Wheel Lace and True - How Difficult? Have it done?

Agreed that I don't want to do the first ones myself, so I have a shop nearby that does it for $80 per wheel. I also ordered my stuff from Buchanan's as they have the drilling rig for custom wheels. I got my spokes from Drag Specialties since I am using machined Harley Davidson hubs. So I am going to take all the parts once they arrive, and after powder coating and watch the shop lace and true them. This way, I can do them my self the next time. Watch one, Do One, Teach One....

FWIW....

Beautiful hub BTW!

Cory

I had just about made up my mind to do it myself but Buchanan's wouldn't even get back to me to order the spokes. So I checked around some more and found an unbelievable shop about an hour away that will lace and true for $75! They are also a Buchanan dealer so the spokes are ordered! :woohoo:

Check this place out....can't wait to go there and see all these classic Kaws!!

www.johnnysvintagemotorcycle.com/

Good find, I wish I had someone that close besides a twin mechanic and a Suzuki dealer.

They're good guys though, very helpful

OK, got my rim back and now I have some questions. :S

This wheel will eventually go into an aftermarket swingarm, but I wanted to mount it into a stock arm to make sure I had the correct spacers to start with. I noticed that the distance from the edge of the tire to the swingarm is way off when the rear axle is lined up with the pivot axle. Our stock wheel / spacer set up should center the wheel in the swingarm, no? I don't get it. Is it possible that the wheel was laced incorrectly so the hub is too far to one side or the other??

In order to get the tire to siwngarm gap even on both sides, the chain adjusters need to be different by 3/8"....that's an eternity. Any thoughts?? Thanks

Sometimes, those who lace wheels, will lace them offset to the right so the sprocket will line up easier with the c/s sprocket. I have a wheel sitting here laced up that way. It's either that or you have to machine the wheel hub and/or use a spacer to move the sprocket out enough to line everything up. Of course this has the wheel not centered in the swingarm though. Just a different way to get the final end result.

It seems like I have a lot of clearance from the chain to the rim (actually measured from a straight edge across the sprocket to the rim). Anybody know what the stock measurement should be? Or does anybody have measurements from either side of the hub to the edge of the rim or rotor?

Having a wider rear rim and tire, I would expect possible chain clearance issues....mine has so much clearance that it seems like the rim is offset to the right, as mentioned above by racer54. How can I confirm that? Or to put it a different way, how can I measure hub placement in relation to the rim and compare it to stock?

Using the straight edge across the sprocket can you measure the distance to the left side of the rim, right side of the rim, and center of the hub? If you can do that you should be able to determine if the hub is centered or, if not, what the offset is. Ed

650ed wrote: Using the straight edge across the sprocket can you measure the distance to the left side of the rim, right side of the rim, and center of the hub? If you can do that you should be able to determine if the hub is centered or, if not, what the offset is. Ed

Yes, I should be able to do that and will report what I find. What I still need to know though is whether or not the rim SHOULD be centered over the hub and whether or not the hub and/or rim SHOULD be centered in the stock swingarm. Is everything set up perfectly centered from the factory?

mount it in a bike and check it with the front tire centerline.

or what them other guys was sayin ...

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: mount it in a bike and check it with the front tire centerline.

or what them other guys was sayin ...

leon

Yeah, I figure I can set it up from scratch but I was hoping for a short cut. What I wanted to do was make sure everything was OK on the stock swingarm using stock spacers and then move it to the wider arm. At that point I would only have to put an equally sized spacer on each end of the axle...nice and simple! Not that I've opened up this whole can of worms I have to find out if it was laced "correctly".

79MKII wrote:

650ed wrote: Using the straight edge across the sprocket can you measure the distance to the left side of the rim, right side of the rim, and center of the hub? If you can do that you should be able to determine if the hub is centered or, if not, what the offset is. Ed

Yes, I should be able to do that and will report what I find. What I still need to know though is whether or not the rim SHOULD be centered over the hub and whether or not the hub and/or rim SHOULD be centered in the stock swingarm. Is everything set up perfectly centered from the factory?

Mine has alloy wheels, so I can't be of much help with that question. Hopefully someone with a stock spoked rear wheel will chime in. Ed

New models on the showroom floor with fat rear tires often do not have the center line of the rear tire tracking directly over the center line of the front tire when the bike is moving forward straight ahead.

The wheels should be in parallel planes but not necessarily in the same parallel plane.

However, the sprockets should be in the identical parallel plane.





Good Fortune!