Am I the only person who finds the casting web that runs around the circumference of the wheels in the middle of the rim a real eyesore?

I am about to fit a K1200 rim to the rear of my K1100LT and a K1100RS rim to the front.  They both need to be powdercoated before being fitted with new tyres, and I have taken the opportunity to grind away that ugly raised web. When one looks closely at old wheels the paint usually fails on the edge of the web and then corrosion spreads from there, so I am hoping that smoothing things and leaving no 90 degree edges will help the finish last longer as well as being more attractive.

I finished the rear wheel this afternoon, and did a lot of work on the front rim.  That ought to be completed tomorrow; then it is a case of pulling the bearings and taking it to the powdercoating shop.

One problem I have is deciding what colour to have the wheels.  I quite fancy either gloss black, or a really dark grey instead of the factory light silver.  I have seen a really smart silver that almost replicates a chrome finish, but I am not quite sure that it will suit the bike.

Any thoughts?

I had decided to make up a spare set of wheels from my spares bike and change them over. The wheels are in better condition and will be fine as they are. The ones on the RT need a refurb and I had decided to go for an original silver finish. Until last weekend, which now means an exhaust off and an opportunity to polish the header pipes in which case black would look good.  You have bright red that would go very well with gloss black wheels.... clean black wheels look so well.

Con:

Silver
Pro:
- exceptional wear qualities
- hides grime, flaws well
- can add needed 'light' to bold/dark bikes
Con:
- can look ordinary
- can make existing silver components seem dingy, tired
- difficult to match to existing alloys/silver painted items

Dark Grey
Pro:
- trendy
- works well with rim striping
- hides grime and flaws relatively well 
Con:
- trendy
- can 'bastardize' parts (consider if will resell at some point)

I've a lot of experience with this, bikes and cars alike. I always ask the owner to think of what they want to see when they open the garage door or look out from the cafe/pub. Always the deciding factor. 

Have fun!

Kyle10 wrote:I always ask the owner to think of what they want to see when they open the garage door or look out from the cafe/pub. Always the deciding factor.  . . .

Have fun!

Great advice! That is precisely what I asked myself when choosing the color scheme for me. Gold . . .. and Silver . . . . .on Black . . . .just like the great names of yesteryear . .  Vincent, Matchless etc

Kyle

An excellent post.

Plus, a lot depends on whether one is a polisher or a rider. Black must be clean and polished to look good, then it looks awesome. But dirty can be depressing. The grey does a great job of hiding everything, a quick wash and the bike looks good. No 'missed' bits....

The wheels on my K1600 are a dark, metallic, silver with a semi gloss finish.
I'm a rider and a polisher, eight thousand miles since June, and find it a very practical colour and finish. Brake dust doesn't show and is easily washed off anyway. No ridge in the middle makes it easy to clean as well.
Mine is red, too and  I think the contrast works. (It's still the fastest colour)
Unless you're going to extremes, I wouldn't worry about resale as long as the change is in the best possible taste. 

To me the black detracts from the look because it doesn't contrast with the black of the tyres and so makes the wheels and tyres look bulky and bulbous, not a good look with a K.
I painted my wheels black on the K11 and immediately didn't like them so I tried some rim stripes but they looked worse then I sanded the flat surface at the sides adjacent to the tyre back to bare alloy and gave them a satin sheen look and now there is a separation of tyre and rim and I like it.

Not a fan of the standard black wheels on the 100/2 for exactly the reason Rick mentioned.

Maybe with a light hi-light around the edge of the rim to break up the look

Great info Kyle!

My preference is silver/lighter grey.

no, your not the only person who thinks the casting marks look ugly,  these wheels will look much better smoothed over in the centre.

Thanks for the thoughts on wheel colour gentlemen.  I think that you have persuaded me to go for the dark grey colour, as I reckon that all that black may well make the bike appear too heavy.  There is plenty of black on the bike as it is.

Another factor is that the spoke patterns will no longer match front and rear, so a darker shade of grey will disguise that a bit I hope.  A really light silver, or the virtual chrome finish I was considering, might make the difference stand out like the balls on a bulldog.