Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories Black painted front wheel: yes or no?

I just bought a used speedmaster front wheel to replace the one my wife bent last week. I'm contemplating having it painted/powder coated black when I receive it, or have the bent one done when I have it straightened (or both, and sell off one). I'm just concerned that it may look a little silly without doing the rear wheel as well.

For reference, I did a couple photoshop mock-ups to get an impression of what it woud look like. Your thoughts?





Or, the other option is to have one polished.

Hey, looks good. Get the rear one done to match.

Matt

Looks darn good...I say go for both black.

It looks odd if only one wheel is done. Either do both or leave the front one silver. IMHO

By the way, I would powdercoat it, paint will chip.

I agree that they both should be the same. I'm partial to chrome, though. Have you thought of having both front and rear wheels chromed? The black would really set off the chrome wheels.

i like it but you should do the rear as well

Frank

I think that looks pretty sinister. I like it. I know it would be a lot, but having it powder coated and then machining the lip to reveal a thin strip of the metal would be nice too

looks awesome, but you gotta do both

The front and back wheel look different from each other from the factory; the front is a silver powder coat and the rear is alluminum. They should have followed some of our advice from the beginning! The wheels should match, and I think the black front and rear would look great. If you are pulling the front wheel you might as well pull the fork lowers and get them blacked out as well. I hate the look of the grey lowers that come stock on the speedy.

It will look better if the wheels match, something I wish Triumph would learn. Someone here did theirs red maybe a year ago, might still be in the photo gallery.

black and black is my vote. Anyone with a cost guesstimate?

Personally it gives it the look of those junky jap bikes of the 80's to me, but you asked ! Anyway,personal feelings aside, the one consideration i'd have is chips that would show thru to the metal which would really make it look beat up. My stock rim has lots of them after only a year, but because it's silver it doesn't show. Just a thought.

How about black black & white walls?

powdercoat does not chip easily

Frank

Even though I may have come out of the closet and revel in my chromoseksuality, I like the look. Just my humble-o, but I too would powder coat the rear and ditch the chrome sprocket cover.

Just my 2 groszy,

Tom

See if you can get your hands on a bonnevile black sprocket cover... That would look the business.

Both gotta be black!

I'd go for both wheels black, with the Bonneville sprocket and maybe do the rear mudguard supports black as well?

I have seen here somewhere that green goes faster. Maybe paint them both green?
I think both black would look great.

I wonder what red rims with whitewalls would look like? Probably overdone though.

Balck bonnie sprocket covers do look good on our bikes, but then I'm biased.

One member does have both of his SM wheels black powder coated. Someone in Italy or France if I recall. They really look good. As for the sprocket cover, the T100 chrome cover looks really nice with the Speedmaster. They don't have the george Formen grill look. I have one and also a chrome clutch side cover and I am going to trade my black electrical rotor cover with biker for his chrome one. The chrome and black contrast looks very nice, in my humble opinion.

I don't think it matters much if the rear wheel matches, or not. It looks good in both of the pics - and stock, they don't match anyway as we know.

You can't go wrong!