Cleaning Spokes

[taximan]

I recently bought a vintage bike which is in reasonable condition. The alloy rims are showing some light pitting but I expect autosol or similar will fettle that. The spokes however have a grey deposit coating them and I am not sure of the best way to tackle it. I am reluctant to use an abrasive because I seem to remember back in my youth I cleaned some spokes and almost overnight they rusted badly. I have tried rubbing vigorously with an oily rag and that removes the deposit and it does shine the spokes up to a point but in appearance they are still a grey colour ( more like pewter). My Question is, how do others tackle this problem. I suppose I could get the wheels re-spoked but I am not sure if we have anybody local who would undertake the work and I certainly do not have the skill. If I went down this road, what would the cost be?

 

[compo]

A drop of oil on some wire wool to clean the spokes then polish off with something like autosol. You may never get them like new but a reasonable finish can be expected.

 

[black'n'yellow]

Galvanised spokes will go furry eventually and once the galvanising is compromised, then nothing you can do will bring the finish back. Polishing will improve the appearance for a short time, but then natural forces take over again. The only long term solution is to replace the spokes with new.

 

[taximan]

Pretty much what I thought! What sort of cost would I be looking at ?

 

[PpPete]

This is about the cheapest for top quality spokes if you are doing the job yourself.

 

[taximan]

Unfortunately I do not have the confidence or the skill to re-spoke wheels

 

[Keith Oates]

If you Google "cycle wheel building in Yorkshire" you will see quite a few places that can do them and you could choose the most convenient to your home or the cheapest.for a quotation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[taximan]

If you Google "cycle wheel building in Yorkshire" you will see quite a few places that can do them and you could choose the most convenient to your home or the cheapest.for a quotation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Keith , I should have thought of that

 

[e-rider]

the best way to clean spokes, is to remove them all, clean, then replace!

only joking, after reading the OP your only answer is to replace with new spokes.

 

[taximan]

Thanks for your advise folks

 

[Ian H]

"Advice". If the spokes aren't rusty and aren't breaking, there's no need to replace. Stainless steel spokes are relatively recent invention and, for a long time, until the alloy was refined, had a reputation for brittleness.

 

[bobg]

If you do chose to clean them with wire wool or something similar, beware the aluminium "dust", it gets in the lungs and wreaks havoc with your breathing