Laced and Trued My First Set of Spoked Wheels

[Dirk_S]

... which means I can go pro now, right? The market’s screaming for it.

Joking aside, it wasn’t bad. I mounted the rear wheel to the V7, as I was nervous about making sure the hub and rim stayed center-aligned... not that I think it helped me. The front wheel I did on two jack stands with a rod and two cone nuts that came in a cheap kit. Now...here’s hoping my penny-pinching self was able to to estimate the proper torque by touch and sound. We. Shall. See.

Spokes and nipples (stainless steel) bought from Buchanan’s. The forum offered quite a few resources and sage advice, as did the YouTubes, for which I’m quite appreciative.

[tazio]

 
A lost art.

[SmithSwede]

Very cool.  A lost art indeed.  Always wanted to learn how to do that.   And how to weld.

[Huzo]

... which means I can pro now, right? The market’s screaming for it.

Joking aside, it wasn’t bad. I mounted the rear wheel to the V7, as I was nervous about making sure the hub and rim stayed center-aligned... not that I think it helped me. The front wheel I did on two jack stands with a rod and two cone nuts that came in a cheap kit. Now...here’s hoping my penny-pinching self was able to to estimate the proper torque by touch and sound. We. Shall. See.

Spokes and nipples (stainless steel) bought from Buchanan’s. The forum offered quite a few resources and sage advice, as did the YouTubes, for which I’m quite appreciative.

You will find that you can tweak two spokes so they sound perfectly pitched, then back off one nipple minutely and you WILL hear the difference in pitch.
Point is..
If you have them sounding pretty darn even pitch wise, you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be near enough.
I have not touched my Norge ones since 2016.
Did you take a reading of the offset on each one prior to disassembly ?
Does your bike have o ring nipples ?
Sounds like you’ve done well Grasshopper. It’s amazing how the wheel can look a bit ordinary against a pointer, yet are more than good enough.

[1down5up]

Would be interested in some of the rrsources/ you tube videos you found useful. I have a few sets to do myself.

[Rough Edge racing]

 It's  great you did the job yourself.....It can be frustrating and time consuming the first time .....I did a few years ago and took photos beforehand  or of a similar wheel to help with the spoking pattern...My wife is really good at arranging the spokes on the hub and into the rim, yes she did most of the work, lol..

[moto-uno]

  Did the spoke kit come with an anti-seize for the spoke nipples ?  Peter

[Dirk_S]

You will find that you can tweak two spokes so they sound perfectly pitched, then back one nipple minutely and you WILL hear the difference in pitch.
Point is..
If you have them sounding pretty darn even pitch wise, you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be near enough.

One thing I wondered: If the rims aren’t perfect before truing (expected), then wouldn’t different tension be required for different spokes, as some may have to be tighter in order to pull the rim to their side? I was thinking this as I was searching for a balance between a straight rim and a consistent spoke tone.

Did you take a reading of the offset on each one prior to disassembly?

That’s the one thing I did not do, and I know it’s an important step. I wasn’t sure how to do it with the rear (the hub shape and different spoke sizes made it pretty confusing), so I trued it mounted on the bike. Then I realized that didn’t even give me a great reading opportunity. For the front, I’ll mount the wheel to the bike tireless, and try to measure the offset from there. Tips/insight would be great.

Does your bike have o ring nipples?

I used standard stainless steel spokes and nipples, no o-rings. The wheels are beginner-friendly compared to others—all straight spokes, the holes guide the spoke to the proper holes, no o-rings; the front rim takes only one size, while the rear expectedly uses two.

Sounds like you’ve done well Grasshopper. It’s amazing how the wheel can look a bit ordinary against a pointer, yet are more than good enough.

Thanks. Satisfying to experience how tightly it begins to spin as the spokes get tighter and tighter. Again, hopefully I did it all well enough, but I do want to check the offset. The next step after is sealing, as I’m converting the rims for tubeless.

Would be interested in some of the rrsources/ you tube videos you found useful. I have a few sets to do myself.

The most helpful YouTube videos I found, not using a truing stand, dial gauge, or spoke torque wrench::
D-Ray’s Garage: (watch Parts 1 & 2): https://youtu.be/UOEQwViNLuU ; https://youtu.be/4seylmsPzAk
Highland Cycles: https://youtu.be/4seylmsPzAk
RRR Tool Solutions: https://youtu.be/TF8PyRGS7BI
Hoxton Moto: https://youtu.be/roeVaCQq5To
Pacific Mike: https://youtu.be/5jNpUgQx-ZM
There was one more I liked of two British pals, one of which was lacing and truing for the first time and the other supervising, but I can’t find that vid anymore.

Helpful webpages:
This recent WG thread, especially SED’s comment: https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=105499.0
WebBikeWorld (always a fan of their content): https://www.webbikeworld.com/re-building-lacing-spoked-wheels/

My wife is really good at arranging the spokes on the hub and into the rim, yes she did most of the work, lol..

I’m sure she’d be happy to accept a donation equivalent to half a bike shop’s rate for the charitable time spent 

Did the spoke kit come with an anti-seize for the spoke nipples ?  Peter

Yes, the kit from Buchanan’s includes 1/4 oz of their own lubricant. They don’t list the contents of the lubricant, but it’s definitely hydrocarbon-based. How do I know? Well, it’s dark, thick, smells like old motor oil, and my girlfriend’s Jack Russel-Dachsund mix got at the little bottle and started chewing on it, initiating an expensive Poison Control call and email response from my contact at Buchanan’s verifying such.

The dog is fine (boozed down less than 1/8 oz if even more than a drop)...but the pooch and I have swapped beds.

[LowRyter]

 

[Huzo]

You can pull the rims back a surprising amount with the spokes, but I cannot tell you that the tension will be perfect on all of them.
But there are a lot of spokes to achieve the task, so you will be able to get it to move as long as there is not a “kink” as such.
Getting the offset is not hard if you place a straight edge across the rim and take a reading from the rim to a known point on the hub before disassembly.
If it’s a V7, you could ask someone here to take a reading from the rim on say, the right side to a known point on the swingarm for instance. Then throw your wheel in and check, but I’ll wager that if you have equal clearance on both sides, you’ll be close enough.
If you search the thread “Be your own spokesperson” here on WG, you may gain some tips., but realistically it contains stuff that does not apply to your job.

[Dirk_S]

Thanks, Huzo. It is indeed a V7, V7II, specifically. The swingarm is different on both sides due to the final drive. I think finding the vertical center may be achieved by locating the midpoint between the two shocks and dropping a line or edge from either the center of the rearmost frame bracket under the seat, or from the center of the frame/swingarm near the pivot point.

Or I’d graciously accept a few side measurements from anyone with a V7 II or III with spoked rims nicely aligned.   

[Huzo]

Or I’d graciously accept a few side measurements from anyone with a V7 II or III with spoked rims nicely aligned.   

There will be a point somewhere on the swingarm of an identical bike, where you can get a reading from the edge of the rim.

[Dirk_S]

Small update to tack on to this thread.

All seemed to be going well enough after a couple hundred miles with my newly sealed spoked wheels until I discovered the front had developed a leak at a rate of about 0.25 psi/mi, perhaps in part due to some of those bumpy dirt roads I like to do. Pumped the tire back up, then sprayed the wheel down with soapy water to identify the leak location. Only one spoke hole appeared to be bubbling...I’m going to choose the Eric Idle “bright side” approach, seeing that only 1 leaking hole out of 72 total holes ain’t bad for a first time seal job.

Just removed the tire from the wheel, removed the 3M 4411 sealing tape, and found that the 3M 5200 Fast Cure Marine Sealant was easier to remove from the spoke recesses than I thought it would be, I guess due to the rims being factory painted? This time around I tried a different sealant—Loctite Fast Cure Marine Sealant— and sealing tape—Gorilla Extreme Sealing Tape. Also taped the edges of the sealing tape down to the rim with electrical tape, as the Pirelli MT60 dig into the previous tape when installing, and I made sure to add the rim tape for extra security to the sealing tape. I had a dickens of a time installing those tires last time; those Pirellis are tougher than any tire I’ve installed so far, which isn’t too many. Ended up having a mom-&-pop tire shop (home garage, actually) take care of the installation, which jabbed me in my DIY kidneys.

The fabulous tire-installing duo (Break’er Bike’s Motor Sports in Exeter, NH) recommended a lubricant called Cody’s Tire Snot, which I bought off Amazon. Cody’s Tire Snot works! Just installed the tire and sprayed the wheel down; no bubblies, so we’ll see how the second time around works.

As for the rear wheel, it only lost a few PSI in those couple hundred miles. I think I sealed that one well enough, but I’ll continue to monitor.

[Chuck in Indiana]

As for the rear wheel, it only lost a few PSI in those couple hundred miles. I think I sealed that one well enough, but I’ll continue to monitor.

Uhhh.. probably not. 

[Dirk_S]

I should clarify: my reading showed just a few PSI lost in a few hundred miles; however, I wasn’t using the same gauge, and the temperatures are changing here, so I’m not confident on the discrepancy between the two readings. It may or may not be an issue, thus I’ll monitor more closely and accurately.

[Huzo]

I didn’t get this one much better than this..
https://youtu.be/2wr_DtvE8z8
After balancing, it’s like glass at 170 kph...

[s1120]

Always a good idea to keep a eye on them sealed or not..  But other then the first few days after, I havent lost more then a pound over month or so. I lost more then that with tubes.