Spoke wheel relacing

Hey fellas... I have a question that I hope you can answer. I have a 78 KZ650 and I want to have my wheels relaced. Do any of you know a company that will relace with a 17 inch rim? I am building a "modern/retro" street fighter and I want to get a 17 inch wheel for the look and availablility of tires but I like and want to stay with spokes. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

with supermoto getting going strong a lot of spoke rims are running 17" tires,,,so if you look in the back of a cycle news weekly magazine/newspaper ,it's one em at least,,i've seen adds for companies doing whatever rim size or width you want the add i read said "just send us your hubs" good luck..peace

buchanans

bucannan's wheel in california i'm not sure of there web site but it should be easy to find if any body can help it will be those guy's they have been in the game for along time i have bought more than a few wheel kits from them and they have always been good to me.ask sandy about the different kinds of spokes that avaliable. also im sure there is more than a few guy's on this forum that have used there services.

Yes,I got in touch with Buchanans a couple years back,asking if they would send me a variety-pack of some spokes...and they did!

Very nice spokes indeed,and I'll be doing some business with them in the future.

www.buchananspokes.net/

i'll put a plug in for Buchanans. i had them do a honda xr600 supermoto rim for me last year. great company to do business with and super fast turnaround time.

I really appreciate the input!!!! I have sent them an email and am awaiting thier reply. For those that have used Buchanans, hom much did they charge you? When I get the wheels finished I will post up my build pics. From stock to street fighter.

Buchanans fixed me up w/ spokes & sun rims for a cb750 & gs1100. spokes @ $ 70.00 a set, rims (anodized alum.) @ $125.00 ea. (tho its' been years ago) Woody's Wheel Works in Denver Is also top notch. Luck,G. PS You might do a little research regarding 17" tire sizes regarding widths., w/stock forks & swingarms, My 78 kz650, & 77kz1000 clearances are snug w/110 front and 140 rear. Knowing what's avail. and what you can fit will help determine wm size, I'm sure whomever you chose can advise you.G

I looked at their site and liked what I saw but I can't afford it. So I figured I could learn to relace my wheels myself. I have never done it before so now is the time. I'll just take pics before I take it apart and write down how the spokes go. All I have to do when I get it back together is take it in and have it trued.

I have relaced wire rims a couple times. The problem is, the nuts on the spokes will be rusted and you will end up cutting off a number of spokes. Make sure you get all new spoke nuts. There will normally be two lengths of the spokes. An inner spoke and outer. Put them all on and snug them. It would be great if a small torque wrench was available. There are such torque wrenchs for putting on cables for communications systems but I don't know of one for spoke work but there may be. They box wrenches where there is a torque body and you tighten till the wrench (which pivots a tiny bit) clicks. Anyway, snug up all the spokes. Once snugged, build a truing platform which is essentially an axle (riding on some bearings so that there is little resistance when turning). The axle will allow the wheel to spin/turn vertically and make sure you leave enough room under the uprights to later mount the rim with the tire installed for balancing. But anyway, you can rig up a run-out gauge which is essentially something that sits VERY close to the edge of the rim without touching it. You can lightly spin the rim and it will stop when it contacts the run out gauge. Tighten the spokes opposite a bit. Keep this up till the rim no long hits the run out gauge. You can first set up the rim by doing tightening then tapping each spoke to listen to the tone it gives. If the spoke makes a thud, it is loose. Get a spoke to give off a DING type tone and then try and make all the rest give off exactly the same tone and this rim will be pretty true THEN use the run out gauge stand I suggested.