Professional wheel builders are thin on the ground up here. However, I've managed to find a guy who will rebuild my wheels if I do the leg work (remove old spokes etc). Are there any particular issues to watch out for?
R100GS wheel refurbish?
- Thread starter Posh Pete
- Start date
Sparks from the angle grinder.
Yup. Got that. Anything else? Tips re removing bearings? Any vids?
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2010
- Messages
- 10,399
- Reaction score
- 3,653
If the spokes are badly corroded into the rim and the nipples in the hub they can be a complete bastard to strip.
I normally cut the spoke nice and square leaving about an inch protruding,
Get a heat gun on the rim and get it hot,really hot around the spoke.
Then I give the spoke a good smack with a hammer ,again,nice and square so it doesn’t bend.
Once the spoke(hopefully) starts to move I use a cordless drill with a keyless chuck to clamp the now protruding spoke head and I spin it out with the drill.
Once the hub is removed from the rest of the wheel,stick it in the oven or get it hot with the heat gun and the bearings will probably fall out with a light tap.
Fitting the new bearings ,stick them in the freezer for a few hours,heat the hub again and they will drop in.
Best of luck
I normally cut the spoke nice and square leaving about an inch protruding,
Get a heat gun on the rim and get it hot,really hot around the spoke.
Then I give the spoke a good smack with a hammer ,again,nice and square so it doesn’t bend.
Once the spoke(hopefully) starts to move I use a cordless drill with a keyless chuck to clamp the now protruding spoke head and I spin it out with the drill.
Once the hub is removed from the rest of the wheel,stick it in the oven or get it hot with the heat gun and the bearings will probably fall out with a light tap.
Fitting the new bearings ,stick them in the freezer for a few hours,heat the hub again and they will drop in.
Best of luck
Thanks Mike. Very helpful. 
Mike has beat me to a response but having had to strip down a few of the external spoked wheels to build my own bespoke ones your biggest enemy is the corrosion tightly packing around the spoke so it won't move.
I would suggest the following.
1) unscrew the nipple so you have about 5mm all the spokes but don't remove the nipple.
2) use a mapp gas torch to heat the rim around no more than 4 spokes going backwards and forwards across the 4 to heat evenly and move quickly. More than 4 and the rim will cool too much in the time it takes to hammer them out.
3). Hit the nipples with a hammer to see if they will move. Too hard and the spoke will bend.
4) if you decide they are stuck solid, then it's angle grinder time cut the spokes to about 1" long.
5). Round of the cut ends else you'll peen the end over making it even harder to get out. I used a Dremel to round them off.
6) you'll need a hollow point punch to hit the spoke with that's a smaller dia than the spoke.
7) gt85/wd40 sprayed onto the spoke will help lubricate the powder you may need to work the spoke backwards and forwards till they come loose.
Good luck. It's a f11ker of a job.
I would suggest the following.
1) unscrew the nipple so you have about 5mm all the spokes but don't remove the nipple.
2) use a mapp gas torch to heat the rim around no more than 4 spokes going backwards and forwards across the 4 to heat evenly and move quickly. More than 4 and the rim will cool too much in the time it takes to hammer them out.
3). Hit the nipples with a hammer to see if they will move. Too hard and the spoke will bend.
4) if you decide they are stuck solid, then it's angle grinder time cut the spokes to about 1" long.
5). Round of the cut ends else you'll peen the end over making it even harder to get out. I used a Dremel to round them off.
6) you'll need a hollow point punch to hit the spoke with that's a smaller dia than the spoke.
7) gt85/wd40 sprayed onto the spoke will help lubricate the powder you may need to work the spoke backwards and forwards till they come loose.
Good luck. It's a f11ker of a job.
Many thanks. 
Use PLUSGAS not WD40 for any rust
I would spray day before starting job too if possible
good luck
I would spray day before starting job too if possible
good luck
Cheers Mick!
I used this very good advice when I stripped an old pair of wheels a while back. Made a hard job easy.If the spokes are badly corroded into the rim and the nipples in the hub they can be a complete bastard to strip.
I normally cut the spoke nice and square leaving about an inch protruding,
Get a heat gun on the rim and get it hot,really hot around the spoke.
Then I give the spoke a good smack with a hammer ,again,nice and square so it doesn’t bend.
Once the spoke(hopefully) starts to move I use a cordless drill with a keyless chuck to clamp the now protruding spoke head and I spin it out with the drill.
Once the hub is removed from the rest of the wheel,stick it in the oven or get it hot with the heat gun and the bearings will probably fall out with a light tap.
Fitting the new bearings ,stick them in the freezer for a few hours,heat the hub again and they will drop in.
Best of luck
The problem is caused by electrolytic corrosion between the steel and aluminium, not rust. I’m not sure traditional penetrating fluids will have any affect. In my experience the trick, if there is one, is getting the aluminium just hot enough and hitting the spoke just hard enough, otherwise damage my occur.
Loking forward to doing mine, not.
Loking forward to doing mine, not.
Maybe paraffin as a repentant fairly neutral, cheap and thin?
Before I take the angle grinder to the spokes: what measurements does the wheel builder require? And are they the same for all models (100GS)? Asking because the wheel builder is 30 miles away, to save me a journey for him to do it!
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2010
- Messages
- 10,399
- Reaction score
- 3,653
You need to measure any offset of the rim,you’ll need a long straight edge,put it across the edge of the drum then take a measurement to the edge of the rim.
Also, the rim may be directional IIRC,
It’s nothing vital ,it just puts the valve in a less obstructed place.
So if there is a direction arrow make sure the wheel builder is aware of it.
Also, the rim may be directional IIRC,
It’s nothing vital ,it just puts the valve in a less obstructed place.
So if there is a direction arrow make sure the wheel builder is aware of it.
Update and a question ...
Finally got around to removing the front wheel (decided to MoT the bike first before SORNING it.) This morning, I took the wheel down to the guy who's going to rebuild it...
"What's it off?"
R100GS. 1988.
"Only I did a wheel off a newer BM than that - a 2012 - and it caused me a lot of grief. Let me check ..."
Is there that much difference between the earlier tubeless wheels and the later oilheads? I'm reluctant to have at it with the angl;le grinder if there's going to be a problem with the re-build!
Finally got around to removing the front wheel (decided to MoT the bike first before SORNING it.) This morning, I took the wheel down to the guy who's going to rebuild it...
"What's it off?"
R100GS. 1988.
"Only I did a wheel off a newer BM than that - a 2012 - and it caused me a lot of grief. Let me check ..."
Is there that much difference between the earlier tubeless wheels and the later oilheads? I'm reluctant to have at it with the angl;le grinder if there's going to be a problem with the re-build!
I was about to say that perhaps the hardest part was finding a wheel builder happy to work on GS wheels. Seems he may not be quite so delighted...
The difference seems to be that the later wheels have a grub screw in addition to the spoke nipple. (13 in the pic below.)The airhead alloy rim/spoke is a straight pull, using an allan key to tension the spoke. I can imagine that the grub screw will complicate matters for the later wheels but surely the earlier rim must be pretty straight forward to tension/true?
Attachments
I think you’ll find there should be a grub screw in the nipple on your R100GS wheel too. Many will have dropped out over time but even so they shouldn’t affect dismantling if you cut the spoke and tap the nipple out of the hub.
By far the simplest thing to do, is to send the wheels to these guys https://www.devonrimcompany.com/ he did mine a few years back, very good work. The only problem that I had, was that the rims were too pitted to polish, so we ended up powder coating them.
When you come to change the bearings, if you warm the hub with a hot air gun the bearings will almost drop out, same when putting the new ones in.
Similar threads
