There is a way. Of course, a boring Sunday afternoon, a roll of masking tape, and paint are required. I finally decided to do a little something with that plain ole stock front rim. Though I would like to have added a fancy custom wheel to my VStar, this little project added my own custom flair to the current laced wheel. With a little time on my hands, I removed the front wheel assembly, cleaned it thoroughly, and started what turned into about an hour of masking tape fun. I masked off the entire rim, about two inches out from the rim around the tire, and each individual nipple per spoke. Yes this was very tedious. Then came the paint. I added two or three good solid coats each of Rustoleum self etching primer, gloss black, and clear enamel. After letting it dry completely, I spent a second hour of tedious work removing the masking tape. Clearly, the tape is the hardest part of the job. I guess compared to the alternative, unlacing and relacing spokes, the tape doesn't sound too bad. So the end product is now a chrome rim with black spokes. I'm pleased with how this turned out, looks just like those custom jobs I've seen, only at a fraction of the cost. While the axle is out, I plan to have the end machined down to match the stock metric axle. If you'll remember back to when I installed the new triple trees, the axle they sent had a very large head protruding out just enough, preventing me from re-using my fork bullets. I've also stripped the fork bullets of their paint, and along with the recently purchased axle covers, and the fork tube covers, I plan to have them all powdercoated gloss black to match the rest of the powder coated items on the bike. I previously had them painted, but felt like the powder would withstand the abuse from the road a tad bit better. Hopefully I will be able to have the powder coat guy get to this next week. I plan to update with more pics as soon as I have everything back and installed on the bike. For now, I've simply posted pictures of the wheel that was just completed. So, there is definitely more to come later. Until then, ride safe....
