Mille GT Refurb - Akront rims

Technical Big Block Tonti and Loop Frame models
1

(moved to the right place!)

Hi all,

I did introduce myself in the ‘New Members’ section, but now that I’m a paid-up member, I’ll post here…

I’m re-building a Mille GT mongrel (1989) - it’s in a million pieces now. I’ve just spent a filthy afternoon removing spokes from the wheels so that I can clean (well, probably have cleaned) the hubs and then rebuild the wheels with new spokes. The hubs are absolutely filthy - I suspect I’ll have to have them vapour blasted.

I started by measuring the wheels to see the offsets. The front isn’t dished, but the rear is, slightly. No worries. I managed to get a couple of spokes off for measurement - it took most of yesterday afternoon - so today I decided just to use the disc cutter across the spokes - new ones are quite pricy, but it would take me for ever to get the old rusted spoke nipples out…

So, here I am, about 5 hours later, with hubs, rims, and a pile of spoke bits. The front was easy-ish, but to get the spokes out of the rear hub took patience, heat and lots of penetrating oil. Routine is - apply penetrating oil, attach my locking pliers to the spoke, heat until the penetrting oil disappears, then twist hard. For most of the spokes, there was a little puff of smoke, and it started to turn - and then I could hammer the side of the pliers and get the spoke moving. File off the swarf from the disc cutter, so that there’s nothing to jam in the hub, and then use the pliers and hammer on the now-emerging spoke inside the hub. Repeat 40 times.

Anyway, I looked to clean up the nice Akront rims, only to find that quite a lot of the nipple holes are cracked. In fact, in one place the crack joins up five holes. What a monumental disappointment! I’m pretty sure it’s not repairable, so I’m on the lookout for a replcement rim (I’ve put a ‘wanted’ ad…).

I’ll post progress reports as I ‘progress’. So far, the progress has all been backwards - discovered broken fins on the heads, every piece of visible plastic is broken; chokes on carbs not connected to anything; had to spent three weekends freeing up the timing chest cover from the frame, which held it is a grip of death; gearbox drain plug hole is stripped (with some sort of plastic paste moulded round the drain plug ‘sealing’ the oil in, not very successfully) - and so on. I ought to have expected the cracked rim, really.

That’s all for now. Will post some pictures when I have a bit more energy.

Cheers,

Nick

2

Not sure what size you need, but Central wheels etc will do flanged or unflanged alloy rims in most common sizes. Easier than buying genuine Akront ones from Italy. The unflanged ones do have a squarish profile and I think they are made by Excel.
https://www.central-wheel.co.uk/products/classic-rims/non-valanced-alloy-rims.html

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That’s a shame. Akront do carry big kudos of course, though given what you’ve found perhaps you have to wonder why. So otherwise - what Don said above.

Hagon also do rims and wheel building by the way if you want to compare costs. Just Google them.

4

Older Borrani rims also suffer from the same problem of cracking around the spoke holes. My Stornello has an old alloy rear rim and that has a few small cracks. It is such a low power machine and I keep an eye on them to make sure they aren’t getting any worst.
There are quite a few decent wheel companies on the go now. Devon Rim company is another name that crops up regularly.

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Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your advice. I’ll spend a bit of time looking, and then probably revert to Central Wheels or similar.

Nick

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My little Ducati has non-flanged alloy rims from Central. They are branded “Morad Spain” and look pretty good.
Ian