Topic: wheel lacing gurus Q?

[Don R]

 I've recently laced and am truing a set of wheels, just standard DID chrome on 750 hubs.
  A guy on youtube laid the rims on the steel plates from his hydraulic press and let the hub rest on the table. Someone else said 1/2" wood strips. 
  Those weren't Honda rims but wondered what might work to get our hubs centered closer on the first try? 

[Alan F.]

Just lacing and truing should set them up with zero offset in my experience. Offset must be added afterward. Do your wheels seem centered on the bike?

[MauiK3]

I laced and trued ultimately with a spoke torque wrench to get them as even as I could, they centered.
The photo is from my Z1 but I did my K3 750 the same way.
Stainless spokes from Buchanan, DID rims.

[Don R]

   I'm not always good at explaining my question. I can get them trued but was hoping for a tip to get a closer beginning point. My rear wheel started with a half inch of wobble.
   I'm not impressed with these aftermarket spokes, I had a couple bad nipples and see differing lengths of thread. I can't remember where they came from for sure, so I won't bad mouth a supplier.
   I have spare forks and swingarms to double check my centering, I think I should.
 

[WideAWAKE]

I can’t say I’m a guru - but I’ve done 10-15 sets.

The way I’ve always done em is make sure they all have the same length threads.

If a few are longer, put a black line where the other ones end so you have a reference point on em.

Then get all the spokes in and started. Adjust em until they are all the same depth on the threads and they are just snug.

Then, go around and give em all a little tightening.

Then I begin to true it up and torque em down.

If they aren’t brand new rims (even if they are quite often) you won’t be perfectly adjusted on all nipples and some will be tighter than others.

I’ve always tightened mine by hand and made sure they were “in tune”.

You probably won’t get them all to the same torque value and have it be true, but maybe.

As soon as you mount a tire, they will probably move a bit so double check.

[dazemc]

Look up Cameron Niemela on thee ole YouTube, he has some great tips for truing wheels and gets right to the point.

[PeWe]

If hub has oval holes due to wear and an earlier bad aftermarket 16" setup make it a little bit trickier.

Tighten all equally step by step rotating the wheel.

My last 3"-18 alu wheel was not that easy despite a low mile hub with good holes, new rim and spokes with tight fit.

Had to release spokes and tighten the right ones again while rotating.
Marker pen on the side  and inside when rotating marked the stick out.

Just to continue until its ok.
Photo is the alu front wheel.

Indoor job in living room. A sheet under protected the floor.

[MauiK3]

It's really a meditation, just keep going around selectively loosening and tightening. I also use a sharpee to mark the rim where I'm seeing a hop or dip to identify which spokes I want to adjust.
Stock DID steel rims always have some deflection at the weld that is ignored.

[PeWe]

+3 about the weld causing a bump on D.I.D steel rims. Same value on clock before and after is ok.

[Don R]

  In frustration I whacked an aluminum rim with a plastic mallet once, it had a weird spot near the weld. After I did, I thought I had probably ruined it, but it was right on the money.
  That one required a loosening, lube the threads and leave it alone for a week. It trued right up after the time away from it.

[BenelliSEI]

Don..... to answer your first question, I’ve found laying a rear hub on the drive side (without the sprocket or drive flange in place)and then laying the rim on three bits of 1/2” plywood is just about centred. The last few spoke sets I had from “Vintagecb750” were so identical that pulling them all up until the nipple was lined up with the top of the threads gave me a nice starting point.....

[pjlogue]

When I relace a wheel I start by installing each spoke with two turns on the nipple.  I then mark a starting point and sequentially give each nipple one turn.  I continue to do this until all the slack is taken out of the spokes.  Once all spokes are snug I continue with ~1/2 a turn on each nipple until I can get a ring off the spokes when tapped with a small wrench.  I then put the wheel on the truing stand and true it up.  Doing it this way you come out pretty close and truing is pretty quick. 

I ignore the weld spot when truing.  I do hop first and then do wobble and repeat the process until I am satisfied with the results. 

-P.

[Alan F.]

When I relace a wheel I start by installing each spoke with two turns on the nipple.  I then mark a starting point and sequentially give each nipple one turn.  I continue to do this until all the slack is taken out of the spokes.  Once all spokes are snug I continue with ~1/2 a turn on each nipple until I can get a ring off the spokes when tapped with a small wrench.  I then put the wheel on the truing stand and true it up.  Doing it this way you come out pretty close and truing is pretty quick. 

I ignore the weld spot when truing.  I do hop first and then do wobble and repeat the process until I am satisfied with the results. 

-P.

Very similar to my method, but you probably did it sober.

[grcamna2]

When I relace a wheel I start by installing each spoke with two turns on the nipple.  I then mark a starting point and sequentially give each nipple one turn.  I continue to do this until all the slack is taken out of the spokes.  Once all spokes are snug I continue with ~1/2 a turn on each nipple until I can get a ring off the spokes when tapped with a small wrench.  I then put the wheel on the truing stand and true it up.  Doing it this way you come out pretty close and truing is pretty quick. 

I ignore the weld spot when truing.  I do hop first and then do wobble and repeat the process until I am satisfied with the results. 

-P.




I lace my wheels the same way;I start them all with the same exact amount of threads showing on each spoke,then 1 turn at a time on all spokes.The up & down hop can change if it's a used rim/spokes and then I'll get that as close to smooth as possible.The side to side truing is easiest to correct;up and down 'hop' is most important to true smooth.
I am stuck doing this with used parts 99% of the time..    which takes a lot longer to get 'true'.
I like to look at the wear marks inside the spoke holes in the hubs first,then start the spokes the opposite way from those marks so they get a fresh surface.I make sure to put a good amount of final tension on all the spokes when doing a fresh build;that keeps the wheel true & strong for it's life.I think adding a little bit of silver anti-seize compound to the threads then running each chosen spoke-nut all the way through to fully coat the both threads makes the build easier.

[Tracksnblades1]

Not a guru for for sure…

Pretty much count the turns as PJ Logue writes..
Check for OEM offset and disregard welds as Maui writes…

The dealership allowances on rim run out ( especially on dirt bike), forces one to become interested.

The local Suzuki dealership owner had respoking  and trueing to an art form…Never much longer than 15 minutes..
Now retired, so we’re all on are own…😩

[grcamna2]

Not a guru for for sure…

Pretty much count the turns as PJ Logue writes..
Check for OEM offset and disregard welds as Maui writes…

The dealership allowances on rim run out ( especially on dirt bike), forces one to become interested.

The local Suzuki dealership owner had respoking  and trueing to an art form…Never much longer than 15 minutes..
Now retired, so we’re all on are own…😩

Lol,
I've done a few 600 mile service on new bikes when I lived on an island;the owners didn't want to take it back on the boat $ to the mainland so he asked the dealer if they would approve me to do this out of my repair service on the island.
I made sure to do the spokes and a light true of the wheels.
I have done light oil changes on certain bikes that were purchased new from a dealer,where the owner said the dealer had done the 600 mile service:I noticed the spokes on those bikes(mostly dirt bikes)were loose.
Do the dealership service departments ever bother to check the wheels/tighten the spokes at a 600 ?

[BenelliSEI]

When I relace a wheel I start by installing each spoke with two turns on the nipple.  I then mark a starting point and sequentially give each nipple one turn.  I continue to do this until all the slack is taken out of the spokes.  Once all spokes are snug I continue with ~1/2 a turn on each nipple until I can get a ring off the spokes when tapped with a small wrench.  I then put the wheel on the truing stand and true it up.  Doing it this way you come out pretty close and truing is pretty quick. 

I ignore the weld spot when truing.  I do hop first and then do wobble and repeat the process until I am satisfied with the results. 

-P.

Very similar to my method, but you probably did it sober.

…..Not always!

[PeWe]

I forgot that I initially tighten all nipples so threads are just covered.
Mostly possible. Back a little if not, but all equally.

In the end when all are tightened and wheel is trued, I snap my finger on each spoke to hear the nice sound when tightened. Like playing an instrument, all spokes the same.
A clean sound without rattle.

[Don R]

 Cool, thanks for the tips, I've been using masking tape to mark the areas that need attention. It seems they usually need more turns than they got so it takes more times through.