Spoke Wheel Lacing Tutorial

[Bones]

Very well written and concise tutorial.

[Rob S.]

Where were you in '75?

Certainly could've used this in 1975. Bent the rear rim of my '71 CB350, bought a new one and dove in. Very nearly drowned!

Yet I got it running (rolling?) and rode it for another four years.

[Z32650S]

Part 2 of the tutorial has been completed. A friend of mine, sometime GSR contributor Groove Daddy, has created a website and asked if he could post it there first and then link to it here. I'm not clear on the reasons but it has something to do with search engine rankings so I'm going to help him out. I will post a link as soon as he has posted the tutorial.

Thanks,
Joe

Thanks for the write-up Joe, it's much appreciated. Lacing a wheel is one of those black arts that amateur garage mechanics/builders, like me, find daunting.

Looking forward to Part 2, please post when you can!

Admins, any interest is making this a sticky? FWIW - It has my vote.

[Joe Nardy]

Wheel Lacing Part 2 Tutorial - Offset and Runout now posted!

As promised, here is the second part of the spoke wheel lacing tutorial. Part 2 covers how to set offset along with radial and lateral runout. If you prefer to get all the information from the same place, Part 1 is also available on the same website.

By the way, you can click on the pics in the tutorials to see larger pics.

Enjoy and feel free to provide any feedback.

Thanks,
Joe

[Joe Nardy]

Sorry to be so honest but asked my spoke guy about that tutorial and how long it take him from scratch with just a hub and rim and this was his reply....

Talk about over complicating a process! I suspect I could probably make a set of spokes and have the wheel assembled and trued in under forty five minutes .... without really trying too hard!

Mite be a tad harsh as for him it comes natural.

Sharpy,

DUH! I hope your 'spoke guy' who has decades of experience can lace and true wheels very quickly. I can too, probably not as quickly as him but much quicker than my first couple attempts. Obviously, he is not the intended audience for the tutorials. The intended audience is people who like to learn and do their own work, not go scurrying off to their 'spoke guy' or 'tire guy' or 'engine guy' whenever they need something done. While there is nothing difficult about the process, many people do not understand the basic concepts and do not have access to someone who can explain it to them. It is also much more difficult to express concepts and procedures in writing as opposed to in person. I could explain these to a novice in person with a spoke wheel in front of me much quicker than in the tutorial. This is the reason I intentionally over SIMPLIFIED (not 'over complicated') the concepts and process.

I would be curious to know how your 'spoke guy's' first build went and how he learned the process. I would bet he did not build his first set in 45 minutes.

I do not profess to be a spoke wheel expert and have built just a few sets. I spent considerable time researching and learning on my own by trial and error. I wrote the tutorials to guide other beginners through the process so they might benefit from my experience.

By all means feel free to have your spoke guy write a tutorial, or write one yourself, and post it. If the general consensus is that whatever you or he come up with is better than mine I will remove them and delete them forever.

Joe

[posplayr]

Hey, Joe . I know it can be a bit irritating to see such comments. Please don't let it get you too upset. I'm sure it took quite a while to just organize your thoughts just to figure the best means of communicating the subject to say nothing of the time you spent to figure it out. Rest assured, you are probably more qualified as an expert amateur wheel builder to explain the building process better than many 45 year professional builders.

And Sharpy, without something specific to contribute (as you had done earlier) it is probably best not to type anything. The last comments you made did not add any value.

[sharpy]

Ok sorry and my apologies, ill delete that post. sorry if it upset u

[azr]

Again, thanks a TON for putting this up Joe, sure appreciated 'part 2'!!! I bought a dial indicator 2 yrs ago and 'attempted' to true my front wheel. I think I made it worse I'm eager to give it another attempt. Although I may just order some new spoke now. Thanks again, great tutorials.

[Groove_Daddy]

I just want to chime in here and say thanks to Joe for the great site content!

[posplayr]

Ok sorry and my apologies, ill delete that post. sorry if it upset u

Thanks, by the way I think those wheels of yours are great. If I was doing a new build, I would definitely be looking at those as a foundation for the build. The ability to change rear wheel offset without a counter sprocket adds a whole other dimension to doing wider wheel/tire conversions.

I have a little experience with truing bicycle wheels and I think I have laced up a set in the past (IIRC). But this intro guide of Joe's certainly helps.

[therefinery]

Joe,

just wanted to thank you for the write up on this two part tutorial. Not to mention all of the additional information you have provided. I think I may have been the catalyst for these lacing tutorials. They have been an amazing help. Particularly for someone like me who is 'all thumbs' when it comes to anything mechanical. Without input from guys like Joe, yard builders like myself would have nothing but dismantlled bikes, buckets full of parts, and unanswered questions. Thanks again.

[jabcb]

Just laced my first set of wheels using this tutorial.
Thanks for the post — I was surprised at how easy this tutorial made it.


The wheels are for our Suzuki GT250 cafe project.
The two stroke forum didn’t have a good lacing tutorial, so I added a link to this topic on that forum.

[Joe Nardy]

Just laced my first set of wheels using this tutorial.
Thanks for the post — I was surprised at how easy this tutorial made it.


The wheels are for our Suzuki GT250 cafe project.
The two stroke forum didn’t have a good lacing tutorial, so I added a link to this topic on that forum.

I'm glad the tutorial helped you out and made your project easier. By all means share the tutorial, it was created to help others.

Joe

[csgoh]

Hi I have tried looking but to no avail. Anyone have experience using spokes for other bikes as in more modern ones cause over where I am, it's difficult to find GS spokes and shipping from the states cost 2.5 kidneys. If you have the exact measurements, I can try to find similar spokes as well.
GS550 19" front and 18" rear wheels.