Ducati Elite 204cc
Refurbishing the wheels
When I got the bike all those years ago, the wheels were really poor and I was never sure the rims would be salvageable but I brushed them all over with Waxoyl in an effort to at least prevent them from getting much worse.
The CEAT tyres on it are probably the originals it left Bologna with and you can see the condition of the rims. They came apart remarkably well without chopping spokes - which would be replaced anyway. These are double butted and I bought stainless replacements.
Once the rims were separated from the hubs, I coated them a few times in Bilt Hamber Deox Gel to remove most of the rust, mainly to see if they looked like they might re-chrome.
This is how they looked after treatment - ready for sending to Prestige Electro-platers in Mexborough for them to have a look at and assess their viability. Diane from Prestige rang a few days after I had sent them to say that they could do them but there might be a few small pits evident when finished as they were pretty bad. I accepted their judgement as after all, these are the original rims made from 'Unobtainium' and nearly all of the restored Elites I have seen are fitted with aftermarket rims with a different profile.
When they arrived home and I unpacked them I could not believe what those magicians had achieved - they are nothing short of fabulous.
They are indistinguishable from new - in fact as they were originally Italian Chrome - which disappeared when the wind blew, they are far better than new.
Many companies are reluctant to re-chrome wheel rims as they are notoriously difficult to polish around the spoke holes - ripping polishing mops to shreds but if you are prepared to wait, Prestige is the obvious choice. I think this is my fourth or fifth set of rims done by them and I have always been extremely satisfied with the result. Of course, they are not cheap - excellence never is!
As the weather was particularly poor - January 2021 - I set about building and trueing both wheels in a day and fitted new tyres, tubes and rim tapes the following day.
They have certainly turned out unbelievably well and I managed to get a pair of period looking tyres from David Henning at Dr D's Bike Surgery in Kirkwall.
