Lacing your own new Wheels

[Deadend]

I did use search and didnt see a specific thread on this.

Title has my intent - lace my own new wheel set.

How difficult is this? I have never really been good w/ bicycle rims (truing them) i can get them "pretty straight" but its not something someone would pay for.

I can have and have done my own.....

• fork seals on a street bike
  
• top end rebuild on an old kawa 1200 cop bike
  
• drive train - external ( sprockets and chain )
  
• carb clean n rebuild
  

so id list my mechanical expertise as "cheap skate enthusiast". I dont LIKE doing my own work, but i DO LIKE saving 60$/hr on shop prices when I can.

Is it worth saving the 100-200$ to lace my own wheels? What about wheel jig? I have a Clymers for my bike ( yz400f ) and it has an illustration of a 2x4 wood jig...

anyway - any help / advice / warnings would be very helpful thanks!

[grayracer513]

Read:

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=583471

Personally, I would never pay anyone a dime to lace wheels for me. (Well, OK, If they could do a good job for that, I probably would, but...)

One of the keys is to run the spokes down to snug evenly without getting the wheel out of true/off center to begin with. That way, there's nothing to correct.

With motorcycle wheels, it's very unlikely that you would not need to use at least two spokes to move the rim in any direction. By that I mean to move the rim left, you'll have to both loosen on the right and tighten on the left. The spokes are too heavy and unyielding to flex or stretch very much at all.

Overall, I think they're somewhat easier than bicycle wheels.

[Deadend]

wow thats a great write up - i was searching in the wrong forum - thanks!

[pantaz]

Read:

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=583471

That write-up leaves out a really important step -- the hub offset.

Unlike the front, the rear hub is not symmetrical, due to the sprocket and brake mounts. So, the hub must be offset from the rim edge a specific distance to properly center the wheel.

Either measure the old wheel before disassembling, or get the value from the service manual.

[KJ790]

Almost all modern MX bikes have the offset incorporated in the hub so the rim sits centered in the spokes. Measuring the offset of the rear before and after doesn't hurt, but if you don't know the original offset you will almost always find that centering the rim in the spokes will center the wheel in the swingarm. A few mm one way or the other won't affect anything either.

[pieplatesnductape]

Almost all modern MX bikes have the offset incorporated in the hub so the rim sits centered in the spokes. Measuring the offset of the rear before and after doesn't hurt, but if you don't know the original offset you will almost always find that centering the rim in the spokes will center the wheel in the swingarm. A few mm one way or the other won't affect anything either.

Recently measured 3 of my wheel sets. I have a new unmounted oem set, of course it had the rim offset almost spot on. My excel complete was within .5mm and a set that I built myself a while back -excel rim,spline dr spokes and stock hub ( I had no clue about offset then, as I was told to just center it up.) was 1mm off. I didn't have a truing stand then, but my truck jack stands with a t square clamped to the stand worked very well in a pinch.