Outer Spoke Ends Not Seating Completely in Hub

79josh81

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So I just relaced the front wheel from an 81’ special II. Everything went great and my vertical and horizontal runout are all within 1mm after truing the wheel. The one thing I noticed is that the outer spokes (the ones you install from the inside of the hub out), the ends that are supposed to sit counter-sunk into the spoke holes in the inside of the hub, aren’t sitting flush like my inner spoke ends are. They’re not like way out there so I’m not real concerned about it but I’m wondering if anyone else has had this?
The correct style spokes are in the insides and outsides so no issues there. When I compare the stock outers to the Mikes cadmiums outers I installed (yes I know, I should have gotten the stainless), they do appear to have an extremely slight difference in the ends which is why I’m assuming they’re not seating the same. Thoughts?
 
I think that's sorta normal. Here's a shot of my front wheel before I re-spoked it. These are the original spokes and look very similar to your new ones .....

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Yeah that’s what I figured. It’s not like the spokes are torqued or bent weird around the hub or anything. They’re all straight and look good so maybe it’s just my “picky” coming out.
 
Check them in a few hundred miles. They may seat in better and you might find some loose ones because of that. You should always check a new spoke install like that in case some "bedding in" occurs.
 
Actually, polishing the forks isn't too bad. Of all the parts you can polish on one of these, I'd have to say the fork legs are one of the easiest. They're mostly long, straight surfaces. Strip the clear coat off with some paint stripper, do some light sanding to remove any corrosion, and have at them with the buffer. You may need to "work" some deep nicks and scratches out, and I now knock off the casting ridges with Roloc discs .....

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The bike I’m doing now has a chrome trim theme and I’ve been thinking about giving the polishing a go. I’ll have to do some searching on here to figure out the best procedure.
 
There's work involved, there's no disputing that, but once done, it's just a bit of upkeep to maintain the good looks. Personally, I don't re-clear coat the polished parts. I just give them a quick hand polish with Mothers or Blue Magic once or twice a season, and that keeps them looking good.
 
There might be a spoke torque value somewhere but I've never seen it. The thing is, you can't really torque them all exactly the same or the wheel won't be true. Yes, they need to be tight but they won't all end up exactly the same tightness once the wheel is trued.
 
Thanks Rasputin. 5twins, those polished forks you got in that pic look nice. How long does it take a guy to do that?
I feel a bit of a fraud actually, I have stated before that I can take no credit for the condition of my bike as it was restored by the previous owner. He had everything professionally polished, I bought it like it is, all I have to do is ride it and keep it in the same condition. Thanks.
 
Hey just curious, is there actually a specific measurement for the allowable vertical and horizontal runout on XS wheels or is there a certain measurement that’s just a general consensus among people that everyone uses?
 
There is a spec for that - 2mm for both the up-down and side-to-side true. That converts to about .079". For side-to-side true, using a dial gauge, I usually find it pretty easy to get the wheel within .010", much better than the spec. For the up-down run out, I just use a pointer. The outer edge, or down in the rim where the tire seats, is too rough to use a dial gauge on.
 
0.010”? Wow... I thought within 1mm was pretty good. I just used a pointer almost touching the rim on the biggest vertical and horizontal runout spots and spun the wheel to see how far it separated from the pointer to get my best guess at where the runout was at. You must have a gauge huh?
 
Yes, all HF stuff, but it works well for this (and it's cheap, lol).

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As indicated in the 2nd pic, the spot where the rim is welded together always produces a bit of a "bump" on the gauge, but you just ignore that.
 
Nice, maybe I’ll go and pick one of those up. It probably takes all of the eye squinting and guess-work out of the process which would be nice for sure.
 
Yes, all HF stuff, but it works well for this (and it's cheap, lol).

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As indicated in the 2nd pic, the spot where the rim is welded together always produces a bit of a "bump" on the gauge, but you just ignore that.

Now I see why you got the solid stand to hold your gauge. I bought the kit today with the flexible type arm that holds the gauge and that thing’s a piece of shit. I’m taking it back to just get the gauge and the solid stand they have tomorrow.

Hey quick question, when you true a wheel, after you have it all trued up and you start doing the pattern to tighten all the spokes, do you notice you lose a little bit of your trueness from the tightening process even if you try your damnest to tighten everything equally as you go around?
 
:twocents: I true with a magic marker. Tightening and truing is a series process you keep doing both till all the spokes are tight as sounds and feels right.
Your spoke heads look typical, the bend on mikes XS spokes isn't quite the same as the stock spokes. You can see it a bit here too.
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I've put thousands of miles on my respoked wheels some of them pretty rambunctious. like 5t sez a retighten after a few hundred miles or when you change the tire never a bad idea.
 
I just hope I have them tight enough but not too tight. I have it where I’m going to leave it now. Some of them seem real tight and others are tight but not as tight as others. I do notice that all the inner spokes seem to have the same sound and all the outers seem to have the same sound. They all ring and don’t have any dull sounds so I don’t know.
 
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