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Cleaning and waxing spokes?

Make sure before you polish, wax, or rub on your spokes that they are an after-market spoke or part of an after-market wheel. I once tried to clean the spokes of my stock front wheel on my Deuce and the Harley dealer told me not to do that anymore because rubbing and polishing on stock spokes takes the protective coating off the spoke and they NEVER look good again. It's not something you can re-store after rubbing it off so procede with caution. I have had some luck with the powerball, but you have to have the small ball, and even that needs to be gone back over to make sure you got it all. I wouldn't recommned this on a wheel that has more than 40 spokes though. They also sell strips (long and thin to get between the spokes) that are used to polish the spokes, but I'm not sure of the brand name. Good luck with this job, it's a pain to do...
 
My spokes were just fine untill I read this post. I did figure out pretty quick today that if you start cleaning them you have to clean them all, you cant only do half of them or just the easy ones, you have to do all 10,000 of them, it takes about three hours per wheel. Enjoy your spokes.
 
I still haven't cleaned them yet, I just look at them and think that they look ok right now and how much work it will be to clean them. Plus it is too darn cold in the garage to hang out in there right now...
 
NEWHD74FAN said:
There was a thread awhile back about internal water and corrosion eating up the spoke wheels from the inside out...so do take the time to maintain your spoke rims. And if you see rust on the outside, be very careful to have the inside inspected for hidden damage. This is a reason why "modern" wheels moved away from spoke wheels...not "just" because of looks.
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I've also heard that using Bleech-White on your whitewall tires can corrode your spokes after a period of time.Don't know how true it is but it's what I've heard!
 
These wheels had a tuff scum on them when I got the bike. I finally used Lime away gel, a bottle brush and rinsed them well with water.
 

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Duggr, thank you for the heads up post and welcome to the HDTimeline forum. Never thought of using Lime away...and you did a mighty fine job on all those spokes...my typing fingers started aching when I saw the pix! :swoon
 
Lime Away? I never thought of that. That may work good on my dirt bike to clean those old nasty wheels...Welcome to the forum Duggr.
 
On my 883L I just wash the spokes and rims then use pledge and, apart from a few very minor rusts & pits, they look ok
Doing the rear wheel is a total pain though - getting at the spokes properly behind the belt is virtually impossible. Its also very hard to get at the spokes (on both wheels) behind brake discs. How do people get round that?
 
I used a wide shoe lace, one wrap on the spoke and kind of see-sawed back and forth with some cleaner on it. the pain factor was still up there but I didn't have to try and fit my mits in back of everything.
 
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