New rims for 1985 500CR?

What brand of rims have you used in your restoration projects? Is there any manufacturer who makes rims straight from the factory to fit my Husky? New spokes I found today from local Husqvarna dealer

Sun rims are real great.

I have been restoring the Nordisks lately - really have to watch those old rims as the weld on many
are cracking. By the time you strip the old anodizing, sand out nicks, re anodize them and re spoke them.
well is it worth it? Yes you save but the new rims are just so much easier to spoke, an true etc.

Buchanan wheel can help you out. Buchananspokes.com

Buchanan is the manufacturer of Sun rims

I never attempt to restore a Nordisk rim. Unspoking a rear rim is almost certainly to result in the weld cracking and even breaking apart. I have had this happen to a rim sitting in the shed unspoked for a few weeks. Rim opened up by half an inch!

Also when sending a rim off to get respoked, an uncracked rim came back with a small crack. They don't like being unrestrained by the spokes for very long.

If the rim is cosmetically OK and the spokes are not rusty then I simply leave them alone.

If you must despoke then get them respoked on the same day. Every day unspoked is a risk to a cracked rim.

Nordisk rims is make of 7075 grade aluminum is is really a top grade. I just believe the rim get exposed and all can see the improper weld after taking tire off etc.
and you can see the crack better. Some as noted here in Cafe looks like the weld never fused all the way across in the first place, its something to look after.

Two of the recent rims I have done are older sun rims. Weld look intact on these. Oh they are 6061 grade.

I have restored some 5 or 6 Bikes and every one has been re rimed. Its faster and cheaper to re Spoke and new Rim by far. I have used both Sun Rims and Re anodized Nordisk Rims. Unless the used Rim was hardly used and still has the original Tire on it You can pretty much figure its bent, so after all the work of sanding, polishing, and anodizing You will end up with a Wheel that wobbles when You are all done. This is perfectly fine for a restored bike not to be ridden, I have a few. Sun Rims work great and the Gold Anodizing is about the right color to match the Husqvarna. Perfect Circle is a newer choice and there Gold is very bright. He asked me about using one of my Hubs to Spoke it to but He never did so I don't know if He offers a Husqvarna option. I have a set of unused Sun Rims for a 81 KTM 495 and Buchanans told me the front is the same as a Husky. The Rear may or may not be the same. I'd be willing to let them go for 1/2 what I paid.

Rims by manufacture are rolled and seam welded with a 50% width weld. When the rim takes a hit on the unwelded lip the seam separates giving the appearance of a crack. This within itself does not affect the strength of the rim unless the center weld within the center of the rim is affected.

What does this term mean in the context you used it? Rims by manufacture

I have noticed shall I call it missing weld on the Nordisk rims. (essentially what you describe 50% though I did not do any destructive tests to be sure) Was not real happy about it but never let it stop from using that wheel. There is steel wire in the tire bead. I can not recall seeing this in another rim or wheel with spokes aluminum or steel. The Akront rims used on these bikes (earlier models than I put together) most likely are welded all the way, I have some of those on something else.

I often take the spokes loose and put never seize compound on the threads and get the rim running true as possible and all the spokes pretty much the same tension. The part about the rim separating can be kind of amusing as sometimes a lot of the spokes are pretty loose to start with.

Post 1 appears to ask for a new rim drilled to accommodate the original nipples of the spokes. Maybe they robbed me I don't know eventually it seems shops charged me double on something. 20 years ago spokes were $4 and nipples were $2 for the rear wheel very much like this post is about. If you buy a new rim I thought a set of new spokes and nipples from the same place were about $75. I do not know if the countersink portion varies. The original nipples seem to be brass.

A set of Stainless Spokes from Buchanans is about $120 these days. I had a Motorcycle Shop refuse to mount a Tire on a Cracked Rim. The usual Seam Crack. On my modern KTM's I have welded up the Seam Cracks and they are holding up fine.

Here are samples of the Restored Nordisk rims. 3 of 4 are almost as straight as a brand new sun rim. The last has the outer lip bent only a bit. Center rim is square and true.
Had to discard 4 other Nordisks rims to find the best sets to use. Sanded nicks also have a varied surface depth.

Note - the gold anodizing is set up and applied to be more than deeper standard gold tone at first. Why? Anodizing fades with sun and time - so the gold should really come out to be real close Husky color in the next years as tone depth fades with bit with time. Its matches closer to Sun gold color. Was using Billy Grossi's photos for the gold match.

Note photo on upper cafe - those are Sun rims on my main 430 - see how much the rims have faded in 4 years!

The darker gold is going on the White 83 500 CR and I know its much darker that the 83 gold. Have another couple more sets at the anodizer.

Black was asked for by guy I am building the 430 for.

Fran,

When rims are manufactured they start as a straight extrusion, then cut to their circumference, rolled round for the ends to meet, then seamed welded to the industry standard of 50% of width. They are very few rims that are machined from solid with no weld whatsoever. Cast wheels are not the same as the Sun and Nordisks we are used to. If a rim was welded by hand, it would be done by TIG(also referred to as Heliarc). That weld can be completed to 100%. The standard of 50% protects the quality of the weld as a higher percentage would have some blowout of the weld

Today I ordered a set of SM Pro rims straight from the factory, specially drilled for Husky.

They will deal direct and cut out the distributor?
http://www.smprowheels.co.uk/smpro-distributors

What width rims did you get or did you order?

2.15x 18 and 1.60x 21. Drilled to order, gold anodized.

let us know how the SM pro rims go? Be interesting to know how they get on getting the holes drilled at the correct angles for the drum hubs.

I have the SMPro platinums on my 1987 cr. Central wheel drilled one rim in "vice versa" lacing pattern and the other was left conventional. They laced up a treat with CC products stainless spoke kits. I went with the 19" rear for better tyre choice. I think you will be pleased with your choice of rim, they are very good!

I know the SM Pro rims well, I have those fitted to my Honda 2001 CR250 and Yamaha 1989 YZ360 Öhlins.