MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS

G
JANUARY 2006 27
I
F YOUR BIKE has spoke wheels, then
you need to know how to maintain,
repair and true them, its as simple as
that. This article will cover the basics
as illustrated with a dirt bike wheel,
but the same principles apply to street hard-
ware. Note that were using a tube-type rim
because most spoke wheels are like that.
Less common tubeless spoke-wheel appli-
cations, like those on the BMW GS, the
Aprilia Capo Nord and various trails bikes,
look a little different, but the fundamentals
are identical.
Second, you need a way to get your
bikes wheels up off the ground, at least one
end at a time. If youre changing compo-
nents, the wheels obviously must be
removed. But if youre just giving your
wheels a truing tune-up, they can stay on
the bike.
Third, youve got to have some way of
measuring very small deviations in the
radial and lateral movement of a turning
rim. Professional truing stands allow for
rotation of a wheels hub in a fixed plane,
and include an adjustable armature for
mounting a runout gauge or for using as
a static indicator all by itself. However,
these professional grade tools are rather
expensive (from around $200 to upwards
of $600), and you can probably improvise
something adequate for a whole lot less
(see sidebar).
A fourth necessity, one that isnt partic-
ularly expensive, is a quality spoke wrench.
Throw out that pot-metal piece of junk that
came in your bikes tool kititll do more
harm than good. Spoke nipples are small
but require significant torque. And if its a
dirt bike youre working on, the nipples
youll be twisting are probably made of soft,
easily deformed aluminum, and they may
resist turning due to corrosion or excessive
tension. Either way, a precise, tight-fitting
match between the wrench and nipple is
absolutely necessary to avoid rounding off
and ruining the nipples flats and crushing
it against the spoke threads. You can usually
pick up a much better-fitting version at your
local motorcycle shop for under ten bucks.
But know the exact size you need, as there
are half a dozen in common use.
Finally, because the procedures involved
are extremely repetitious; use tiny incre-
ments of adjustment; and require a meticu-
lously systematic approach, you will need
above-average patience and a setting in
which you can concentrate for an extended
period of time.
Starting From Scratch
If youre replacing only a bent rim plus a
broken spoke or two, begin by taping the
spoke overlaps together to keep everything
in alignment. However, if major disassem-
bly is your plan, and you are replacing your
hub, perhaps a full set of spokes and/or rim
without altering the original spoke pattern,
you should begin by studying your wheels
layout before taking anything apart. Spokes
are rarely identical; often with four distinct
configurations per wheel, some with the
heads angled differently because they are
positioned inside or outside a flange and
therefore slightly different in length as well,
and/or the hub flanges are different sizes or
configurations, necessitating perhaps two
more different lengths and angles. The dis-
tance from the head to the bend is known as
the throat length, which varies depending
on the thickness of the flange.
Notice, too, how the spokes leave the hub
in different directions; which row of hub
holes points its spokes clockwise, and
which counter-clockwise? Look to see
where the spokes cross one another, and
how many make up a repeating pattern (the
most common arrangement is a sequence
of four, comprised of one inner and one
outer from each hub flange). If you have a
digital camera, take several pictures from
different angles for quick reference later.
Or, make yourself a sketch. Spending a few
extra minutes at the beginning may save
you much frustration later. And if youre
building a wheel with all new aftermarket
components, you may be given a com-
pletely different spoke pattern from your
bikes original design, so consult your sup-
plier for instructions. If youre only replac-
ing spokes, you can ensure the reproduction
of the existing configuration by simply
replacing each one you remove before
removing the next one.
In the example shown, were keeping the
stock hub, and installing aftermarket stain-
less steel spokes and an aluminum alloy
rim, all made by Excel. The goal was
increased strength, so the replacement
pieces are sturdier than stock (however, the
weight difference in this particular applica-
tion is negligible). And while you cant
appreciate it in black-and-white photos, the
new rim is also flashier, with a deep gold
anodized finish. Also, we chose Excels
spline drive nipples, which provide a
stronger surface for wrenching than con-
ventional square nipples, and theyre made
from steel instead of aluminum.
The trickiest part is getting everything in
place without scratching your new rim.
Start by placing your disassembled hub flat
in the center of the rim. Hubs with large off-
How-To..
SPOKE WHEEL BUI LDI NG & TRUI NG by Mark Barnes
Left: The stock wheel prior to disassembly. Note that the nipples have Allen heads at their ends, accessible only with the tire and tube removed, but
some will have slots for conventional screwdrivers instead. Center: Choose your weapon. From top: Stock tool kit spoke wrench, spline drive wrench
included with new spline-drive spokes; the multi-size spoke wrench from Rowe, which covers all six common nipple sizes; Fasst Companys spoke
torque wrench, with spline drive head. Right: A little penetrating lubrication can make nipple removal a painless process. Now theres a thought!

28 JANUARY 2006
G
MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS
sets may require special measures, such as
setting the rim on a couple two-by-fours in
order to get its centerline at the midpoint
between the two hub flanges. Youll be lac-
ing one hub flange completely before turn-
ing everything over. Thread the first spoke
through its hole in the hub, and then insert
its threaded end into the rim, taking care to
chose a hole angled upward (toward the side
of the hub youre currently working on). If
youre working on a very fancy wheel, the
rim for which has holes cut at more than
two angles (left and right), youll need to
make sure that the spokes entry angle
matches the rim holes angle precisely.
(You can check this by simply inserting a
pencil through the hole and confirming that
the spoke lines up with it.) Now, after
putting a drop of lubricant on the threads to
inhibit corrosion, screw a nipple onto the
spoke tipbut only a couple turns. This
keeps the spoke from falling back out of the
rim, but leaves you maximum room to push
the rim away from the hub in other direc-
tions to give subsequent spokes the clear-
ance they need for easy insertion.
On the wheel shown, we found it worked
best to do all the outer spokes (those fur-
thest from the axial centerline) first, and
then insert the inner ones. This may be dif-
ferent on your wheel, depending upon the
spoke pattern and clearances. You may
have discerned the easiest sequence during
the disassembly process, or you may have
to do some trial-and-error testing at this
stage. The main point here is that you
should not have to struggle to get all the
spokes in place. If you find yourself
tempted to force a spoke into position by
bowing it or its neighbor, theres almost
certainly a better way. Remove a few and
try a different order. Be sure to leave the
correct number of holes on the wheel open
between spokes as you insert them.
Once all the spokes are in place on one
hub flange, turn the wheel over and repeat
the process on the other side, and when you
complete this phase of the job, give yourself
a pat on the back; the (relatively) hard part
is over. You now have a floppy, jangly thing
with a roughly circular shape that will soon
become an amazingly sturdy and geomet-
rically precise piece of hardware.
Circular Logic
Chances are, the rim youre working with
is currently very close to perfectly round.
Your job is to keep it that way while tight-
ening all those spokes, any one of which is
capable of distorting your rims shape in
either of two dimensions. You see, spokes
are incredibly strong devices. Their real
strength is in the form of pulling (tension),
rather than pushing (compression), even
though that may run contrary to intuition.
Spokes do not support the hub from under-
neath so much as suspend it from above.
Think about it. Which would be stronger, a
single spoke extending from the hub down-
ward to the rim, or that same spoke extend-
ing upward? Would it be easier to bend the
spoke below or tear the spoke above? Now
its obvious, right? Tremendous tension can
be brought to bear on the rim by tightening
spokes, enough to deform a very strong
loop of steel or alloy into a wobbly potato
chip shape. You can avoid this painfully
embarrassing fate if you heed our advice.
Left: Notice how the inner row of spokes on the far flange point clockwise, while the outer row points counter-clockwise. Also, see how their heads are
recessed in the near side of this hub. Center: The partially installed spoke illustrates its specific features: The head, throat length (distance it pass-
es through the flange) and angle to match the direction to the rim. Right: The old wheel, half-way disassembled.
Left: A perfect fit between spoke wrench and nipple makes the job easy and(Center) prevents this from happening. Not only is this nipple rounded,
its also become crushed against the spoke threads, making it doubly difficult to remove. Right: Once loosened topside with a wrench, nipples can be
unscrewed easily from the other side.
How-To

Start by getting all the nipples equally
snug. Again, you may have to figure out
whats possible by trial-and-error. On our
example, we found we could get all the nip-
ples tightened to the last visible thread on
each spoke before any significant tension
was applied to the rim. We arrived at this
knowledge by meticulously tightening
every spoke on the wheel the same number
of turns, time after time. Time consuming,
yes, but ultimately it saved time because
we didnt end up with one side of the rim
pulled in closer to the hub than the other
side before we even started the truing
process. Remember, the definition of a cir-
cle is a line with all points equidistant from
a central point and lying in the same plane.
Its better to avoid pulling the wheel out of
round from the beginning, instead of cor-
recting deviations afterwards.
Now, with all the nipples threaded the
same distance up on the spokes, the wheel
will be much closer to rigid, but there
should still be no tension among the spokes.
When you lift it up, it should hold its shape,
but still jingle just a tiny bit. However, you
may notice thateven with all the nipples
perfectly the same on their respective
spokes, some are closer to the rim than oth-
ers. This may be because of variations in
spoke length or their placement radially on
the hub. For example, if all the outer spokes
(furthest from the axial centerline) are also
a little closer to the edge of the hubs flange,
they will protrude further through the wheel
unless they compensate for this difference
in hub mounting position by being slightly
shorter than the inner spokes. If you find
such a discrepancy between spoke sub-
groups, carefully adjust the looser ones in
small increments, just as you did with all
the spokes at the start of this tightening
process, until they have just as little slack as
the spokes that were initially closer to snug.
NOTE: Those of you who are only per-
forming a tune-up on your wheels, rather
than building them, should join us here.
Because spokes will tend to loosen over the
miles, you should try to identify the loosest
spokes by spinning the wheel and bouce-
ing a wrench off the spokes. The loose
spokes emit a dull dead sound when
tapped, while those that are still tight emit
a bright ping. To get all the nipples close
to snug before precise truing, snug the loose
spokes first.
If you decided to spring for a truing stand,
position your wheel in it now. If you are
using a different method, secure the wheel
on its axle (or axle-substitute) and set up
your runout detector (dial gauge or pointer
armature) to check radial runout (distance
from the hub center to the outside edge of
the rim). Next, check the lateral runout,
(side-to-side deviation). If your spokes are
all evenly snug (but not floppy), this will
tell you if your rim is way out of true, all on
its own. A new rim should be nearly perfect,
and small deviations in a used rim may be
correctable during the truing process.
Now The Fun Begins
Well address radial runout first. With
your detector in position for this measure-
ment, determine where the rim is furthest
away from the hub. This will be the high
zone if your detector is at the top of your
wheel or the low zone if its at the bottom.
Youll need to tighten the spokes in that
zone to pull the rim there closer to the hub.
Start with a spoke in the middle of the
MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS
G
JANUARY 2006 29
Left: The new pieces, left, are visibly more substantial than the stockers they replace. (Dont be fooled by the narrower threaded section on the Excel
spoke; its shaft is thicker than OEM. ) Right: The first row of new spokes, with nipples loosely attached. Right: Notice the even spacing along the rim.
Left: One row of spokes finished. The wheel begins to take shape. Center: Detail of the spokes leaving the hub. Notice how the holes point only partway
toward the spokes target on the rim; the spokes bend (right at the holes edge) completes the necessary angle. Right: Halfway done; heres the wheel
with one side (flange) of the hub laced.
offending zone and tighten it in a small
increment, such as a half-turn. Tighten the
next spoke on both sides of it slightly less,
maybe a third of a turn. Tighten the next
spokes away even less, perhaps a quarter-
turn. Finally, tighten the next spokes out
(now three spokes away from the first) an
even smaller fraction of a turn. This method
distributes the influence of your efforts
evenly, so that it doesnt change the lateral
runout, instead of causing an acutely
focused shift that is likely to create other
irregularities and send you chasing your tail
in an endless series of corrections. Next,
find the low spot and reduce spoke ten-
sion in a similar pattern.
This is the kind of thing you will develop
an efficiency-boosting feel for with prac-
tice. But novices should make small adjust-
ments, even though that may mean making
a lot of them. It will still take far less time
to do it right the first timegradually
than to get intoand then back out ofa
cycle of overtightening/overcorrections.
Now recheck the radial runout. Is it still
within your margin for error? If not, repeat
the previous steps and check it again. Keep
doing this until your wheel shows less radial
deviation than two millimeters.
Now, its time to switch the angle of
attack, although the battle tactics remain the
same. Set your runout detector to check the
lateral deviation and rotate your wheel to
find the place where it is furthest from the
axial centerline. For the sake of simplicity,
well call that the lateral high zone, and in
this example lets say youve found it on
the right side of your rim right next to the
rim lock hole. To pull it back toward the
center, youll need to tighten the spokes on
the left side in that zone while loosening the
spokes on the right side. Start with the left
spoke closest to the middle of the high zone,
and tighten it a small amount. Proceed to
its next left neighbors on both sides, and
tighten them a little less. Continue to spread
your influence to the outer edges of the high
zone, reducing the amount of rotation as
you get further away from the middle, and
tightening only the spokes on the left side.
Repeat the same technique while loosening
the right side spokes.
Recheck the lateral runout. Next, deter-
mine the lateral low zone (the right side)
and make the necessary adjustment, by
loosening in the same way. Repeat this
process until the rim has less lateral devia-
tion than two millimeters. Note that its
possible by making all adjustments to only
one side (for instance, always tightening the
left side, rather than tighening/loosening)
to make your wheel perfectly even in the
left-right dimension, but with the rim cen-
terline offset laterally to one side of the
hubs axial centerline.
For more precision in achieving this
alignment of centerlines, depending on how
your wheel is mounted for this operation,
you may be able to flip it around in your
wheelstand or take measurements on both
sides from positions exactly the same dis-
tance from the hubs centerline; a straight-
edge laid across the flanges might allow
this. Note, however, that all hubs are not
necessarily symmetrical in their axial
30 JANUARY 2006
G
MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS
How-To
Left: This truing stand from K & L Supply is a good value; it can be used as a balance stand as well. Notice the armature stored on the right-side sup-
port. Center: Here the armature is set to radial runout. Notice that the reading is taken from a horizontal surface on the rim, rather than at the edge of
the flange. This keeps variations in flange shape out of the equation. Right: The armature has been set to measure lateral runout. Notice that the read-
ing is taken at the base of the rim flange to minimize the effect of irregularities in the flanges shape.
Left: Here, a dial caliper is set to measure left-right runout. Center: During the truing process, each spoke is turned only a small amount at a time.
Many tiny adjustments get the job done more quickly than larger moves that upset the wheels shape elsewhere, or set up a cycle of overcorrections
that deforms the rim. Right: This simple yet effective truing setup required only a pair of clamps connected by an articulated stalk, about five bucks at a
local hardware store. One end grabs the rear workstand, the other end holds a piece of metal stock up next to the rim.

dimension to the chassis centerline (per-
haps to accommodate a sprocket or rotor
mount), although a correctly aligned rim
will be, which is really what matters. If you
have any doubts about your own wheels,
before dismounting them, find a way to
measure their left/right distances to fork
legs or swingarm sides in order to duplicate
the precise arrangement.
Once the wheel runs true laterally, you
should recheck the radial runout, and if you
make radial adjustments, you should
recheck the lateral runout once again. Even-
tually, youll have a nice round wheel with
most or all of its spokes holding some rea-
sonable amount of tension. At this point,
none of the spokes should be very tight.
However, check each and every one to
make sure none have any actual slack. If
you find one that does, gently tighten its
nipple until it is snug against the rim.
Gettin Tight, Truly
Okay, now youve got a wheel thats true,
but youve still got to tighten all its spokes
to make it strong. Doing so incorrectly
could very easily undo all your careful work
up to this point, so if your patience is wear-
ing thin, this is a good time to take a break.
Come back to the job when you can focus
comfortably for another stretch of time.
Choose a unique spot on the rim, such as
the valve stem hole, and decide on a direc-
tion to rotate the wheel. Call the first spoke
you come to number one, the next number
two, etc. until youve come to the end of
the repeating pattern of spokes in your
wheel. In the vast majority of cases, this
will be a total of four spokes, as mentioned
earlier, so thats what well use for our
example here. Tighten spoke number one a
small amount, such as a half-turn. Count
three spokes in your chosen direction of
rotation. Now tighten this spoke, which will
be spoke number four in the first series, the
same amount you tightened number one.
Now count three more spokes. This will be
spoke number three in the second series.
Tighten it the same amount you tightened
the others. Count three more spokes. This
will be spoke number two in the third series.
Tighten it the same amount. Keep doing
every third spoke until youve gone all the
way around the wheel three times. Keep
track of that place-keeper you chose at the
beginning, and advance your starting point
one spoke at the conclusion of each revolu-
tion. If you look closely, youll see that this
method distributes the impact of your
efforts as evenly as possible across all four
types of spokesleft, right, inner, and
outer. This minimizes the possibility of
distortion in any particular direction, aver-
aging out any errors that get produced along
the way.
Time to check runout again. Correct any
unacceptable deviations by the same meth-
ods outlined earlier, doing radial adjust-
ments first and then tweaking whatever
lateral problems still remain. When the
wheel is once again true in both dimensions,
perform another round of tightening using
the every-third-spoke method, but tighten-
ing less, perhaps a quarter-turn. Then
recheck runout and adjust as necessary.
Continue to repeat these steps with smaller
adjustments until all the spokes are truly
tight, with the wheel remaining true. How
tight? Unless youre using one of the trick
clicker spoke-torque-wrenches, its about
as tight as you can make it without strip-
ping the nipples. To make sure you have
equal torque on all the spokes, you can also
check your spokes the old-fashioned way
by ear. Just as a guitar or piano string pro-
duces a higher pitch when pulled tighter
(and struck), a spokes tension will be
revealed in the sound it makes when tapped
by another metallic object. Spokes with
inadequate tension will make a relatively
lower-pitched, short-lived note, while those
with adequate tension will create a rela-
tively higher-pitched ring of longer dura-
tion. Its not necessary for all the spokes to
emit exactly the same soundyoure not
tuning a piano. But they should all ping
instead of twang. Simply spin the wheel,
bounce your wrench off spokes and listen
for the shift in tone.
What if a correction needs to be made in
the direction of spokes that are already
plenty tight? Remember that each spoke
pulls against two sets of opposing spokes
those on the opposite side of the wheel
radially, and those on the opposite side of
the rim laterally. Corrections can be made
by tightening combined with loosening
the opposing spokes, keeping all spokes
involved within the optimal range
of tension.
With all spokes tight and your rim run-
ning true, your naked wheel is ready for
tire mounting, unless you notice any spokes
sticking out beyond the outside edge of
their nipples. Carefully grind any protrud-
ers down so they pose no threat to your del-
icate inner-tube. We recommend a double
strip of duct tape to replace the standard
rubber-band-like rim strap. Torn to width
and rubbed down tightly against the rim, it
can slow the release of air from a punc-
tured tube through spoke holes enough to
let you stop safely.
Spokes can loosen over time. Although
t he r e a r e c onf l i c t i ng opi ni ons
about whet her or not a correct l y
assembled/torqued wire wheel actually
settles in (soon requiring some touch-up
retorquing of the spokes), dont be sur-
prised if your brand-new bikes wheels fail
inspection right off the showroom floor.
Weve found some very loose spokes on
factory fresh machinery. Loose spokes
make it easier for other spokes to come
loose and because they no longer share the
load equally, increase the potential for
wheel failure; thats a bad thing. So check
spoke tension regularly, especially on off-
road machines. Inspection and correction
of runout is easiest to do at tire-change
timeby yourself if you change your own
tires or by shop personnel if you dont. You
may even discover that proper spoke ten-
sion and wheel true solves an elusive vibra-
tion or handling problem. But, it will
certainly help prevent wheel failure, just
as keeping your tires properly inflated
makes them better able to handle the
stresses to which theyre subjected.
Spoke wheels can be things of great
strength and beauty, but keeping them that
way requires occasional maintenance.
Proceeding slowly and carefully through
the procedures in this article will yield a
true wheel in the shortest possible time.
Rushing or attempting to resort to brute
force will make for a nightmare of oscil-
lating errors, and produce a disfigured
rim thats obvious from ten yards away.
MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS
G
JANUARY 2006 31
SOURCES
Buchanans Spoke and Rims(626)
969-4655; www.buchananspokes.com
Excelwww.rk-excel.co.jp/english
Fasst(562) 601-8119; www.FasstCo.com
Hallcrafts(940) 668-0771;
www.hallcrafts.com
K&L Supply(800) 727-6767;
www.klsupply.com
Landmark Manufacturing(800) 497-0312;
www.landmarkmfg.com
Pit Posse(866) 447-6773;
www.pitposse.com
Pro-Wheel(360) 435-8139;
www.prowheelracing.com
Rad Manufacturing(435) 574-2537;
www.radmfg.com
Rowe(805) 349-8243;
www.roweusa.com
Spoke Wheel Specialties(888) 334-4575