After posting online about looking for an old large bicycle wheel and having no luck, I decided to go foraging on recycling day in Charles Village on my scooter, with the hopes of finding a trashed or abandoned bike with a usable wheel. After searching for an hour or so with no luck and about to give up and go home, I randomly encountered an artist friend I hadn’t seen in many years standing outside of his apartment in the alley I was cruising down. I actually passed him before I realized who he was, so I turned around to stop and say hello. After catching up for a few minutes I told him what I was doing, and he said “Hold on a sec”, went into his apartment, and came back out with 2 large bicycle wheels! I asked if he wanted something for them and he said “No, just pick one and I’ll use the other for something else”, so I returned home with my mission accomplished and got to work. The wheel was structurally sound, but dirty and with spilled paint on it, so first I cleaned the flat sides and hub with a wire wheel grinder and masked off the clean parts.
