Polished wheels for an alu bike - yay or nay?
#1
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Polished wheels for an alu bike - yay or nay?
Warning, aesthetics question.
Last year I built up a 2007 Cervelo Soloist with (almost) all aluminum components - the matte black anodized frame with some silver Ritchey and SRAM bits for 'contrast'. The wheels are alloy Fulcrums with silver spoke nipples from around 2010.
I had a crash - delivery guy swerved into me head-on - and bent the rims. I've repaired them to "usable" but there are some dents that can't be fixed, so I'm starting to look for new wheels.
I'm considering polished rims to go with the whole "silver on matte black" look, though maybe it's too much silver. If anything I'd prefer matte to polished.
Something like these: https://rolfprima.com/collections/al...pecial-edition
Here's the bike:
Thoughts?
Last year I built up a 2007 Cervelo Soloist with (almost) all aluminum components - the matte black anodized frame with some silver Ritchey and SRAM bits for 'contrast'. The wheels are alloy Fulcrums with silver spoke nipples from around 2010.
I had a crash - delivery guy swerved into me head-on - and bent the rims. I've repaired them to "usable" but there are some dents that can't be fixed, so I'm starting to look for new wheels.
I'm considering polished rims to go with the whole "silver on matte black" look, though maybe it's too much silver. If anything I'd prefer matte to polished.
Something like these: https://rolfprima.com/collections/al...pecial-edition
Here's the bike:
Thoughts?
#2
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Polished hubs/spokes would look good, the rims would be a little much. Everything is so all black now that bikes have lost their personality. They all look the same, just bland.
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I don't want to go overboard, though.
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JMO but those are pretty expensive wheels for that bike. Why not another set of Fulcrums? Anyway, silver (not retro high polish) wheels would be fine but the silver stem has to go. Your seatpost and stem should match in color.
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The stem stays! It's like the centerpiece of the whole silver accent thing. If I could have gotten a silver post for this bike, I would have.
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#7
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There was a rider at the BlazinSaddles75 last year with polished rims on her bike...I do not remember the brand, but it looked really sharp. Do what makes you want to ride it.
#9
Newbie
I think would look pretty "throwback" awesome.
Sand and polish the seatpost and then throw a set of these Hunt Sprint wheels on there.
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/produ...-31deep-24wide
Sand and polish the seatpost and then throw a set of these Hunt Sprint wheels on there.
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/produ...-31deep-24wide
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I think would look pretty "throwback" awesome.
Sand and polish the seatpost and then throw a set of these Hunt Sprint wheels on there.
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/produ...-31deep-24wide
Sand and polish the seatpost and then throw a set of these Hunt Sprint wheels on there.
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/produ...-31deep-24wide
Those Hunts look nice, I’ll check them out.
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I like polished box-section rims, but I haven't yet become a fan of polished deep-section rims. Just seems like too much. Black, with the shiny brake track on the way to the tire, keeps it from looking too monotonous.
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this thread has some detailed info on the process. It sounds like a lot of work, but it only took an afternoon to do the crankset. A seatpost would take much less time.
KHatfull's Aluminum Polishing Thread
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#18
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The Ritcheys would look great on my 2013 TCR SL1 Aluminum frame. Had a set of polished Mavics on there that were tanks that came with the bike (bought second hand), and these are much better looking in what is a bonafied climbing wheel in weight. Been wanting to go back to the polished look for a while to switch up the look.
#19
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium
Computing
Arithmetic logic unit, a digital electronic circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise logical operations
Life science
Alu sequence, a short stretch of DNA originally characterized by the action of the Alu restriction endonuclease
Arithmetic logic unit, a digital electronic circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise logical operations
Life science
Alu sequence, a short stretch of DNA originally characterized by the action of the Alu restriction endonuclease
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element with symbol Al and atomic number 13.
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shouldn't it have been clear that I wasn't referring to the periodic table, since elements are only represented by two characters and "alu" has 3?
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#23
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Aluminum oxidizes instantly when exposed to air, forming a thin protective layer of corundum. Anodizing improves corrosion protection by thickening this layer, but for many bicycle components, this doesn't matter all that much.
#24
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Whoa whoa, what did you do to accomplish that - I have an old Mavic crank (square taper!) that needs some TLC. Rotary tool and some polishing compound? Or something easier than that. Never mind, I'll check out your thread.