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Would also like to know. Think the easiest is to strip anodizing and polishing the rim. I have 3 rims. Each a differrent anodized color.
Will be using 2 and removing the anodizing. Would have loved getting them anodized a matching color, but like you, I have a similar problem with that line.

If rim is straight, any lathe should be able to put a slight scrape in the rim. Also a professional pinstriper would be able to do it in silver. I would think about $50.

No way Jose on the pinstriper !  Lathe guy is best bet but it can be done by hand, just alot of time and work when lathe can do in a few minutes if that properly setup.   When done properly the rims are already polished a little under the anno and it shows.  The lathe cut is like machining any aluminum it comes out very shiny like chrome.  That "pinstripe" like speed line being chrome or polished like in appearance is what makes the wheels standout from the rest.  Add this to polished wheels with deep blue anno over top and they are truly in a class of their own !!   This is an older post I had made and the build for the Ukai Speedlines is long since pushed to the side, and now gone.  I've been trying to sell my pair of rims and while it took 2 years to find them, now I cannot sell them for what I paid for them !!!  Unreal how this goes but I would rather hold onto them then lose half my money and the only thing "wrong" is that original hubs have a small spot on rear one that blue peeled off.  Since that is only spot and they're original ACS unfaded I decided to keep og vs putting blue/polished bullseye show hubs on them as originally planned.   They were built in 81'ish time frame ACS large flange hubs, chrome spokes, silver brass nipples, blue speed lines and except for a few minor hairline scratches and that spot the size of a quarter on rear hub that blue candy paint came off years ago, they are like new, love that deep blue with shiny speed line and chrome like shiny side of rims, nothing like them !  Kind of happy they haven't sold, I know I'll regret it after searching for so long to get them.

Wally world has a blue candy that is awesome. I bought it to do a Scrambler frame and found out it matches the blue ano very well. The thicker the coat the darker it gets so you can actually match that deep blue of early 7x's or the lighter blue on your Ukais. It would definately match your ACS....$6 a spray bomb? For touchup I spray it into the cap and use a testors brush. I did not realize how small the pinstripe was, striper would have to be VERY god for that.

whats wtf, thanks.

A couple of years ago I had a pair of Speedlines that I stripped and had re-annoed red. To clean out the line I used a non-reinforced Dremel cut-off disk. I built the wheels, put them on the bike and put the edge of the disk into the groove and slowly spun the wheel. After a few revolutions the line was clean and looked pretty good. It takes a little patience, but can be done. Sorry I do not have any photos, I never thought of taking any at the time and have since sold the rims.

I would try to use something less abrasive than a cut off disc.  I would think the carbon or stainless steel wire wheel attachment will remove the anno and polish at the same time.

hendrikBMX wrote:

Dremel cut off disk sounds like a plan. What type is it? I normally buy the cut disk used to cut metal.
Is there another one available? What is it used for. Cheers

It is for cutting metal. I found that the ones that don't have the reinforcing fibers in them are a bit thinner and fit in the groove a bit better.

If you can feel the groove then you can either do the dremel or paint it. I like the dremel trick.

butcherbobhayes wrote:

h20-50 wrote:

I would try to use something less abrasive than a cut off disc.  I would think the carbon or stainless steel wire wheel attachment will remove the anno and polish at the same time.

The small wire wheel attachment is too hard to keep in the groove, and would IMO scratch up the wheel itself. The disk is not in the Dremel, it is in your fingers. You need something abrasive, you are cleaning out aluminum oxide. It is very hard, after all they make wet/dry abrasive paper out of it.

Oh that's clever, I was under the assumption that it was attached to the dremel.  This would def work.

Indy wrote:

cat-walk wrote:

the lines aren't polished. and its easy to etch with a home made tool. i'v done it

No they are not, they are raw (when silver and not white as pointed out earlier) but they are shiny from that "lathe" cut or whatever did it in the factory.  They do however dull down like any other aluminum over time but whether factory or refinished "I" like to polish them so they stand out abit more.   These wheels I pictured are untouched original wheels but the speedlines were silver when I got them and some spots still are.   Using mother's on a rag I put pressure on the line with my finger and when I remove the rag from the rim you can see a black line on the rag, super straight line that is where it was pressed into the groove.  Rub the mothers residue off the rims and that speed line is now bright and shiny like new again that simple.   When free off all corrosion or age with a magnifying glass you can examine the lines and see it does appear a lathe type machine cut them out of the aluminum with tiny machine marks etc.

   Getting new anno on them just means cleaning that line back out but anno "stains" the aluminum and penetrates into it a little bit for corrosion resistance and protection of the aluminum surface.  For this you will have to remove a small amount of aluminum to make silver again and while I love the dremel idea and use it regularly here to restore my bmx bikes and parts you must be so so very careful as also indicated here or you will step out of that line and create a new one.......might want to practice on one before you get the anodized done or better buy a destroyed one to practice on like I used to do with dying tuff wheels and all that jazz..


d-

Yeah.. I have no idea exactly how Japan implemented the "lines" into Ukai speedline hoops either. A lot of methods went through my mind but, really don't care anymore. It was obviously done very fast during production, because if you line up a few speedline hoops side-by-side, you can see the hoops lines are not all exactly the same depth and width. The lines appear to be in the same location on each hoop but, slightly different. I considered using a moto tool but, was afraid of the same thing, losing control of the cutting wheel would equal re-anodizing and polishing over. The way i did it was simple and the tool (a broken screw driver grinding to a perfectly sharp 90 degree edge) was enough to dig the anodizing in the line out just fine.

Indy wrote:

That's clever ! I certainly lacked the needed creativity in this hobby

The site has a lot of great how-to threads.