. Powdercoating in particular is a bit thicker than paint so I'd be concerned with how they fit through the hub flanges.

Good luck.

Spokes are in tension, and deform when the wheels hit stuff. Would this not make the paint chip?

EDIT: how are black spokes black?

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=174684&highlight=painted+spokes

I remember this thread, hopfully it will help.

Don't sand the spokes, as you could weaken them significantly.

Spokes are in tension, and deform when the wheels hit stuff. Would this not make the paint chip?

EDIT: how are black spokes black?


'Electrolytic coating'. In other words, they're 'soft anodised'. I think we covered this before on here, a while back, but I'll go over it again.

Everything you see made of aluminium these days is hard anodized. As are all anodized titanium and magnesium alloy parts. That means that their oxide coating is grown from the parent metal, is thicker and more dense.

Soft anodising refers to the old way of anodizing, which used a solution of 'Chromic acid' Cr2O3 and created a spinel (mixed oxide) containing oxide of the parent metal and chromium oxide from the solution.

In this case, the both oxides are chromium rich, but not of the same composition....

Thanks for the thread Mattp - I think I'll try out the sand/paint thing. As it's a trials wheel, the rim will end up failing long before the spokes, so I'm not too worried about durability being reduced from sanding. I also like the masking idea, leaving a section of shiny stainless at either end of the spoke. Hmm...decisions...

I'm not sure how much of the previous thread on this you guys read, but I seem to remember one of the main concerns being the finish on the spokes when they are powder coated. Because they are not glossy like regular spokes, it is possible that noise will occur when the wheel flexes and two spokes rub. Plus, this would inevitably remove the powder coating over time anyway, making them look a bit scruffy. That's assuming you managed to lace the wheels without scratching the coating off the spokes.