devilboy - 2008-12-20 3:21 PM Travelin' Man - 2008-12-20 2:44 PM You got those from Randy's Cycles in Huntley, Illinois. I just purchased a similar set from him except that on mine they left the bead area of the rim the stock color with black everywhere else. It would be a great time to add a 90 degree valve stem, at least to the rear wheel. DO NOT ADD 90 DEGREE VALVE STEM. IT CAUSED FLATS ON BOTH OF MY TIRES. Centrifugal force causes stress to rubber part of valve stem and I had failures on both. Different angles and forces on auto tires.... front tire went first, had it towed to dealer. 1 month later rear went. I had my portable airpump and duct tape and was able to ride the 70 miles home by ductaping stem at angle where very little air leaked out. Every 20 miles or so I stopped and refilled tire. had a new valve stem put in after dealer inspected tire. a word to the wise...................................

Your experience was out of the norm if you used a high quality valve stem.  I know of dozens of riders using the chromed steel 90 degree valve stems that have ridden millions, yes, millions of miles with absolutely no problem.  You must have used the cheap 90 degree valve stems that just "pop" into the rim opening, the good 90 degree valve stems have locking jam nuts on the inside that make it where the valve stem cannot flex and therefore the rubber cannot wear due to movement or as you call it "centrifugal force".  Here is a link to where I get mine from:

http://www.prestigewheel.com/Image2994.asp

I seen these on Ebay. They are very sweet looking. And pretty much defintely the route I'm going with my Vision. However I'm debating a slight variation of solid black though. Not real sure what other type of look I might like, I'm thinking about some type of red or gray "accent" to them.

Kinda hate to risk hurting a bit of your sunshine here but I'm not so sure if I would say the price you paid was a "kick butt" price. Reason I say this is because when these were listed I checked with two local places that do powdercoating. They both quoted that it would run about $85.00 to $100.00 per wheel. After shipping you paid about $150.00 per wheel. But then again you did get bearings and spacers in your deal. Not sure what bearings and spacers run from Victory. And you also now have an extra set of wheels. So depending on which way its looked at you perhaps did get these wheels for a decent price. Who knows.....

Who are you going to have chrome your stock wheels? Happen to get a quote to do them yet? I've also slightly debated the chrome route but I think if I'm going to lay out $$$ for chrome I will probably go with a set of aftermarket wheels.

VisionNWRider - 2008-12-20 8:19 PM I am having my local dealer chrome them for me so where the send them to be done not sure but i think it's in cali some where., but not 100% sure. No quote yet. It's been snowing here so everything has kinda stoped at the moment. You are right it will be nice to have an axtra set of rims to try stuff with. After markets are spendy for sure, so I thought this would be good alternative for my bike with these Black rims I got for $324.00 to my door. Just can wait to mount these rims

Why you going with the local dealer? I know you probably trust them and all...but why not cut out the proverbial "middle-man" and find a chrome shop yourself? Probably save a decent amount of dough. That is unless your dealer is cool enough to have you only pay invoice plus shipping, or perhaps a fair small mark-up. I mean...all the dealer is going to do is pack the wheels, call the chrome shop, ship the wheels, wait for them to get shipped back, call you and tell you they are in and collect the money from you. This doesn't take much of the dealers labor to do this, maybe 30-45 minutes total. I do believe in doing business with those who have treated you good in the past, loyalty is important. But....so is a $dollar$ too. Its a balance between loyalty and the $$$. I definetley would not automatically turn them over to a dealer without at least getting a quote from a chrome shop in the region so then you have something to compare with. But then again....its your wheels....so its your rules

Ask some local custom car guys. They will know any and all chrome shops in your whole region. They will know who is good bad and otherwise. Heck, might be a decent chrome shop within a short drive, save you some major shipping costs. As you have alread discovered...shipping two wheels one-way is pricey...imagine what shipping those two wheels round-trip is gonna run ya

kevinx - 2008-12-20 9:05 PM You forget that when powdercoating the bearings NEED to be replaced, and also the down time involved. Hell a pair of untouched STOCK wheels for $300 is a good deal

The bearings can't be R&I (remove/reinstalled)? They must be replaced? Any ballpark idea how much they run for each wheel?