Hitchcocks Forum

hi folks,
Wonder if this would work.....has anyone tried it?
My front wheel has a fairly clean rim and a nice clean hub but it's let down by rusty spokes,back wheel has been rebuilt at some stage with stainless spokes,poor front wheel stands out even more!
I'm no wheel builder but thinking could I replace and tension spokes one at a time and end up with a 'true' wheel or will it all go pear shaped?
regards.

Hi, in theory yes it would work but because of the bend at the top of the spoke your'll find it impossible to lace it into position. IE; the other spokes are in the way. Vince

Well----- I did exactly what Earlybird is suggesting on the front wheel of a Honda CG125 a few years ago for exactly the same reason BUT}-- it wasn't easy, and I've been engineering on bikes for some 40 years now...Remember that some spokes face forwards--some face rearwards and some are radial.......

Stainless spokes ??..I'm not to happy with them as some have been known to snap in the past ( Early Hinkley Bonneville comes to mind )..Why not just fit new galvanised ones??...Cheaper for a start and a lot more forgiving when you need to "Tweak" them....Incidentally I did the CG125 wheel off the bike and held horizontally in a 6" bench vice.....I use a surplus Enfield swing arm held vertically in that vice to check for run-out etc....TIP}-Don't get your spoke head angles mixed up and do get yourself a decent spoke spanner...Good luck !!

I have heard of people shying away from stainless spokes, but since 2004 when we first started racing the R.E.'s, all three bikes wearing wheels built by me with stainless spokes, I have only ever seen one broken one and that was in the rear wheel of the current 500, which has been racing since 2006, so I must say I have faith in them.

Meant to add - that broken spoke happened this year, so it was about 12 years old at least.

thanks for replies,still have a few jobs to do to get bike back on road,bought it with engine in boxes three years ago,got it starting first kick then did no more.........bike has lived outside without cover since but still cleans up beautifully and always starts.
Front wheel is the only shabby bit on the bike........and I do love stainless stuff,I'll price up getting someone to do it for me but maybe I should get the other bits done before I stall again.......... Regards

Hi
I'd encourage you have a go yourself, time permitting. I re-spoked a wheel for the first time recently, if you take your time to get the hang of it you will be able to get the wheel true. Not as fast a professional wheelbuilder maybe but more satisfying and a new skill learnt. There are plenty of tutorials online (Youtube etc). Take some photos or make a sketch before starting to record the pattern of the spokes and the offset. I used an old 1/4" BL Mini brake adjusting spanner with a slot cut in the end as a makeshift nipple spanner and this proved effective, but the purpose made tool would be a good investment.
kind regards
Dave

My 1973 Bultaco has stainless spokes front and rear as Standard, so hardly "new" tech., are they ?

I find wheelbuilding very theraputic. I started building bicycle wheels first following instructions off the internet. The principals are the same. I think replacing one at a time would be the road to madness and you'll probably need to do just as much trueing afterwards anyway



That being the case, I'd just go with relacing the whole lot and lace it up from scratch then bring it all up to tension. You'll land up with a stronger wheel for it.



I'll echo the advice above about taking plenty of photos and measuring the offset before you start (then at least you can give it to a professional to sort out if you mess up). I think it helps to have an understanding of the lacing pattern and what the spokes are doing anyway so I can recommend reading through Sheldon Browns excellent article on bicycle wheel building. In may ways wht you're proposing is easier because you already know what length of spokes you need. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html



A jig is easy to make to support the wheel once it's laced but I'll often just true a wheel "in-situ". If you have the the rim central and the vertical and horizontal runout tweaked close enough with the hub bolted in the frame it's going to be used in, it's hard to think what else you need to do. I'll build a wheel using nothing fancier than a steel rule clamped across the forks to set the dish and a couple of cut-off cable ties round the fork legs to set the runout. Last bicycle wheel I did like that, I put a dial guage on the rim after I finished just to see. Had a maximum lateral runout of 0.05mm.



Tension is more important in motorbike wheels than bicycle ones so have a ping at all the spokes before going out and do remember to re-true after a very short ride because stuff settles and pings about alarmingly.



Two top-tips. 1) Have a comfy seat so the wheel is supported directly in front of you. So either a raised jig or a low seat. A lot of wheelbuilders will use a piano stool. 2) White background. Its much easier to see runout (the gap between the rim and the cutoff cable tie) with a sheet on the floor.

Having seen several people making a complete bog of re-spoking motorcycle wheels personally I would not attempt it myself. I don't have the centring frame or dial gauge anyway.