In the family of skills broadly known as motorcycle building, many skills are a subspecialty in themselves. We can learn each of these individually and do reasonably well though we may never reach the proficiency of those who decide to practice their art and become true masters, metal shaping being one of the best examples. Lacing wheels, on the other hand, though certainly not easy, is something we can learn to do, if we have a bit of patience and don’t mind attending to detail. It’s easy to do poorly and the wheel, though it may look OK, will be weak, but if we do it right the finished wheel can be amazingly strong.
I remember reading the Cycle World magazine build up of a Yamaha Vmax back in the late ’80s, where the stock wheels were replaced with custom laced units and they proceeded to run sub 10 second quarter miles with nary a broken spoke. Impressive. Many European cars have long run the classic wire wheels with center knock offs and when you think of the torque applied and side loads in the turns, you begin to respect how strong a well laced wheel can be.
Though I have never tried my hand at a motorcycle wheel, I’ve replaced many, many spokes on bicycles and found the process to be a bit more complex than it at first appears, truing and tensioning are a back and forth puzzle that can quickly frustrate the less patient among us.
I came across this step by step description of a fellow rebuilding the wheel from a Royal Enfield with photos of each step. So far he has the wheel together, the truing will be covered in part two. We’ll see how patient and thorough he is when the wheel is finally done but he seems to doing OK so far.
So what have your experiences been with spokes and rims? Any pros out there with words of advice for those of us who might like to give it a try?
Link: Wheel rebuild via Make
Jim Sweazy says
Nice article on lacing, with clear easy to follow photos. One thing I don’t agree with is lacing all the spokes into the hub before working with the rim. On an equal flange hub like the one being used, it is much easier to at first only use the spokes that are for the inside of the flanges. Place those into the hub on both sides, lace them to the rim in the correct dimples, then install the outer spokes one at a time. This would prevent having “blocked spokes”, as shown in the photos.
Also, seperate the inner and outer spokes before beginning any work. Inners are closer to being straight, outers are bent more at the end that goes through the flange. This can be a very subtle difference, so be careful!
Some hub designs require placing all spokes into the hub before lacing to the rim. This is true on offset flange wheels, when there is a large difference in the diameter of the two sides. This also applies to Harley wheels on Sportsters and the front of FX models, where all the spokes are laced to the inside of the flanges. Start practicing on equal flange wheels, then work your way up.
kelly moss says
Lube the threads of the spokes prior to screwing on the nipples (nuts).
Hold the spoke wrentch with the tips of the thumb and forefinger whilst attempting to even out the torque of the spokes (assuming you don’t have a spoke torque wrentch).
While truing the rim, don’t forget to look for a spoke(s) that might be too tight on the opposite side of the wheel, thus not allowing the rim to move.ie try to keep in mind the positions of all the spokes while truing (which are tight, which are loose, which need to go in, which need to go out). Sure that sounds impossible for the beginer but if you try to think of areas of spoke and not a specific spoke , that may help remember ‘where the wheel/spokes is/are at’.
Take side and end closeup pictures before dissassembling the wheels.If it is too late: most front wheels have the tire centered between the forks.