Wheel Lacing - Newb

[PineyMountainRacing]

I'm going to tackle the front wheel of my XR-R this weekend, going from a 21 to a 19. So, my brain must not work in 3D, I looked at the hub all night and I kinda see the pattern, and I've taken pictures and tried to draw it out but I've got this horrible feeling I'll never get it all back together LOL, let alone true and straight.

[PineyMountainRacing]

Crap, my Rad spokes are 4.1 mm and the Honda spokes were 3.4 mm. Nobody said anything about drilling the stinkin hub out. 36 times, sheez..... OK here goes.

[ibafran]

Originally Posted by sama3033

I just relaced my new 21" rim and went by some tutorials I found on Youtube (man, I love Youtube) Always remember someone's been there before you and recorded it. Mine came out pretty good I must say. Try this link - it may help. Good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENrRl...ure=plpp_video

Nice find. Not exactly the 'last word' but probably good enough to get a first timer thru the ordeal. For the first-timers when you start, the inner spokes go to the second nipple away from valve stem hole, one to each side.. The outer spokes go to the nipples right next to the valve stem, one to each side. The video isn't real clear on exactly where to get started. It is possible to start lacing and not catch a mistake in pattern until much later. If a pattern is discovered to be mis-laced, chalk it up to the fun of it all when you re-lace.

If the nipple holes need to be drilled larger, de-burr them with a round file or moto-tool of your choice. It makes the truing part go smoother if the nipple isn't friction sticky. Remember that the nipple holes are drilled at an angle. Try to maintain that angle as best as you can. Chrome rims might best be drilled from the spoke side so as not to chip/peal any cheap chrome?

[PineyMountainRacing]

OK, so I set aside Saturday afternoon to do this deal here.

definately past the point of no return.

*
drilled the OEM hub for the new spokes and have all the inners in, had to bend 1 spoke on each side to get the last one in.

*
and now how is this gonna work, have I already fooked this up or are these the wrong spokes? I bought a 19" Excel with the spokes from RAD to mate to my Honda hub. Are these spokes for a 17, or am I totally out in left field?

[victor441]

hmm, that does not look promising....but for a rough check of what length you need maybe try an online bicycle spoke length calculator, should be pretty close if you measure the parts carefully....there are quite a few out there, one is at http://www.prowheelbuilder.com/spokelengthcalculator/
bicycle wheel building pages in general would probably be quite helpful with MC wheel building

[mcma111]

Sure as hell doesn't look like this:

[PineyMountainRacing]

Originally Posted by mcma111

Sure as hell doesn't look like this:

Yeah, I had your pics on my iPad while I was doing it but it quickly became apparent things were going in the wrong direction. The spokes have to be the wrong ones, right? Duh ;-(

[PineyMountainRacing]

so I guess they sent the spokes for an 18" rear, not a 19" front. The right spokes are in the mail - so now I have a project for next weekend. :)

[PineyMountainRacing]

well.... better late than never. Last week the mosquitos were too thick to go out and work and this week its been freezing (at least <45 degrees - LOL).

Initially, the company I bought the 19" rim from sent me the spokes for an 18" rear, I didn't realize it until I had drilled the hub out (so the thicker spokes - 4mm - would fit). Once I started lacing it was obvious the spokes were too short (see earlier photos). So they sent me the correct spokes for the 19" front, but unfortunately they were 3.5 mm and had too much slop since I had drilled the hubs out to 4 mm. The 3rd set of spokes they sent were 4mm and the right length.

Lacing was easy, even though it was almost 4 weeks from when I took the wheel apart and started building again. It would be almost impossible to mess that part up. The hard part for me was truing it and then eliminating any hop. I got it "perfect" laterally, but as soon as I went to try and eliminate a little hop, I'd lose some of that true. So, I had to compromise a tiny bit, but both tolerances are acceptable according to what I read and watched on U-tube.

My first wheel, and my BRP with a new 19

[mcma111]

Better late than never. At least you got it done. Congrats.

BTW... The trick is to get it sorta straight (run the nipples down to cover the threads. Maybe some more depending on how loose it is.) and then shift to the up 'n down and then back to straight and so on. In the end it all comes together.

[Skowinski]

I'm interested in this thread as I'm about to do my first lacing and truing job. It's an old 71 CB500 Honda that is being restored (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=720997), the front rim and spokes are good, but the rear spokes are too far gone. Planning to take many many pictures from all angles before deconstruction and the attempt to rebuild starts.

Thanks for all the info and links!

[Claytonroy]

Lots of good advice, especially from Steve. Be aware that some tips only apply to certain style hubs and lacing patterns. My method doesn't work for straight pull hubs/elbowless spokes. But it works great for classic "inbound/ outbound" lacing for the elbow style spokes used on most vintage bikes.

I laced my first motorcycle wheel today....I went up to a 19" rim in the front so I'd have more D/S style tire options. I've built about a dozen bicycle wheels and some of the habits I had were helpful, some were not.

My tips:

My hub design features all outbound spokes. It required that I place all 36 spokes into the hub before I started the lacing process. To contain this clusterphuck, I cut a cardboard donut about 1" inch smaller than the rim diameter. Then I zip tied it to the back side of the disc brake mounts on the hub. This allowed me to focus on one side at a time, and keep the spokes on the adjacent flange from flopping around and getting in my way.

Split the spokes into FOUR groups. Lace around the 9 spokes of "Group 1"...starting to the left of the valve hole (spoke...3 empty holes....spoke...and so on).

The first spoke of the 2nd group (from the other flange) anchors +2 holes to the left of the valve drilling.

After your first two groups are in - you should have 2 spokes installed then 2 empty holes, and so on, all the way around the rim. They should fan out straight ahead (think of a dartboard). Don't worry about the cross just yet. Trying to lace AND cross 18 spokes while corralling the other 18 loose ones is a real PITA.

When your ready to start group #3, this is the easiest & best way to achieve the cross. Twist the hub so spokes #1 & 2 move away from the valve hole (this will make your metal contraption look more like a pinwheel than a dartboard). Twist this as far as you can, so the spoke nipples rest as deeply into the rim as possible (as others have noted, you may need to shim up the rim off your work surface, etc.)

Then, the first spoke of group #3 will cross back over your pinwheel and find it's correct hole (most motorcycle lacing is three cross which means this first spoke of group 3 will pass over three other spokes before you anchor it to the correct hole in the rim). Continue around and finish group #3.

Flip the rim over and lace group #4 (again, each of these "crossing spokes" will pass over 3 other spokes before it finds the correct hole in the rim).

You will probably make at least one lacing error. If, on the home stretch, you find that your spokes seem WAY too short - it's probably because you made a mistake - go back and check your work. Once you fix the lacing error, the remaining spokes should line right up.

Good Luck!