Rear wheel 16 to 18 inch conversion

Hey guys, I've been looking for info on how to convert my 16 inch wheel to an 18 inch withno luck. I have a hoop and bought a set of spokes through mikesxs, part number 256-25304-01-00 I believe. Its what they told me to order when I called. I got the wheel laced up today only to find the spokes are about 2cm to long all the way around. Any ideas what length I should be getting? Is a 16 inch drum a larger diameter than a 18 inch? should i just pony up and buy spokes from buchannons?

Sorry, im probably beating a dead horse but I couldn't find what I was looking for on here, even in the tech section.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Are you certain you are lacing up the right pattern? There are a couple of good threads here somewhere on lacing, include 5twins in your search, he has posted some great pics in the past. cheers

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How long are the 18" spokes from Mikes? It's good to have the old spokes to compare the length.
I converted an 18" rim to a 16" rim and bought spokes from Xs650 direct. I had the old spokes and they were dead on with the length.
I'll measure my old spokes. I think i saved a couple. I will check back later.

The XSwheels use a 1 over four pattern. If you laced it with 1 over 3 then the spokes will be too long.
The spoke pattern of 1 over 4 means one spoke passes 4 others on it's trip from the hub to the rim.
I don't know what repair manual you have, but in the Clymer book, page 138 is where the wheel lacing starts. It first talks about just replacing the rim, After that it talks about lacing a hub and rim with new spokes.
If you look at page 140, pic 60 you will see what I mean by 1 over 4. If you look closly you will see as the spoke come from the hub it passes over 4 other spokes.
Leo

2cm too long? As in 20mm or 3/4"? Something's definitely off, either your spokes or your lacing pattern. The shop manual lists 18" rear spokes as being about 152mm long, check yours. If they're OK, post up some pics of the wheel and we can see if the pattern is wrong.

I took this pic before i totally disassembled my wheel for a reference. It helped me put my wheel back together.
It's a pic of the inside spokes which have to be laced first. 9 on one side 9 on the other.
I call it a "star" pattern. As you can see the spokes have to cross each other or you have it wrong.
If you can get the insides to look like this, the rest are gravy. Just remember for every 2nd hole on the hub it's every 4th on the rim. Take your time. You can't rush. I know this cause i got it on the second shot. I tried to relace after cleaning up the hub and didn't get it after a half dozen attempts.
Hope this helps.

Alright, I'm thinking I used the wrong pattern while lacing my wheel. And yes, 2cm as in about 20 mm. I stupidly took it apart earlier today w/o taking any pics. Hard_y_rd thanks for the pic it helped a lot. I took pics of my wheel before taking it apart originally and still got it wrong lol. I'll post pics when I get it back together, hopefully correct this time. I gotta get some pics and a thread going for my build sometime here.

All better now, I had it laced wrong before. Now I have to true it and get a tire on it without scratching it up

Thanks a lot!