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Ep 9: New spokes on an old wheel

(7 posts) (4 voices)

Started 1 year ago by Waz
Latest reply from grfields

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Waz
Key Master
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Watch Waz and Trent dismantle the wheel in Ep 3: Sand, heat and nipples and Episode 4: Wires, shocks and smoke.

A spoke wheel is a thing of beauty. Here at Garage Night, you can’t tell us otherwise. Cast wheels might be acceptable if you ride a road toad, but if you’ve got spokes, you’ve got class.

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Just think, each thin metal spine is fragile on its own, but strong enough when laced together with a bunch of buddies to bear several times the weight of your bike when you’re full on the brakes, or keep your wheel from crumpling when you smash through a wash-out. And no matter how you try, for elegance of both form and function a cast or billet wheel can’t come close.

An old, neglected spoke wheel is NOT a thing of beauty, though - as I found when I bought a complete secondhand USD fork front end for my bike and discovered the seller had been less than honest about its condition. The Garage Night guys were never going to let me put it together in that state. So the wheel had to come apart.
Ep 9: New spokes on an old wheel
Posted 1 year ago #
Bunkmuffin
Member

Question!!
I have a 92 Africa twin, I am in the process of lacing the rear wheel with new spokes from Central Wheel. There are 3 different lengths of spokes in this wheel.
I do have a parts catalogue which provides the correct length of each spoke and I kept the original spokes that were removed and am using samples to measure new spoke lengths against. I also have photos of the wheel berfore dismantling. All is good so far.
I have been placing the spokes in locations which appear to correspond to that provided in the same catalogues (diagram) locations on the rim and hub. This is where everything falls off the rails. The diagram provided is confusing, not clear or just outright wrong. Every time I think I have it right I am unable to true the wheel because the nipples run out of threads on the spokes before there is sufficient tension on them or the nipples do not cover the spokethreads because they are in the wrong location. I am also paying close attention to the rim offset.

Does anyone have the CORRECT spoke lacing diagram or locations so that I can get on with my little project, Please?

Thanks in advance from a cranky and frustrated old kodger who should be able to figure this simple task but for reasons unknown continues to suffer from brain farts or Old Timers Disease.
Billy Bob Hamilton
The Bunkmuffin (so my girlfriend calls me)

Posted 1 year ago #
Waz
Key Master

Hey Billy Bob,
I will ask the other garage nighters what they think.
One thing I would mention though: sometimes aftermarket replacements will differ from the original spokes. A wheel guy at Hagon explained it like this to me: Bike wheels are usually laced up in the factory by a machine, and the spokes may have certain bends because that's what is needed for them to fit into the wheel-making machine.
Usually when you get aftermarket spokes they will be more uniform. My wheel's original spokes seemed to have two or three different bends - but the replacements from Hagon all had the same bend, same length, and worked fine.
Something you might need to take into account when assembling your wheel.
Also, OFFSET. I gather that a rear wheel hub is more likely to be offset from one side to the other than a front wheel humb. You need to know the original offset and reproduce it on your wheel.

Posted 1 year ago #
Trent
Member

Hiya Billy Bob,

Unfortunately we don't have a diagram - I would take the parts diagram picture with a pinch of salt - they are not really accurate enough as a reassembly diagram. A service manual would be a better option.

We happen to have an AT (RD04) in the garage at the moment, so I had a quick look at the wheel.
The L/H side (Chain side) has a "Cross 2" pattern and the R/H side has a "Cross 1" pattern - Cross 1 is a bit strange for a bike of that size...

To check the pattern, start at the head of a spoke and count how many other spokes it "crosses" on the way to the rim.

The R/H side heads are very close and kinda cross each other, but don't count that - only count the spokes that actually cross.

It sounds like you may be either using the wrong pattern (most likely if the new spokes are the same as the old ones), or have the wrong length spokes in the wrong holes.

Insert all the inside spokes first and mate them with the correct nipples - Hold a nipple in the hole in the rim and it should point straight at the spoke it needs to mate with - If the wrong length spoke is in the wrong hole or you're using the wrong pattern, you'll get exactly the problem you've described.
You can then insert the outer spokes while paying attention to the "cross" pattern and match up the rest of the nipples.

If you still end up with long and short spokes when the offset is approx correct, try swapping them around if it's possible.

Hope that helps...

Posted 1 year ago #
guest
Inactive
I guess I’m a little late to the party but better late than never. After watching your video ( a few times…) I decided to give it a try. I have an 2003 rim, 2004 front hub for a kx500 and a set of spokes on order.

I know Trent makes this stuff look easy, but I’m hoping with a little patients and a little luck it will work out.

Thanks guys. Keep up the great work!

Fork swap is coming next.
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Author: grfields
Posted 3 months ago #

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Ep 9: New spokes on an old wheel

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