Wheel colour

[rubberfingers]

I have been told its actually better to get them painted rather than powder coated. Been quoted £30 a wheel to remove the tyre, strip, prep, paint, and refit - seems OK price I think?

I have also seen some nice red ones with polished rims and spokes so I may go for that look, not decided yet..

[rzmad]

I have been told its actually better to get them painted rather than powder coated. Been quoted £30 a wheel to remove the tyre, strip, prep, paint, and refit - seems OK price I think?

I have also seen some nice red ones with polished rims and spokes so I may go for that look, not decided yet..

£30 a wheel
I was quoted £100 per wheel by local bike paint refinisher.

The one thing I did think about was having black wheels with polished rims!

Heres a pick of an RD500 I was going to buy!

[rubberfingers]

Yes thats the look I am thinking about (is that Freds bike?) What did they look like in real life?

The guy I spoke to is very keen on polishing and it was him who first suggested a polished look. I think £30 a wheel was good as well, esp as it included removing the tyres (will be about £40 if I have polishing as well)

He currently has my spare tank and belly pan for repainting so I will see how these turn out first.

Black with polished rims is an option or black with red rim tape?

[rzmad]

Yes it was Freds bike! Did not ride as fast as my RZV500R though. Wheels looked really good! You can tell I've travelled this road before as I have all the photos. Here you go here's some more...

[rubberfingers]

You have all the photos anyone could need to decide! Must say those polished red wheels do look really nice.

There are quite a few chromed bits on my bike so I think the 'bling' wheels would go well with them. They look nice and bright like the white wheels but would not be as bad to clean (I would hope).

The black and red also look good on the black/red bike, not sure what they would be like on the RZ coloured red/white though.

[rzmad]

I like the polished black wheels myself but it was too late at the time cause I already had mine powder coated. My aim to to keep my bike looking as std as possible rather than bling but I could not get on with the gold wheels!

Sorry I don't have a photo of black polished wheels on RZV.

[Andrew]

I'd go for a professional paint job not a home made one if you tressure your bike!

70/30 = 70% gloss, 30% matt

I think in the designs the white looks the nicest BUT as you say white is a nightmare and that is why I went with black. It's so easy to become a slave to cleaning of bikes. I have a polished stainless exhaust for my Buell and it's like cleaning white wheels really, always tarnishing and forever cleaning which last 5 min. For me I actually like the black wheels, goes with anything.

Paul
I would've taken your gold rims....
Mine are satin black and now back in the loft.....

I had a similar offer but it was the additional cost of postage not to mention I'm fussy and I don't like buying/swapping blind. It was much easier to buy second hand wheels and having them powder coated locally.

No problem, I understand

[rubberfingers]

Using your photos I have done a rough photoshop mock up of how the polished red wheels would look on the RZ coloured bike - personally I think they look really good.

I may well go for this colour

[ditomagico]

HI Rubberfinger, I found this old post .

I'm restoring an RZ500 Australian delivered and the bike has white rims. I'm not sure if they have been resprayed white or the bike came out like that. Can't finda lot of info about it. I found some white rims for sale in America .. they look quite old but again don't know if they have been resprayed Was yours original white rims from factory ?

Thanks
Ditomagico

[silverstrom]

I don't think Yamaha ever painted them white. The Marlboro bikes had white wheels, but they were not done by Yamaha.

Yamaha used Black or Gold, depending on your location.

That is based on the information I have here. Others may have something more helpful.

[phildu31]

Black wheels on European (RD) version.
All others (RZ/RZV) had gold wheels ( only the color ... ).