respoking wheels?

I am thinking of getting new spokes for the wheels, but before I do, I was wondering if it was hard to do. It seems like a jigsaw puzzle, and while they are apart, I'd like to rechrome my rims, so, it iwll be apart for quite a long time before I get to put it back together. That kind of messes with my head... especially since I haven't done this before. Anything I shoudl know going into this? I'd appreciate any info you could give!
Thanks!

John

Hey John. This may help you. Check it out.

www.dansmc.com/spokewheels.htm

It's not too difficult to do. The short spokes control the rim's radial runout while the longer spokes control the rim's lateral runout.

Consider stainless steel spokes and nipples if money is available. While you're at it, how about wider aluminum alloy rims too. The wider rims helped improve the handling of my '73 Z1-900 quite a bit. But now I'm replacing the old non-stock DID alloy rims (2.15" X 19", 3.0" X 18") I had on the bike with (even) wider Excel rims (3.50" X 17", 4.25" X 17").

I'm sure you'll be able to find loads of help at this site regarding lacing and truing your rims.

Double check the nipples on the replacement spokes as some of the aftermarket spokes have narrower nipples than the originals and they can potentially pull through the hub openings. This is something you really want to avoid.

Thanks for all the great information. I am probably not going to get it done now, after talking to a bike shop, they say they can't get the spokes, so unless I run into something on ebay... Probably a good thing, considering I would have had to dump a bunch of cash into getting the wheels rechromed. I would like to do a bunch of parts in new chrome, unfortunately I am at the mercy of a chrome plating shop's prices. The township I am in strictly prohibits chrome plating, or any electroplating processes involving hexavalent chromium. Stupid Erin Brockovich...
Anyhow... For those of us who would rather die of lung cancer, but with shiney chrome wheels, rather than live healthy with rusty wheels, we must pay out the nose for rechroming, and as soon as I find a couple sets of spokes for the bike, I'll definitely look up this post topic. Thanks!

John

I would really recommend getting stainless. I used polished the original spokes before paying somebody to relace the wheels and they looked absolutely beautiful. Not that I've had the bike on the road for a year and a half, with a fair amount of riding in the rain, they look like shit.

From what I hear, lacing wheels is not that bad, however, it is time consuming. . . so if you pay somebody to do it, standard shop rate makes it a very expensive job.

If you are going to respoke it your self or if you are sending it out to get respoked, make sure you know a little about spoked wheels.
See picture.It is a Yamaha 36 spoke wheel
While the wheel looks nice and pretty, it is dangerous. It was relaced at a local British shop. If you look at the group of 4 spokes at the rim, they connect at the hub in the same area. The 5 inch section at the rim is supported by a 1.5 inch at the hub. Look at the 2 spokes where they lace at the hub (an inner and outer spoke at the hub on 1 side) Where they connect to the rim is 1 spoke apart. They should be 5 spokes apart or 11 spokes apart at the rim (on this Yamaha 36 spoke). This is done to spread the load across a wider area of the hub( making for a stronger wheel).
The owner of the wheel spent alot of money on these rims(powdercoated rims, hubs, Buchannon spokes)only to get a set of dangerous wheels. He is getting them relaced correctly.
Daniel

Post edited by: dgfischer, at: 2005/10/21 06:41

Posted a step by step in the file base if your interested in learning how to do it yourself.
Wheel Lacing and Spoke Truing

I respoked some rims a number of years ago and recall that the nipples were hard as heck to remove due to rust or corrosion. I think if I were to do it again, I would just pay the bucks and have Buchannon or some other reputable shop do the job. To do it right, the wheel must be trued afterwards.

I would also stay away from chrome... aluminum rims with stainless spokes retain their looks far better. When I redid my first KZ test bike, I had rusty spokes and I sanded them and repainted them black. The paint has held up well and they still look as bad as the day I finished them.

Heres the correct XS 650 Spokied rim.

George-

Now that I have a motorcycle with spokes I'm reading the spoke threads. On bicycles we would cut all the old spokes rather than mess with trying to get the nuts off. Bicycle spokes are dirt cheap. Unless you have to have 'the best'....

-Duck

Duck,
here's what I am looking at...
rims $306 each x 2 = $612
wheels spokes $6 each x 72 = $432
labor to respoke and true $45 each x 2 = $90
grand total... $1134

I just saw a restored G3SS-C on a classified page for $1200, and it's pretty decent looking.

I doubt I am gonna bother doing it now. $1150 is a bit rediculous for a bike that isn't worth that much. It makes sense to me to just buy something that's already restored, and if I am not happy with the quality, I can redo little things, and save myself from having to buy a boatload of parts. Some jagoff wants $30 for a rusty shifter for the same bike. $10 more and I can get an NOS shifter. Some of this stuff is getting out of hand. I know bikes were never cheap, but when aftermarket kits for redoing the topend of a motorcycle are $600+, compared $299 to do a Ford 302 engine, I have to draw the line somewhere! It never made any sense to me that a new car costs $25K, a new bike costs $7K and the parts for the bike were almost always twice as much. I guess you really must have a passion for a certain bike to pay that much.
That's why I am not doing spokes.