Hi all, I finally finished a little project to fit gold wheels to my CB400 Super Four, so thought I'd post a few pictures on here. I was inspired by some pictures of my bike I saw on the web in my colour scheme (white & red), but with gold wheels instead of the matt black mine came in.

Since then I've discovered the bike I saw was actually its big brother, the CB1000, but I like the look so much I went for it.

I had a problem to overcome too, I use my bike every day, so I couldn't simply take the wheels off and send them away to have it all done for me. I had to keep it on the road.

Here is the bike at the start:


1. I bought some 2nd hand wheels off eBay (had to send one back, as was laughably warped. The breaker was mortified)
2. Stripped them down by taking out all the old rubber seals, bearings, and valves. The bearings where a f*cking nightmare. Eventually got them by buying a set of drifts and knocking out from the other side.
3. Sent them off to Triple S powder coating in Bingley, West Yorkshire. I had read on forum posts that they do a good job. (Had to lie on the courier shipping form, as bike wheels are 'prohibited items'. God knows why, I just changed it to 'Bike Parts' and they were none the wiser)
They came back like this (the colour isnt captured very well on my smartphone camera, and it was an overcast day, so they look more copper than gold in these pictures)


Beautiful arent they. The depth of colour and shine is amazing, and they are so smooth. This is from a set of crappy 20 year old original wheels. It cost about £150 for the powder coating.
4. Swap over the tyre, discs etc from the old wheel. As I wanted to clean the sprocket, discs etc at the same time, polish all the disc studs, and fit new bearing and seals, I decided to do it a wheel at a time, and change the tyre myself.
Here we are mid change

Loads of issues here too - getting the tyres off was ok as I had built a DIY bead breaker (two bits of wood), but on the new one and inflated was a pig.
Anyway, finally all was done and here it is....


A little postscript - I've had the front tyre on and off twice since I did it, because the bike was making a funny noise. Turned out I refitted the rear tyre and stretched the chain too tight which was the cause, so I am now a bl**dy expert at changing tyres!

If anyone is doing anything similar and wants to ask any questions, then drop me a line. Cheers all, Chris.

Looks like a long job but worth it! Is the red / white your respray or is that the orginal?

Its not mine, it was already done when I bought the bike (it was what attracted me to that particular one). Its a decent job actually, but a pain now because I need to paint the seat surround where I have repaired a crack, but I can't find the right shade of white! (Halfords think I am addicted to cans of spray paint, I am in there so often)

the wheels look great - good work! really lift the look of the bike.

where are the pictures taken? it looks too clean and the plants a bit too tropical to be UK....

fair play for removing and fitting your own tyres. this is a step too far for me and i don't trust others not to mark or chip my wheels, hence i feel compelled to paint mine myself so that i can blow them in once others have damaged them, but quality powder coating like that looks ace!

the only part letting the bike down now is the scratched exhaust. any plans?

Cheers. Believe it or not, those pictures are taken at Media City in sunny Manchester UK, where the BBC and ITV are based. Its the media luvvie types round here darling, they like it to be clean and have posh plants!

Really not sure what to do about the exhaust - yes its scratched, and actually has a little hole in right near the end, but I really like the noise the bike makes and I'm worried if I replace the end can with a new one, it will lose its character. The exhaust end can and header pipes all looks to be one unit anyway, so it will be an expensive replacement too for the whole lot.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received - second hand ones from breakers always seem expensive and in crap condition anyway, so I've sort of just left it.

I did the same thing about 6 months ago as the previous time I painted them I forgot to clear coat them. Cost me around $30AU to do so

If you are looking for a paint match go to a decent paint suppliers there is one in Gloucester, not much use to you I guess, but I took a pannel of my nc23: in and they matched it exactly. Dont forget paint fades so the body shops match to the paint thatsnon a vehicle not the original colour

Looks pretty dandy, much like another Superfour I've seen Did you need to balance the wheels at all?

craigs23 wrote:Looks pretty dandy, much like another Superfour I've seen Did you need to balance the wheels at all?

Yep, you've got to take any existing weights off before they can be coated, so I had to rebalance them after I put the tyres on. I think I paid about fifteen quid for a balancing rod, and a few quid for some weights, and just knocked up a little frame to hang the rod and wheels from.

Allrover wrote:Hi all, I finally finished a little project to fit gold wheels to my CB400 Super Four, so thought I'd post a few pictures on here. I was inspired by some pictures of my bike I saw on the web in my colour scheme (white & red), but with gold wheels instead of the matt black mine came in.

Since then I've discovered the bike I saw was actually its big brother, the CB1000, but I like the look so much I went for it.

I had a problem to overcome too, I use my bike every day, so I couldn't simply take the wheels off and send them away to have it all done for me. I had to keep it on the road.

Here is the bike at the start:


1. I bought some 2nd hand wheels off eBay (had to send one back, as was laughably warped. The breaker was mortified)
2. Stripped them down by taking out all the old rubber seals, bearings, and valves. The bearings where a f*cking nightmare. Eventually got them by buying a set of drifts and knocking out from the other side.
3. Sent them off to Triple S powder coating in Bingley, West Yorkshire. I had read on forum posts that they do a good job. (Had to lie on the courier shipping form, as bike wheels are 'prohibited items'. God knows why, I just changed it to 'Bike Parts' and they were none the wiser)
They came back like this (the colour isnt captured very well on my smartphone camera, and it was an overcast day, so they look more copper than gold in these pictures)


Beautiful arent they. The depth of colour and shine is amazing, and they are so smooth. This is from a set of crappy 20 year old original wheels. It cost about £150 for the powder coating.
4. Swap over the tyre, discs etc from the old wheel. As I wanted to clean the sprocket, discs etc at the same time, polish all the disc studs, and fit new bearing and seals, I decided to do it a wheel at a time, and change the tyre myself.
Here we are mid change

Loads of issues here too - getting the tyres off was ok as I had built a DIY bead breaker (two bits of wood), but on the new one and inflated was a pig.
Anyway, finally all was done and here it is....


A little postscript - I've had the front tyre on and off twice since I did it, because the bike was making a funny noise. Turned out I refitted the rear tyre and stretched the chain too tight which was the cause, so I am now a bl**dy expert at changing tyres!

If anyone is doing anything similar and wants to ask any questions, then drop me a line. Cheers all, Chris.

Hi there whats the color code for the wheels and what type of paint did you use i need my wheels redone

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