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On my first 24, it came factory with Araya 7x 24 x 1.75 rims, in a factory "polished" finish. It was a unique polished finish. The rims can be seen in the following two photos, although not very clearly. This particular finish rim was available on a few standard NZ made bikes back in the eighties.
Now, I liked the finish on these rims for a few reasons. One is, that they were shinier than the standard silver rims. Much shinier. And the second was that, not being chrome, they wouldn't flake or chip eventually.
When I was beginning to build my first build a few years back, my 1982 GT 24, I tried to find a NOS pair of these rims. I found one pair, but they wer eup on ebay, and I got outbid. I never saw another pair up for sale. But about two years ago, someone tipped me off that another member had just found a pair, and was keen to sell them, so I ended up buying them, but not having a need for them, I stored them up in my loft.
Anyway, another pair came up for sale recently, and I managed to get them. And it got me thinking about this finish. I remember back in the day, that someone told me, that they were actually plated, and not polished, and that they were cadmium plated. Now, I can't tell for sure, but I did end up buying a pair of used wheels with them rims about four years ago, and the rims did have some kind of issue with the finish, like flaking. I no longer own those wheels, but I do know they were definitely the same finish, as they came on a factory NZ cruiser.
Does anyone know about this finish? I recall have 20 x 1.5 7x's on my Kuwahara 20" back in the day, and they had the same finish.
Here are the rims I now own. Both pairs are destined for two of my cruisers, with one set replacing the silver wheelset on my GT 24.
Compared to the standard silver rims currently on my GT 24:
\Anyway, I would be interested in any info anyone can give me on these rims.
And Steve, I'll put some photos in the database for reference too
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