I have a bit of a dilemma here with a couple of my bikes, and purely aesthetic in nature, so only aesthetes need respond to this inquiry.

Soon I will be selling off one of my tandems and the deal I made with the buyer was that I would keep the original White Industries Jockey hubs to build into wheels for my Bilenky 650B Constructeur tandem. The rims are silver Velocity Dyad and though they don't stick out like sore thumbs, I think that polishing them would really make the bike pop since the hubs are also highly polished.

The other bike I am inquiring about with regard to polishing is my 1950 Norman Rapide. Since the bike still has the original wheels and I'm growing increasingly concerned that one of these days the Dunlop Lightweight rims will take a hard hit and I'll be unable to repair the rim, I decided to build a new set of wheels for that bike also. The rims are Velocity Synergy in silver. Obvioiusly, the rims on the Norman are chromed, so shiny would be more in keeping with the original look of the bike.

So, what say ye, aesthetes of the BF Realm: To Polish or Not To Polish?


Bilenky Brunswick to Dargan C&O Towpath Run - 7 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


A Day At The Farm - 3 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr

Polish 'em.

Gotta have "Bling"

+3, the more shinny the better.

Of course you would say that! You aren't the person who will be removing the anodizing.

Yeah, polish them rims. Polish the stem while you're at it, it's looking a bit dull.

Don't be a pansy. I remove anodizing all the time.

Get a hotel pan, some heavy rubber gloves, a brass brush, fine steel wool and some of this.

Yeah, while I'm at it, I'm considering polishing the fenders on the Bilenky. Talk about bling!

OK, I think there's a conspiracy here... Of course if, Grand Bois checks in on this thread, I think he'll have a different opinion.

IIRC, the stem was already dull when I bought the bike. The PO seemed not to notice it for some reason. Anyway, polishing the stem has been one of my low priority items since I've been more interested in riding than wrenching over the last few months.

On another note, Harvey has come forward and offered to assist with tearing down and repairing the hub on the Norman. Fortunately, I have at least one donor hub for parts.

OK, I hear you.

No, I will vote the other way since they are clear anodized to start. For me it is an upkeep issue. I like polished rims, but as I have 20 bikes that have them, no wall hangers and live not too far from Pacific Coast Highway, polishing them is a continued effort, one that only the Scheeren rimmed bikes get the full attention. For the half dozen where the rims have some form of anodizing, it is much easier to keep those wheels up. I will admit that I will never purposely buy mid 80's Mavic rims in the dark bronze grey tone as I just really dislike the look of messy streaked away color on the brake tracks.

As I have purchased NOS rims for future need from time to time, I go silver. (Martano made some "hard anno" rims in the 80's with machined sides but in 4 years f searching I have not found a unlaced set, so it goes.)

I'm with Repechage on this one. Taking off the anodizing seems silly to me. I have a number of bikes with polished rims and they look messy after very little riding. It is a pain to keep them looking shiny. They also corrode faster. If the bike is going to be ridden a lot I wouldn't do it.

I have one bicycle that I polished all the original parts... they were all bare aluminum to start with that was highly polished in the 60s or 70s and it needed to be cleaned anyway, so it wasn't a huge heap of effort to polish most of the parts with some polish and an electric drill. Caswell sells those bits and has wicked instructions. I've let my polished parts "go" and they still look really nice as I haven't ridden the bike much so it's still pretty. I have a set of matte-finished fenders that I put on the bicycle as well as a vintage simplex chainguard; both of them look great beside the polished parts... I certainly hope there's nothing gauche about mixing polished and matte parts. Unless the anodizing is ruined I'm not sure I'd strip it just to have the privilege of polishing it again later on, I might not polish this bike again for years, it is a messy task and I like the look of matte parts as well.

It is true that the Velocity anodizing looks pretty good and you're never going to have a the classic look polished or not with a V shaped rim. I'm assuming you just can't find polished rims with the hole count you need.

Harvey is the man! That's worth it just for the camaraderie.

I'd also think about upkeep. For the Norman, maybe it's worth it to have a showy set. That is such a lovely bike to stare at. But in general, I also think that polishing means lots more polishing over time. Do you really have that kind of time? Me thinks not.

I'm for pragmatic solutions, with just enough bling to have fun.

As Harvey would say, YMMV.

:-)

Maybe it's you, repechage, who has discouraged me from polished rims previously. Hmmm. I do understand the upkeep issues and the rims I'm riding are riders, not for show. The original wheels will be set aside for shows.

I'm not too concerned with corrosion since the bikes are in a climate controlled space (my hallway or living room, typically), but polishing is not my idea of a fun activity. I ride the Norman more than any other bike I have at this point in time, so maintenance is of some concern.

Parts that aren't anodized would have been preferable for sure, but as it is that's not an option. <sigh>

BTW, you wanna tell me about that bike? I don't think I've seen it before. Nice!

The Norman is a special case. It is in better condition, and looks cleaner, than bikes I've bought new and commuted on for only a couple years. The chrome is spotless, and the aluminum looks clean. The frame and fenders have a faint patina, in that the color varies a little depending on exposure to the sun etc, but other than that it's in almost showroom condition. And it hasn't been restored. That you would want to keep it in that condition, as much as possible, seems a no-brainer to me.

With a restored bike (especially a repaint) the decision is trickier. If the frame is repainted, and all the components are like new, then you've re-created a showroom like condition, then I would probably would want to keep that. But if the frame is repainted, and the components all have a weathered and worn look, then I'm not at all sure I'd want to try to make everything clean and polish anything. It would just exaggerate the disparity in condition.

It all depends,

I got some bikes that everything is a nice even patina, I took one old faithful and and repacked the BB and replaced the chain, same time I cleaned and polished the one piece crankset and chainwheel- wow it looks good clean, but not the not so perfect pedals show,
even if i service,and polish every part the paint is just shot.


my juniors- I am even considering stripping down the wheelset to polish the hubs and rims-the spokes are galv, and I can replace them the same time with stainless double butted.

what it really sounds like is you are bored and need a new project-
I would not touch the Norman- it looks just perfect just the way it is-I am looking forward to see it
polishing it would take something away, its like bronze bits on a nice old boat, it takes years to get that fine dark brown patina,

Actually, for the Norman, I'm using the Velocity Synergy which isn't a V-shaped rim - the profile is more like a Sun CR-18. It's still not as traditional as I'd like, but better than a Blunt, Dyad or a Deep-V. It was not easy finding 40 hole count rims in the style I was wanting for the bike, that's for sure. The LBS had to order them direct from Velocity since the distributors don't carry them. I put a picture of the Synergy rims built into wheels below.

Even so, they will dull down over time unless they are clear coated or waxed. Ask me how I know...

(I just noticed the string between the pedals of the tandem...)

Indeed, Harvey is the man! This'll be the second hub he's helped me repair and beer just seems not to be enough payment for his help. He is a lot of fun to hang out with.

The thing that I do have to say and that has me as torn on the topic as I am is that the wheels I'm building are going to be riders. The originals are going on the shelf, but I'm still torn on the practicality versus the aesthetic part of this equation.

I posted it a while ago and most people think it's a px-10 with a replacement fork. I wasted my money on cheap tubulars so it hasn't seen much action since I blew two tires in less than 200km. I picked it up basically as it's shown, the only things I added were fenders and the chainguard (drunk ebay.fr browsing is not a good idea). I bought it from a funny flipper locally... he wanted to powdercoat it and sell it for a 1000$ so I think I've done the poor thing a great service... I'd love to get a px-10 fork with right french bend it in but it's still quite nice with the fork that its got. In the flickr set you can see what kind of polishing and cleaning I had to on all the parts. There are some of the chromed bits that need some more love. I can't find the thread I posted about it or I'd link to that.