ZX Dio alloy wheels restortion
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2019 8:49 pm
I haven't started on my latest project as a whole but I thought it would be cool to share the overhaul of my ZX Dio alloys and the story of getting them to NZ.
These alloys seem rare in the USA but they are incredibly rare in NZ. Occasionally they will come up for sale but they're attached to scooters. It becomes to expensive to buy an entire scooter in another city just for the wheels!
I was looking around Facebook and found a rather disturbing picture of heaps of ZX alloys in the Philippines. I took the gamble and messaged the seller. One western union USD money transfer later and I had 2 pairs being shipped to New Zealand. Hassle free and they arrived as described. I asked for no tyres fitted. He also sent the best ones he had (or so he said). I think I paid $300USD for 2 pairs shipped to NZ.
On the whole they where pretty good. You could bolt them up and go but there was some surface corrosion and knicks and bumps from being aged alloy wheels. I decided a full overhaul was required! My mate pulled the bearings out for me. I then media blasted them over the week on night shift. If you can I highly recommend media blasting. It removed the white powdery surface corrosion and paint and left a really nicely keyed surface for the new paint. I then had them painted in an industrial 2pac orange. I love them. They are so bright in the sun.
After they had cured and hardened for a while I pressed in new bearings. It took half a day of research to find the bearing part numbers and trapes around the various suppliers to get new sealed bearings. I put new dust seals in to. Did you know that one of the bearings is different between the alloys and the steel disk braked wheels.
Some pictures for your enjoyment. I have also added the link to Mark in the Philippines where I got the wheels. Hopefully he can help you out if you need them but they do come at a cost. I bought two pairs to make the shipping worth it.
It is also worth mentioning that in the past 12months there have been NEW 'dio style' alloys pop up on aliexpress for a very reasonable price. I don't know if you guys use or can use aliexpress. I'm not sure I would trust them at the price. There's something very reassuring about riding around on Hondas finest quality wheels. I would rather spend the money on the originals or what ever Scooter Swap supplies as I'm sure they will last.
I got my alloys from here:
https://www.facebook.com/Minibike-Big-b ... intro_card
These look to be alloy wheels for front drum braked bikes?:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000535 ... b201603_53
and a copy of the honda dio zx disk brake wheels:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3300509 ... b201603_53
My wheels:
These alloys seem rare in the USA but they are incredibly rare in NZ. Occasionally they will come up for sale but they're attached to scooters. It becomes to expensive to buy an entire scooter in another city just for the wheels!
I was looking around Facebook and found a rather disturbing picture of heaps of ZX alloys in the Philippines. I took the gamble and messaged the seller. One western union USD money transfer later and I had 2 pairs being shipped to New Zealand. Hassle free and they arrived as described. I asked for no tyres fitted. He also sent the best ones he had (or so he said). I think I paid $300USD for 2 pairs shipped to NZ.
On the whole they where pretty good. You could bolt them up and go but there was some surface corrosion and knicks and bumps from being aged alloy wheels. I decided a full overhaul was required! My mate pulled the bearings out for me. I then media blasted them over the week on night shift. If you can I highly recommend media blasting. It removed the white powdery surface corrosion and paint and left a really nicely keyed surface for the new paint. I then had them painted in an industrial 2pac orange. I love them. They are so bright in the sun.
After they had cured and hardened for a while I pressed in new bearings. It took half a day of research to find the bearing part numbers and trapes around the various suppliers to get new sealed bearings. I put new dust seals in to. Did you know that one of the bearings is different between the alloys and the steel disk braked wheels.
Some pictures for your enjoyment. I have also added the link to Mark in the Philippines where I got the wheels. Hopefully he can help you out if you need them but they do come at a cost. I bought two pairs to make the shipping worth it.
It is also worth mentioning that in the past 12months there have been NEW 'dio style' alloys pop up on aliexpress for a very reasonable price. I don't know if you guys use or can use aliexpress. I'm not sure I would trust them at the price. There's something very reassuring about riding around on Hondas finest quality wheels. I would rather spend the money on the originals or what ever Scooter Swap supplies as I'm sure they will last.
I got my alloys from here:
https://www.facebook.com/Minibike-Big-b ... intro_card
These look to be alloy wheels for front drum braked bikes?:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000535 ... b201603_53
and a copy of the honda dio zx disk brake wheels:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3300509 ... b201603_53
My wheels: