Part 1: The Pattern
Rebuilding a spoked motorbike wheel, this involves lacing the spoke pattern and for Part 2, truing the wheel.
This particular pattern belongs to the Royal Enfield Bullet.
Before starting it’s a good idea to take photos of the wheel, recording need to know info for later, such as pattern and layout of the spokes.
Rebuilding a spoked motorbike wheel, this involves lacing the spoke pattern and for Part 2, truing the wheel.
This particular pattern belongs to the Royal Enfield Bullet.
Before starting it’s a good idea to take photos of the wheel, recording need to know info for later, such as pattern and layout of the spokes.
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Signing UpStep 1: Preamble and Layout
This is a first for me both tackling a wheel rebuild as well as working on a motorbike so I stand to correction in respect of my terminology/procedures.
Here I’m going to tackle the front wheel, bearing in mind that there are 2 different types of spokes in the front wheel. There is the slightly longer 144mm one, and a shorter one 142mm. In addition to the length of the spoke, the 2 types also have different amounts of bend in the hook, which can be seen more clearly in the second pic.
The reason for this is that the wheel must be centered between the front forks, swingarm in the case of the rear wheel, to maintain correct balance and symmetry. In order to achieve this, the rim must be slightly offset with regard to the hub to achieve the correct wheel symmetry. In this case it’s offset to the LHS (left) when looking at the bike from the front, which I call the speedo gear drive side. This means that the shorter spokes will be on that side and the longer ones on the RHS (right) or brake linkage side.
Here I’m going to tackle the front wheel, bearing in mind that there are 2 different types of spokes in the front wheel. There is the slightly longer 144mm one, and a shorter one 142mm. In addition to the length of the spoke, the 2 types also have different amounts of bend in the hook, which can be seen more clearly in the second pic.
The reason for this is that the wheel must be centered between the front forks, swingarm in the case of the rear wheel, to maintain correct balance and symmetry. In order to achieve this, the rim must be slightly offset with regard to the hub to achieve the correct wheel symmetry. In this case it’s offset to the LHS (left) when looking at the bike from the front, which I call the speedo gear drive side. This means that the shorter spokes will be on that side and the longer ones on the RHS (right) or brake linkage side.
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I found your instructions when I was looking for advice on tightening the spokes and keeping the back wheel 'true' on one of my Royal Enfie I think the extra weight of a sidecar has stretched the original spokes a bit.
Your instructions are clear; concise; and comprehensive (well done!) but there is one small flaw: you mention correctly that there are 2x types of spokes with slightly different lengths and bend angles, however, you suggest that the shorter spokes go on the speedo drive side and the longer ones go on the brake plate side due to the offset. This is not correct - the longer spokes (with tighter bend) should be laced from the inside of the hub flange, while the shorter spokes (lesser bend) are laced from the outside of the hub flange (leaving their button heads visible on the outside of the hub). On a related point, I'm not sure that there is an offset between hub and rim, as I think the speedo drive / brake plate / spacers keep the whole plot in line. Both my Bullets have the original wheels intact, so I'll measure the lateral rim to hub distance to see if its different on each side...
Finally, thanks again for the excellent wheelbuilding and trueing instructions: I'm happier to tackle the job now…in the knowledge that I can ask a pro to fix it if I get it badly wrong!
Joe
Of course I could be wrong and your explanation seems quite logical.
Alas I didnt measure my wheels before dismantling them, Im wiser now. :)
Once these interior spokes are laced complete with nuts applied (loosely) and set you can then do the interior ones without any interference very quickly - this will save you a ton of time, cursing and other antics!!