My California project’s wheels are quite badly corroded. Too badly to polish out the pitted surface.
I am looking for a pair, or single Borrani 18" rim/s. I don’t need perfect, as I am not seeking perfection in my rebuild, just honest and straight. Just rims. (Obviously round!
)
Does anyone have any in their stash they would like to sell?
Cheers John.
Can I have your old rims. Obviously i’ll pay the shipping costs.
Regards, Nik
Any good for you?
That price is NOT going to stay there. Expect upwards of £250 - £300 at the end of the auction.
Get a pair of flanged rims from Central Wheels. They are identical but just don’t have ‘Borrani’ stamped on them and you can be sure of their quality. Better still (and this is a very long story that I no longer remember all the details of, so I’m skipping it), I believe that the formers that the rims are turned on are the original Borrani formers.
I just bought a new old stock rim from ebay Germany for £83 with exactly the same writing as my rim. I spent an afternoon of pain and sweat removing the tyre from my rim. Rock hard tyre that was welded to the rim that I could only break the bead by multiple squashing in my vice and then heave hoing on my tyre irons for ages to remove it, which exhausted me. I now have to try and remove the spokes without damage, as the nipples too are welded to the rim and spokes which has a thick layer of oxidation.
[Edited because I misread your post]
I wouldn’t bother trying to save the nipples and spokes as they are easily available (e.g. Central Wheels again).
Whatever happens, once you have wheels fitted to your Cali and it’s rolling again, after every single ride hose the wheels down to remove the rust thrown from the discs under braking. It’s the rust that does most of the damage and makes the rims difficult to clean if left for any length of time. (Applies to all cast-disc Tontis actually).
I agree with DiaG
Just cut the spokes and discard them. Get the wheel rebuilt with stainless steel spokes and new nipples by a professional wheel builder, you will then ensure that the wheel runs true and cleaning it will be a lot easier. Spokes and nipples are not expensive.
On my “project” I needed new discs so I bought stainless ones from Germany. Not cheap but not much more than original cast iron ones, if only I could get decent cast iron ones! I am hoping for a much cleaner front wheel without rust from the discs covering them, and only road dirt to worry about.
Best wishes Chris
Hi both, will Central wheels supply with just the bike name (Moto Guzzi T3 California) or will they need samples of the hub, spokes and rim? Cheers John.
They have patterns in-house for almost any bike you can name. If you’re still uncertain, give them a ring - they are very helpful.
The ‘almost’ was my 2021 RE Bullet because it was too new for them to have worked on one and I wanted a stainless rim and spokes for the rear. I sent them a pair of spokes and they made patterns from them.
(Irrelevancy: Royal Enfield use(d) whatever came to hand. Some Bullet 500s were all stainless spokes, some were all zinc-plated and some (mine included) were a mixture. You couldn’t make it up… could you?).
John, they will need your hub to re-lace it onto the rim. You could take the opportunity to powder coat the hub or clean it up and spray it.
Best wishes Chris
Hi Chris, I am going to have a go at lacing the wheel myself. I spent yesterday removing the nipples and then the spokes. After removing copious amounts of corrosion from the rim I soaked the nipples with WD40 and left them to soak over night and they were quite easy to remove, thankfully. I mustn’t forget the tyre which was a nightmare to remove. Rock hard and welded to the rim, I had to rotate it in my vice and squeeze it as tight as I could to break the bead, and then the effort to lever it of left me aching and exhausted. Then I discovered that the spokes were a tight interference fit in the hub and another real pain to remove, requiring forcing them out with a hammer and a brass rod, with the hub again held in my vice, rotating to position each spoke facing the vice so that force didn’t spin the hub out of the jaws. All have survived, threads intact! I can now clean up the hub ready to re-lace the rim when it arrives. I measured the offset and will attempt to get it back together correctly. It is the first time I have attempted this job and I am prepared to fail, but feel it is a job possible for me to complete successfully. Watch this space!
John you are a better man than me!
Best of luck with your endeavours! Chris
The rim arrived this afternoon. It was from Italy not Germany doh! A company called Pirini Moto and is a brand new Borrani copy. Suits me sir!
Moved to general discussion.
