First one is a challenge but you just keep working on till it you get it right.
My biggest (make it easier) hint is to leave the slight grooves in the hub where the spokes lay. on reassembly they act as guides to the correct position/pattern.
The first wheels I did were redoing a set the PO gave up on, he hadn't got the pattern right, unspoked it, redid till it matched another wheel I used as a guide and all was good. I've done many since and ridden tens of thousands of miles on them. You can do this. It's nice and easier that the XS650 wheels are centered over the hubs no oddball offsets to build in.
If you don't have an extra matching wheel, print out some large photos of the old wheel before you take it apart.
Hi flyerdon:
You've got a great looking project brewing there - I don't blame you for being anxious to get it done and rideable.
On the wiring, good grief - what do P/Os think they're doing
? My 1976 XS650C came with a horribly bodged-up rear turn signal/running light "set"-up (another word beginning with "f" comes to mind actually) AND the clown had used
solid copper house wire joined with Marrette twist-on connectors to bring the running light power in. After much troubleshooting and attempted repairs of the butchered turn signal sockets, I eventually ripped out the entire wiring harness and started with a brand new one (around $70 from MikesXS) and two brand new rear turn signal stalks (this was before I had joined the Forum and had so many friends with stocks of parts). The other thing to check in your turn signal system are the spots where the wire to each signal stalk enters the hollow threaded rod that holds the signal stalk in place. The entrance to that threaded rod (at least on my '76) were very sharp and on at least two of them, the insulation of the power wire to the signal had been abraded and that was causing an intermittent short that blew the only fuse on the bike and brought my fun to a silent halt (
which was absolutely delightful on a ride - at night).
In the end, I had to disassemble each stalk and spend a few moments with some emory cloth to smooth out that sharp burr on the "entrance" to the hollow threaded rod AND reinforce the wire insulation with shrink-on tubing. Now, 3-1/2 years and more than 10,000 miles later - no
problemos.
Now, to your wheel - while it may seem imposing, truing or even lacing a new rim and building a wheel are not really all that difficult a task - as long as you go slowly and methodically. Gary's advice is great and there are A LOT of good videos on the web showing how to do it (a linky is below). I strongly urge you to watch the entire video several times and make certain that you understand what is going on.
The
roundness of the wheel is controlled by the tension in the spokes on
BOTH sides of the hub and the trueness (i.e. the
side-to-side position of the rim centreline) is controlled by the tension on
one or the other side of the hub. So, if a certain point on the rim is too far to the
left - you must
first loosen some spokes on the
right side of the hub and
then tighten a similar number of spokes on the
left side of the hub to "pull" the rim over in that direction.
In other words, don't try to "move" the rim side-to-side to fix a truing problem or adjust a roundness problem using only
one spoke. That would result in that spoke being much too tight and thus, prone to breaking under load. You need to find the point on the rim which is farthest out of position and adjust 1-2 spokes
on either side of it by decreasing numbers of turns (i.e. furthest away - 1/4 turn, next furthest - 1/2 turn, next furthest 3/4 turn etc.).
When adjusting the rim, be sure to loosen the spokes on one side of the hub
FIRST and
THEN tighten those on the other side (i.e. do not just tighten to pull the rim - you need to also loosen some spokes to allow it to move). When adjusting roundness, you may need to loosen spokes -
just a little - that are 90 degrees away from the point where you need to tighten them - to allow the rim to go from oval to round without overloading any spokes.
Doing things gradually and spreading the adjustments over several spokes will keep the adjustments gradual and ensure that no single spoke is too tight.
NOTE: if you have a to lace on a new rim, be sure to spend some time staring at the spoke pattern
BEFORE removing the old spokes - and note that some spokes go from the
OUTside of the hub and others go from the
INside of the hub - on
each side of the hub. Take photographs and print them out in large format so that you can refer to them while lacing up the new rim.
Here here are some more general pointers and tips:
- rig up a decent way to hold the wheel (an old swing arm or just a rod held in a vise and running through the centre of the wheel will do); There is nothing more frustrating than wrestling with a rim, a hub, several dozen spokes and nipples and a spoke wrench.
- get a decent spoke wrench - they are not expensive and make the job MUCH easier than f@rting around with a pair of pliers or a tiny adjustable wrench.
- using a magic marker - number every spoke hole on BOTH sides of the old hub AND write the same number at every hole on the rim so that you can easily tell which hole is at each end of each spoke.
- NOW cut or remove the old spokes;
- Start lacing the new spokes into the hub (both the INside and OUTside spokes on both sides) making sure that you follow the criss-cross pattern of the original spokes - as outlined in the video. Note that some spokes must go "on top of" the other spokes on that side of the hub. The video shows the person tying the pairs of spokes together using little twist-ties that you can "liberate" from your wife's kitchen drawer - this is a great way to keep track of which spokes go "over" which other one.
- Thread the nipples onto the spokes so that the rim is approximately in the middle of the hub (i.e. the centreline of the rim is over the centreline of the hub) - but do not make the spokes tight at this point;
- Once each spoke is in place, tighten each spoke the same number of turns - this is a key point! Literally count the turns as you rotate the spoke wrench - that way all of the spokes will be at about the same level of tension.
This process may seem slow - but it will save time in the long run and not allow any spokes to become overloaded. If it seems that the spokes don't want to fit properly, you have almost certainly laced them incorrectly so stop and look again at the photos. Do
NOT ever bend a spoke - they must run straight from the hub to the rim.
NOTE: This initial wheel assembly task is MUCH easier if the axle is vertical - as shown in the video - so that you aren't fighting gravity as well as all of those teeny little spoke nipples.
Your goal is not to tighten the spokes so that they are tight - but rather to get all of the spokes threaded onto their respective spokes the same number of turns and thus the same level of tension so that the wheel is round
AND true
AND centred over the middle of the hub. Clearly, there is a lot going on here, but a spoked wheel is an amazingly strong, stiff and robust structure that will work very well nearly forever if properly built in the first place and not abused in service.
BUT - it is crucial that you make changes slowly and only turn the spoke nipples a fraction of a turn at a time and observe the results until you get the hang of it.
Cheers,
Pete