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[simon]

tired for the moment of my troubled RE I've moved onto the revamping of the Ducati's wheels. I managed to secure a set of matched Radaelli Amon rims as per original and had them re chromed at not insignificant expense. The original spokes would have been ok on the front wheel but the back were had it. I ended up getting a full set of new spokes in 8 gauge zinc plated steel. The originals were butted 8/9 gauge but my source only had the straight spokes. It seems for some strange reason that thread rolling dies for anything other than bicycle spokes have disappeared so I cut the threads to 9 gauge with a Coventry Die Head and used 9 gauge nipples. I assembled the whole thing with nickel grease and the threads were completely obscured by the nipples so the overall affect is excellent. Trued them so that I had 10 thou or less runout in either plane and stuck them back on the bike this morning with new Metzler boots suitable for an old beast. Very fetching!

[Norm]

Well done Simon, now get the Duc back on the road and leave your Enfield woes behind you

[Dennis C]

Hi Simon well done rebuilding the wheels. But please keep a careful eye on the spokes, the threads are rolled for good reason, cutting the thread weakens the spoke with the risk of them snapping. Sorry to be bearing doom and gloom but forewarned is forearmed as they say.

[simon]

I worried about that too a bit but my mate with the die head said that quite a lot of American spoked wheels have cut threads. Also the spokes are still 9 gauge at their thinnest so there is tons of meat left. One of the main reasons for rolled threads is that you can tighten the nipple right over the spoke meaning the the threaded length isn't so crucial as you can tighten right through and then clip off the excess. I will keep an eye on them as the idea of them breaking did occur to me but I think they'll be ok as the bike gets a pretty easy life.