74 SixDay Spokes

[BrianTaylor]

I am pulling apart my front and rear wheels and the spokes look like they were painted  Can anyone confirm that is the case [?].. thks Brian

Brian Taylor

[Rocket]

Brian
I believe an earlier post from Doug Wilford said the front was painted and the rear were plated or vice-versa.
Rocket

[Kip Kern]

Brian,  You are correct, the spokes were painted, until you start seeing the conical hub bikes then a lot of them were plated.  The bummer about repainting spokes and then lacing the wheel is that you scratch them up and have to touch them up again then they look bad.  I break the rules and nicely bead blast all spokes and have them Zinc plated so the finish is more durable.  The spokes on the "68" Pentons were chrome plated however!