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I love learning new stuff.

1K views 33 replies 17 participants last post by  Team Serpent 
#1 ·
I spent my night teaching myself how to lace spoke wheels. After buying Geo's Sumo yz250 I realized the bike was too friggin hot to stick stock dirt wheels on it for Dirt duty, So I went and talked to Dano over at DGY and he hooked me up with some badass black excel rims, associated spoke kits and some new Maxxis tires. Thanks for the Hookup Dano, everything was there today like you said it would be!

So back to the wheels, i picked up a front off of ebay which the rim needed a little work, but I didn't care as I just needed the hub so I got a sweet deal on it, then took one of my spare stock rears broke out the bolt cutters and tore both wheels apart. of course I did that after a few beers while studying the spoke patterns.

2 hours later I had my new wheels laced up perfectly, of course the spokes are only slightly snugged, but evenly snugged, anybody got a truing stand I can borrow, so I can finish this up?
 
#4 ·
Thats what I was thinking of, everybody always failed cause of the lacing and they used like 9 rolls of painters tape to keep from scratching it.

I just put a painters tarp on my kitchen table (yes my wife was looking at me funny at this point), made sure there was plenty of cold beer in the fridge and got to work, it wasn't as bad as I expected.
 
#5 ·
2 hours later I had my new wheels laced up perfectly, of course the spokes are only slightly snugged, but evenly snugged, anybody got a truing stand I can borrow, so I can finish this up?
Your gonna hate the truing stand Tony trust me. You have only started to lace the wheels. :lmao: I have a truing stand but I don't loan it out for fear of having someone throw it through a window.

I've laced a few sets of wheels in the past but for how much time I spend I'm gonna let experts do it from now on. I have learned my lesson and I let a pro do my SM wheels. I use my stand now to check the wheels and make sure everything stays true.
 
#8 ·
Make sure to include the offset if there is one.
 
#12 ·
#13 ·
I used to do lots of bicycle wheels, then my friend found out I knew how and I got stuck doing a bunch of dirtbike wheels. If it's offset, there should have been different length spokes. All long on one side and all short on the other.

You can skip the truing stand and do it half assed by taping a small allen wrench or screwdriver to the swingarm or fork, so it just barely contacts the rim at the widest bends. As you get rid of the bends, keep moving the allen farther in. That's basically how a truing stand works anyway.

And when you're tightening, do the spokes together in odd number groups. Don't do 2 or 4, but 3 or 5 at a time.

edit...and I see your link has the same truing method I use.
 
#14 ·
All spokes were identical length, either way I'll measure my 125's wheels tomorrow as well just to make sure it's not offset at all.
 
#24 ·
Sorry to go off topic. You can put a kicker on a big cube engine but you should install compression releases if you do.

As for offset, you can give L or R spokes more turns to give an offset. Some bikes require it. Do the homework before lacing a wheel lest ye fucketh up the job.:laughing:
 
#25 ·
trued up the front yesterday (took about half hour), and mounted the new tire. looks awesome ont he bike, of course I managed to pinch the tube while installing the tire so I will be pulling it back off :laughing
 
#26 ·
Did you drop/bounce the tire on the floor before you mounted it, just to ensure it stays true?
 
#27 ·
yup, and I am going to go through one more truing session once the tire is finally mounted on the bike.


Oh and little tip fromt he mind of Tony... Zip ties on the forks work awesome for truing
 
#31 ·
Double check spoke tightness after the first couple of rides. Newly laced wheels have to "bed in" and spokes can come loose. I don't like lacing and truing wheels, I've done it but I don't have the patience for it. It's definately a good skill to learn, though. If you get reasonably good at it you can always pick up a few bucks from impatient guys like me and never lack for pocket money!
 
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