Topic: ‘76 CB550 Rear Wheel lace Pattern

[drkblusea]

I’m currently lacing my first set of wheels. It took me a few tries, but the front wheel came together nicely and trued up decent. However, the rear is putting me through the ringer, I have relaced the wheel about 5 times now. I have checked that the spoke lengths are the same. You can see from the picture the spokes had just beginning to bend. The spokes are not even close to being torqued at the correct amount in the picture. The wheel is way out of true. Is there an offset I should be worrying about? All the spokes are the same length which leads me to believe it will be centered. I feel like my lace pattern is correct? Does it look correct from the pic? I can upload more with different angles if needed. This is with the original hub and new rising sun spoke and rim kit from 4into1.com made specifically for my year and model. Wheel lacing is tough as we all know and sometimes we just need someone else’s opinion who has made it over that hump before. Thanks in advance


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[58webbing]

I see this a lot lacing eBike wheels. The holes in the rim do not align with the holes in the hub hence the bending. To check, fit a spoke and nipple into the rim only and see if it points to the hole with a bit of slack on both sides. If not biulding the wheel will be very difficult and will probably not stay true for long as the bent spokes settle. With an ally rim I redrill the holes so the spokes point in the right direction, with a steel rim this might lead to rusting issues.
Another option is to increase the bend angle of the spoke at the end where the spoke fits the hub as this might facilitate alignment.

[bryanj]

There are two different spokes that vary on the bend, one goes from the outside of the hub to the inside the other inside to outside. Sort out the two sets and only fit the half that go from outside to inside using the witness marks on the hub.
Lace up just this half and get the wheel reasonably true, you can then easily slide the other half through the hub hols and connect up.

Have the aftermarket spokes got the correct "bend" at the end and are they the same length as originals? Original spoke kits fit easy but never used aftermarket.

[drkblusea]

There are two different spokes that vary on the bend, one goes from the outside of the hub to the inside the other inside to outside. Sort out the two sets and only fit the half that go from outside to inside using the witness marks on the hub.
Lace up just this half and get the wheel reasonably true, you can then easily slide the other half through the hub hols and connect up.

Have the aftermarket spokes got the correct "bend" at the end and are they the same length as originals? Original spoke kits fit easy but never used aftermarket.

Thankyou for your response.
I’m not sure what the original spokes were like as I’m building these wheels piece by piece if that makes sense.

To be clear, you’re saying to lace only the outer 20 spokes, tighten down and true, install the inner spokes, tighten down and true. Then it should be true overall and properly torqued? And fix the spokes wanting to bend before even close to factory recommended torque setting?

I appreciate your advice very much!


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[bryanj]

Not sure what you mean by inner and outer.
The first set to fit is the ones where you can see the "head" of the spoke on the outside of the hub so that you feed the threaded end from the outside to the inside.

Does that make more sense?

This way you are only truing on 20 spokes which is easier and dont forget that it is impossible to get it perfect as the rim will"kick" when the welded joint passes whatever static pointer you are using.

[thep1pe]

Go here
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,135846.0.html

[drkblusea]

Not sure what you mean by inner and outer.
The first set to fit is the ones where you can see the "head" of the spoke on the outside of the hub so that you feed the threaded end from the outside to the inside.

Does that make more sense?

This way you are only truing on 20 spokes which is easier and dont forget that it is impossible to get it perfect as the rim will"kick" when the welded joint passes whatever static pointer you are using.

Got ya. That makes sense. I will give this a go. Thankyou again!


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[drkblusea]

Go here
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,135846.0.html

I actually followed that thread to a tee the other day on my last go around. It’s a great step by step, I feel like I have laced the wheels correctly as I’ve done it quite a few times now. That’s why I’ve been so frustrated. Is it normal for the wheel to be extremely out of true when just snugging up the spokes prior to actually trying the wheel and bringing the spokes to torque? The wheel visibly wobbles from side to side quite a bit, (not just a few mm) when spinning on the trying stand with the spokes just snuggled up.


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[nicks2319]

Also possible you have the wrong spokes. There are two types of spokes for the 500/550 rear rim and multiple types of hubs. If the spokes don't seem to be able to bend into place correctly you may have the wrong ones.

Also post a shot directly center showing the lacing, not sure if it looks right.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,146492.msg1666991.html#msg1666991

[bryanj]

If it is that far out i think there may be something wrong with the angle of the "bend" at the head end

[drkblusea]

Also possible you have the wrong spokes. There are two types of spokes for the 500/550 rear rim and multiple types of hubs. If the spokes don't seem to be able to bend into place correctly you may have the wrong ones.

Also post a shot directly center showing the lacing, not sure if it looks right.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,146492.msg1666991.html#msg1666991

Here is a better photo of the lace pattern. I did some research on the two different spoke types. The spokes I had (which were for a ‘76 rear hub, according to parts book) were 8x147. I found the other type, which according to online retailers are for a later model, like 77-78 k models, and they were only 8x144. So shorter spokes on the later model. I went ahead and ordered those spokes as well. The 8x144 spokes are laced to the wheel in the photo above. The first picture I posted are with the 147 length spokes. The 144’s seem to be a better fit, but I have not began to true them yet. Also I looked through the post of the different hub types you referenced. It seems there are two different types of hubs, but no one seems to know what came with what and what year.



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[drkblusea]

There are two different spokes that vary on the bend, one goes from the outside of the hub to the inside the other inside to outside. Sort out the two sets and only fit the half that go from outside to inside using the witness marks on the hub.
Lace up just this half and get the wheel reasonably true, you can then easily slide the other half through the hub hols and connect up.

Have the aftermarket spokes got the correct "bend" at the end and are they the same length as originals? Original spoke kits fit easy but never used aftermarket.

I have attempted to do what you suggested. Only lacing and truing up the half that go from outside to inside. Once I got them tightened up, there was no possible way to then go ahead and lace up the other half that go from inside to outside and I can’t even get the spoke into the hole on the wheel without literally dragging and scraping the spoke along the wheel, if that makes sense. Should I assume I have the wrong spoke length if I am unable to “easily slide the other half through” once the first 20 are tightened up? Thanks for your help, I really really appreciate it.


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