alright…I know it sounds kinda ghetto, but the thought of buying $50 worth of spokes, and then paying someone to relace the wheel does not sound too hot either.
Has anyone done this? I have silver Sapim cx-ray spokes, and I want them to be black to match a rear wheel I just acquired. I was thinking I would just sand them w/ fine grit paper, prep them and then mask off the hub and rim and spray them with a little glossy black. Am I crazy, is it going to turn out horrible? All thoughts, previous experiences, and heckling are appreciated.
The way to blacken spokes is a special heat treatment. You would add a bit too much weight to the spokes, and frankly, it would not be worth it. You could find a metal finishing shop to do it really cheap when you rebuild the wheel.
A zillion years ago when I built up a wheel with ti spokes, I did the “ti dye” thing by using a car battery and some washing powder. But the ti spokes were crap and I have some DT bladed that have been on the wheel ever since.
Why not just wrap them in yarn? I mean, the color possibilities are damn near endless…sure sure yarn may weigh a few grams - and might have a bit more wind drag than a normal spoke but that may just be the price we have to pay for style! You could even do a macreme design and weave that wheel into a disk!
“Macreme yarn epoxy resin kevlar spoke wheels”…you could get some hippie lady to weave you a Led Zepplin pattern in there (dont wear respirators while applyling epoxy to the Led Zepplin wheels). Maybe a mexican woman (of about 10 years) can weave a Jesus or weeping Virgin Mary into a wheel prior to glue up for a little help from above…Velvet Elvis? I think we have something here.