REPLACING A RIM

Lacing a rim can be accomplished by anyone, providing they have a degree of patience. Follow a pattern and proceed cautiously, success can be achieved. Rims come in aluminum and steel. They can be any size from 10” to 23”. The rules are the same for all sizes. The smaller the rim, the harder the job. The shorter the spokes, the harder the job.

First lay out all the parts and count them. 36 spoke rims are the most common. The one pictured below has 60. All rims use a series of 4 spokes (2 outside and 2 inside). The inside spokes are the first to put in. The inside spokes have to be inserted first. They may be different right and left so pay attention.
The spokes shown are for a 2003 Suzuki 1400 Intruder front wheel. There are four different spokes. The top 2 spokes with the 90 degree heads are for the rotor side of the hub. The top one is an outside and the second one is the inside. The bottom 2 spokes are slightly different from each other in length. The shorter of the two is the inside.

Look at the rim. The rim holes are grouped in fours. I have shown them with the nipples slightly screwed on. Put all the insides in before the outsides.

In the above picture I have put both in and out spokes in so I can locate the other side spokes. Because I had no reference point to work from I had to do this to locate the proper position for the rotor side. There are 60 holes in the rim and 30 face one direction and 30 face the other. Once you have one side in then you can locate the other side. This causes a double step because you can’t put the inside spokes through. This is shown in the picture below.

Now you have to remove the nipples from all the outside spokes so you can thread the inside rotor side spokes into the holes in the rim.
The inside rotor side spokes are in place. Now you can insert the outside spokes. Below is what it should look like.

At this point no spokes have been tightened. The nipples have been screwed on several turns just to place all the nipples in their position. Next mark the rim, with tape, in three places 120 degrees apart. These three points will be used to align the rims radial (up & down) runout. Radial runout is done first before the lateral (side to side).

Place the wheel in a truing stand. If you don’t have a stand and can’t borrow one, then you have to be creative. You can use the axle with hose clamps to keep the hub from sliding back and forth. At each of the three points only tighten the left inside and right inside nipples. Before cranking down on them, run each nipple onto the spoke the same distance. Snug is the word. Rotate the rim and using a fixed reference point, tighten the nipples equally, a little at a time until the rim spins true on its axis. It also should be mentioned at this point to use spoke wrenches. Finding a wrench to fit the nipples is a crap shoot. Avoid using an adjustable wrench as this usually results in boogered nipples.
Continue tightening the nipples a little at a time until the side to side (lateral) runout is true. If you tighten the spokes on the right it will pull the rim to the right and vice versa. Do not tighten any spoke a lot more than any other nipple. Go slow and do a little at a time. After the rim spins true, use the spoke wrench and tap each spoke in the middle. The spoke should ring a high note. If it sounds flat and doesn’t “ping” then that spoke is loose. Use your ears and listen. It is like tuning a string instrument. The goal is have each spoke ring the same high note. They make torque wrenches to tighten spokes. I have been lacing rims for almost 50 years and have never had any issues without using one

A YEAR GONE

Well its been eleven months since I last wrote anything. That may be a good thing...I'm not sure. A lot has happened in the last eleven months. I got older, my hair got grayer, and I didn't ride all that much. The economy got worse, the government is in a mess and Lady Gaga hasn't returned my calls, tweets or skypes. I don't know what a skype is, I saw it on TV and thought it sounded cool.


Let's look at my world one subject at a time. First roadracing! The world stage saw Ben Spies capture a world championship in World Superbike, go off to Moto GP, become rookie of the year, get promoted to Rossi's vacated ride at Yamaha and Rossi sign with Ducati. That's about all exciting in the world stage. Oh yeah, Jorge Lorenzo won the first of what will be many more championships. Moto 2 became a reality pushing 250s into vintageness. Is that a word? The AMA had races, Yamaha rider Josh Hayes proved to be the man to beat and won his first Superbike championship. Congrats, Josh! Martin Cardenas won the Daytona Sportbike class after being consistent and avoiding the on track skirmishes of Danny Eslick and Josh Herrin. It pays to be consistent. There was another class for 600s, but I really didn't follow it. The AMA struggles with management, but to their credit they seem to be on the right track. The economy has hit the racing world with a hammer fist. Many riders sat out this season and many teams went belly up. All the factories downsized to support teams and some factories went home for good. I see a light at the end on the tunnel, but I'm afraid that it could be a speeding train. Motocross was a vaguely burning light with Suzuki rider rookie Ryan Dungey taking the Supercross crown after Chad Reed and James Stewart both crashed out of the series. That series was also hard hit by the economy. On the club racing scene it was the same story of depleted fields of riders.


Lets talk about the economy and politicians. The two groups of politicians are now embroiled in a power struggle of epic proportions. Each side says it's view is right and how can the other side be so wrong. I'm glad I'm an independent. I have both conservative views and liberal views. I wish we had term limits for the Washington crowd. I wish the Washington crowd had a realistic view of the middle class. I woke up this morning and discovered that while I was having all kinds of fun growing up...I suddenly got old and on Social Security. I also found out that I was 13 trillion dollars in debt and I had no way to pay the debt. We used to make stuff here in America. Now it seems that everything is made in China or some place I can't spell. Now I know why my Levis don't fit. I read yesterday that our supreme leader may not have been born in the United States. It seems there is some discrepancy about a birth certificate. How did this happen? It doesn't really matter because I don't like his socialist views anyway. I could care less where he was born.
I'm not going to rant about Healthcare or Obamacare or whatever it is called. You know the story. Those of us who work for a living don't have any say, so whatever! This is depressing! Next!


The only bright light in my world is a series for washed up race bikes and racers called Historic Moto Gran Prix. It's a loosely based series for old race bikes and old riders. It is "Gentlemans" racing. Which means that we have fun. I got to race at Road Atlanta twice this year and was that fun. We share the track with HSR, which is a race organization for historic cars. They, the really rich guys, show up with cars that I can't afford to put tires on and proceed to flog the daylights out of and then load them, the cars, back into the 18 wheelers and ship them back to California or New York or wherever. It is great fun to hear retired Le Mans winners, Formula 1 steeds, turbo Porsche's, retired Winston Cup cars and some tiny open wheel cars (I have no idea what they are) fly around the track.

After the election I had to quit watching the talking heads on TV, I am amazed that there are so many correct opinions and so many wrong opinions. One network is always right and they claim that the other networks are always wrong...wait a minute...isn't that what the politicos say? At least I have Glee, Nikita, and occasionally there is a motorcycle race.

So whats in store for new year? Kawasaki's new ZX10R was yanked off the showroom floors and new owners had to return them to dealers for a full refund. Mums the word on whats wrong. I suspect a terminal flaw of major proportions. That's a safe bet. Word has it that to get a Moto 2 ride ya need $300,000 for payment...pass. Club riders will reap the rewards of decreased fields and easier trophies. Sour grapes on my part. The Daytona 200 will return to daytime format and CCS gets the boot from Daytona in March. The CCS Race of Champions was held, again, at Homestead with only minimal rider attendance. Long way to go for a wood plaque, especially if you live in Idaho. Maybe we could find a more centrally located place...just a thought. It is held in October so weather is a factor. I have an idea...how about we start the series in August and end it a year later in August. The FTR starts its series in September and ends in May to avoid the hot weather in Florida, so why couldn't we find another time frame to work?

The politicos passed the tax bill to help us avoid a tax increase for 2 years, but they left the inheritance tax. So if a family member passes and leaves you as the inheriting heir of their house, you have sell the house to pay the taxes, up to 40% or more. That will be great in a depressed market. If Grandpa leaves you the farm you have sell it to pay the taxes. There goes your livelihood and the farm.

Doom and gloom. At least I have my family.