Have you ever Laced your own Wheel ?

the civil one

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I was Just Googlein to see where i could get a wheel laced in Norn Iron ,
there were no obvious choices , phil mc Callen , is the only advertiser i could find ,
Is Jim Bell Still on the Lisburn road ?
Who else does it here ?...

I Just had a thought , I wonder is it do able ?..
I "You tubed" it , and the Necessary Equipment doesnt make it look like Rocket science ,
I can imagine there would be wee snags ,isnt there always ?
have you done it , whats your experience
did you buy the Wheel Holder , torque wrench ?
 
To be honest Phil our local wheel building charges £15 to lace a wheel. It isn't worth tooling up at that price.
 
its not rocket science

have ago all you need is a thing so the wheel spins around on the spindle like a manual whell balancer.

and a spoke spanner.

Put all the spokes in and then start tightening them a little at a time.

If the rim is straight to start its much easier. to feel the tightness test a wheel that is already done to compare.

Then go for a few shortrides and check it.
 
I've laced a bicycle wheel, just to know that I could. It's not rocket science, but there's enough "feel" involved that - while my wheel was OK - I could do a much better job if I did it regularly. The people that do don't charge that much to do it. Look at it like paying the man with the machine to change a tyre, and leaving the levers in a corner of the garage?
 
With the unusual cross laced wheels on an R100GS-Paris Dakar, don't even think about it. I did give it a lot of consideration then spoke to wheel builders and realised very few in the country would entertain it. Dead easy to get out of true then it's slacken everything off and start again. Hagons did mine even then I had to return for the spokes in the front wheel to be tightened. The locking grub screws were tight so the spokes must have stretched a tad.
 
Wheel lacing

I thought the same as you to begin with,but decided to have a go.There are some photos on my thread "project bike advice",I took my time and got the rim running within 0.25mm axially and radially .
 
Hi Rob ,
how much doese he charg if you wont one 10 or 20 mm aut of center !!! because its not cheep hier to have done !!!!!
 
Kevin Blurton of Derby is one of the few in UK who will rebuild a GS cross spoked wire wheel. He thinks they are probably factory built in a jig because they are such ******s to do by hand. BTW a torque wrench isn't needed :)

IIRC, he wanted £160 to relace a GS wheel with new spokes. About £100 less if the spokes rim and hub are supplied. Lacing a normal wire wheel is about £30 plus spokes.

Ive still to get mine done so will report back eventually.
 
Anybody got contact details for Kevin. I would love to rebuild my wheels with stainless spokes and don`t mind stripping them,
 
I've laced a bicycle wheel, just to know that I could. It's not rocket science, but there's enough "feel" involved that - while my wheel was OK - I could do a much better job if I did it regularly. The people that do don't charge that much to do it. Look at it like paying the man with the machine to change a tyre, and leaving the levers in a corner of the garage?

I used to adjust cycle wheels regularly....Only once did I lace one up from scratch, but the lacing part is just joining up the dots (as long as you're not creating a new design)

Tweaking it up to trim is easier the more you do it (durrrr) but after a while you can do it 95% accurately by the ting, ting, ting, clunk of the sound of the spokes as you go around.......there will be a slight variation around the valve opening area, but in general, certainly with straightening up a cycle wheel, it was like tuning a piano.

I've never done a motorcycle wheel, but I can't imagine that it's much different in principle :nenau
 
Just a thought ,

I know there is a difference in the Strengths of Stainless and Steel , Does that matter in a spoke ?
Why do/did the original makers use chromed steel ? cost strength ?
And with this is another question , Will the stainless be OK over time on the Alloy Hub/Rim ?


And ,,, Is there any one in Ireland Building wheels ?apart from Mc Callens ?
 
I've never done a motorcycle wheel, but I can't imagine that it's much different in principle :nenau

I've adjusted / replaced spokes in plenty of bicycle wheels and the odd motorbike wheel; the same principles seem to work. Never built a motorbike wheel from scratch, only bicycle.

But that's all conventional spokeing, all the experts seem to say that BMW tubeless cross-spoke wheels are a very different (and much more difficult) proposition...
 
Kevin Blurton wheel builder in Derby 01332 369085

He much prefers "normal" wheels but will do the cross spoke wheels.

Strip the wheel and have the hub chemical dipped and powder coated. Almost certainly there will be corrosion at the spoke holes. The rim spoke holes may also be corroded so consider having the rim re anodised. Powder coat risks clogging the spoke holes and probably wont look right.

With all that lot its hardly worth saving the old spokes so chop them out and buy new. The (not cheap) nipples might be usable.
 
Ive a spare wheel that has a lose spoke near the valve and nearly opposite another, gave them both a small turn and the appeared tight, but appeared a little loose again. Is it just a matter of giving them a small turn?

Cheers
 
OP.

Have a read up on thread 'Re-spoking GS Paralever Front Wheel' started by Kenny, 10.02.12.

I added to that thread about my method and success in rebuilding front and rear wheels on my 80ST.
 
[h=2]Have you ever Laced your own Wheel ? [/h]No, but i've pulled me own wire? :nenau

:D

it's a 'colloquial' reference :augie
 


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