I've been reading up on tuff wheels on here and vintage for a fair while now but I'm still not sure how you can tell for 100% certain whether an 80s metal hubbed tuff is a graphite or not? It seems that theres a few things to check - the flanges themselves, even though they're not always consistent i.e they don't have to be anno gold. then theres the writing inside the rim...ok but surely thats a piece of p*** to put on yourself if you were that way inclined so that it looks the part? And it seems like it can be in white or yellow marker so again more uncertainty.
Other than that I've heard that they 'look' different as in more graphitey coloured
but I still don't think thats 100% reliable by eye after all these years what with resto techniques like back to black, nitro cleaning etc etc
I'm thinking the weight has got to be the best method of telling for sure but does anyone know what weight a standard vs graphite tuff should be?
Reason for the question is that I 'think' I've got 3 graphites here but the more I look at one of them the less convinced I am its real. Its got the rim writing & the 'right' flanges but they are bolted so they could be a red herring. I also think it looks a bit too black and more like my standard black tuffs than the other 2 graphites but its not night n day. I'd just like to come up with a way of knowing for sure...anybody got any ideas/surefire ways of finding out?