About that.....well, since you asked......they are quite roached. But hear me out. The spokes have undergone that type of rusting where the middles of the spokes have thinned and about 4 had snapped off. The gentleman Caber I purchased this project from had included a set of CWC rims that had been sandblasted. That was my biggest cause of consternation and foot dragging on this project and why it took me so long to finally dig in and do something with it. I couldn't decide if I wanted to get those rims chromed. If I wanted to get them painted. But if I did either of those then they would look seriously out-of-place with the patina of the bike. I contemplated and contemplated, obviously. I even thought of removing the hubs and just lacing them into the unfinished CWC rims. I finally decided to put this semi-period correct set of what I believe to be Monark wheels on it until I can find a proper set of patina'd CWC wheels for my bike. I wanted to ride it after all these years.
Now, all that long explanation aside, after I removed the original wheel set, they didn't seem quite as compromised as I had thought. I replaced the snapped spokes on the front rim which trued the wheel almost to a perfect rotation and the rear wheel still remarkably remains almost true. Sooo, now I'm thinking of cleaning those wheels a bit and then making another decision. I might even see what they would look like with those WW red tires. I am a bit worried about those spokes rusted spokes as I would like this to be a frequent rider.
Aren't you sorry you asked? But thanks for the fun question.