Honda-SOHC

SOHC.co.uk Forums => CB500/550 => Topic started by: totty on January 19, 2011, 02:32:53 PM

Title: rims and spokes
Post by: totty on January 19, 2011, 02:32:53 PM
Hi,

As I need to replace worn tyres I'm considering replacing the scabby (flaking chrome and surface rust) rims and tidying the hubs while I'm on. I've never laced a wheel but there are plenty of guides online.

I've shopped around and found RoyalSpare​s on ebay who have quoted the following prices:

The price of 19" wheel is GBP 29.99 and Mild steel is GBP 26.99
The price of 18" wheel in Mild Steel is GBP 36.00

They are allot cheaper than I've seen elsewhere, but I haven't yet convinced myself if that's a good thing or not! Has anyone ever hared of a cheap rim failing?
Stainless appeals, but they only do it in 19"

Also does anyone have specs for both the front and rear spokes? (length, thickness, head angles etc.)

Cheers

Allan
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Seamus on January 19, 2011, 07:48:55 PM
Not sure it helps, but I have bought CB750 rims from Dave Silver. You can also get spokes from them, but I used Hagons for stainless spokes. Laced the wheels myself. Read a lot and take your time. Get a decent spoke wrench as well.
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: UK Pete on January 19, 2011, 08:47:42 PM
Seamus i see you mention re spoking your own wheels, i have read up about it and it all seems achievable by the average person ,would you recommend it or would you say its better left to the professionals i have a few wheels to do but am not to sure what to do
Pete
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Seamus on January 19, 2011, 10:55:19 PM
Hi Pete

I think it is really just confidence. I did the front in my CB750 as I could not find anyone who could do the job in less than 4 weeks. Read a lot and had a go, that was a couple of years ago. Since then I have laced up a pair for another CB750, a pair for a KH250, and a few more besides.

You will need a decent stand that will hold the hub and then a method of measuring the radial and axial runout. I believe Honda use something like a 2mm tolerance on both, but it is possible to get a good bit better than that (more like 0.5mm). It is important to measure any rim offsets before you strip the wheel and take lots of pictures to show the spoke pattern (although a lot are the same). I also write the offset on both sides of the hub when I photograph them.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Seamus
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Bryanj on January 19, 2011, 11:15:11 PM
Pete, et al lacing just takes patience and for just 2 wheels no specialist kit at all, anybody who wants a talk through call me on 07795162623 Sunday to thursday inclusive after 8pm. Make it from a UK landline and i will call back! (NOT till after this next weekend as I'm away
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: AshimotoK0 on January 20, 2011, 03:46:02 PM
Did I read somewhere Bryan that you said the CB750 wheels have a zero offset?

Cheers

AshD
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Seamus on January 20, 2011, 04:34:41 PM
Do you mean that the rims are central to the hubs? as the hubs are wider than the rims.

Hondaman's book has some info on this as some CB750 front wheels had a small offset which made the wheels slightly out of alignment.

The last CB 750 front had an offset of 7mm on one side and 4mm on the other (before dismantling). I think the rear was central, but would not swear to that
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Bryanj on January 20, 2011, 06:44:41 PM
I have never noticed an offset to the hub on the 500 and the 750 wheel I was always of the impression was exactly the same except for rim width.

I have always used either genuine spokes or DS kits and if there was that much of an offset i would have expected 4 different spokes, not just the two.

Whwn i have time i will get round to writing a how to, or rather how I do, for the tricks and tips section
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: matthewmosse on January 20, 2011, 09:26:30 PM
I just put the spokes in and finger tight / even all round when I rebuilt mine, copying a spare wheel, then trued up as well as I could using a swing arm in a vice as a stand or jig and a bit of wire to check roundness etc. I reused the original spokes etc as I was re lining a rear hub where the drum had cracked and my lathe will only take a bare hub. I took the oppertunity to replace the rim with a good used one. I'd be a bit more careful measuring if I wasn't using spokes I knew were right from the off
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Seamus on January 21, 2011, 01:41:47 PM
This article any use??
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: basketcase on February 15, 2011, 01:58:37 PM
Hi all, I bought my rims from David Silvers and a local guy (local to Staffordshire) laced them using stainless spokes all in for
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: z1100r on February 15, 2011, 02:23:01 PM

 I forgot I was a member here....!!!
 
Literally 1 hour ago I rang Central wheel for a quote on rebuilding both my wheels. I wanted Stainless rims and stainless spokes on my brand new hubs.
 
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: SteveD CB500K0 on February 15, 2011, 02:25:51 PM
Don't bin them.

One of the guys on here had my old Rickman rack for a rechrome and those old black Rickman boxes must be collectors items!
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: totty on February 15, 2011, 03:50:21 PM
I've decided to just replace the tyres for now, the rims don't look good but they are solid and straight - pretty much like the rest of the bike.
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: kaceyk2 on February 15, 2011, 05:30:58 PM
Having read loads on lacing, especially articles entitled "you CAN do this"  I invested in a dial gauge. I then bought both rims from D.silver and also new stock spokes for my cb750 K2.  I read the articles carefully and kept them to hand for the building event...my first on lacing wheels.  At the very last moment I caught a television program where a chopper wheel was being laced and I am glad I did... what they did was to place ALL the spokes in the hub first, and then to gently spiral them out so as the hub and all the spokes could be just dropped inside the rim first. Then its just a matter of moving them back one at a time untill they are in the right place and you have all the nipples fitted... none of my articles had mentioned this method, but I can totally recomend it, it does seem to have the advantage of a "no struggle " approach to the last few spokes should you have fitted them one at a time into hub and rim...
D.silvers rims and spokes in  my k2 hubs fitted like a dream and soon I got something that was coming together really well. After tightening each spoke a quarter turn at a time, I got the wheels down to .5mm run out and true, which I was very proud of for my first attempt.... BUT, ( oh no, fear and paranoia crept in especially when thinking of 100mph!) I was very aware , (maybe too much) of not "overtightening" so much so. that I am not certain of just how much to tighten, and none of the articles said exactly how tight, tight should be... so allthough my wheels look good and are true....can I trust them? well I would like an expert to look at them first!!! (before I ride!) This is probably more of a self confidence issue, as I firmly believed the job would be harder than it was...but wheels are pretty damn important! I had an old f1 wheel and I have "dinged" my new spokes with a plastic handle of a screwdriver and "dinged" the f1 spokes and they sound the same pitch... But the f1 wheel is old...so if anyone has a trustworthy wheel they have rebuilt and they could record the sound of "dinging" I could compare it to mine. I am a musician and have near perfect pitch, this is the only way I can think of to compare correct tightness, unless I am missing something. ( which I believe I am or I would trust me wheels!) Thanks...
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: matthewmosse on February 15, 2011, 05:33:17 PM
Nice looking bike, the topbox looks handy, think I have one like that still around, was dead handy when I had a decent sized solo but with my only servicable machines being 125's or sidecars  mine is on a shelf
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: Yoshi823 on February 16, 2011, 09:52:16 PM
I relaced my front wheel on the Honda CB125s back in 1975 because the front spokes were really rusty & in danger of failing the next MoT if I hadn't done anything about them. I replaced them one at a time & checked for any rim distortion as I tightened them up. I worked my way around the wheel in the same way for each so that I could not go wrong with the pattern. Once they were all done I remounted the front wheel, then spun it to check for straightness. It only needed a tweak here & there and it was perfect for the next 45,000 miles that I did on the bike before I sold it to a friend. He did another 15,000 miles before he sold it on, but at no time was there any problem with the wheel. Yes it is an art to relacing a bare wheel, but not impossible for the home mechanic.

In later years I needed to have the spokes upgraded on my XR400R. The standard ones were quite thin & I wanted some heavier duty stainless ones fitted. So I took the rear rim & cleaned hub up to Hagons when they used to be in Leytonstone. The wheel came back to me perfectly done. About a month later (after they'd moved up to their present location in Essex) I took the front rim & cleaned front hub up to their new factory for the same treatment. With the rear wheel i'd checked the tightness of the spokes by giving them all a tap with a small screwdriver while I was standing at the counter when picking it up after the job had been done. But when I did the same thing with the front wheel that had been done on the second visit, some of the spokes were distinctly loose. When I mentioned this in the public area, I felt that the people who all worked there took it really badly that someone was complaining that a job had been done badly by them. But I stood my ground & said that if the bike was presented for MoT with spokes this loose then the tester would fail the machine. When Martin Hagon puffed up his chest & proclaimed 'what would you know...are you a wheel builder?' I was apalled by this verbal tirade. i said that I was not happy with it & that if they were not prepared to get it done properly then a visit to Trading Standards would occur. About a week later I picked up my front wheel. I was far happier with it this time, but the people who worked in the place were very silent when I went back in there. I duly paid up what I had been asked to pay the first time, but as I left the premises I said that I would not ever return & that I could never bring myself to recommend other people to use their services. I do know that other people have used Hagons in the past & may well have had good service from them, but this was just my bad experience of them.
Title: Re: rims and spokes
Post by: kaceyk2 on February 22, 2011, 12:01:37 AM
jees Yoshi, if we would have behaved like that in the motorbike shop i worked in we would have been sacked on the spot....OR if we would have presented any customer with a job not done right....what the hell is wrong with folk.. "are you an mot inspector" Good god the cheeky bas**** thats just unforgivable...
It might even have been worth fitting your wheel taking it for the MOT and when it failed on that wheel, going back to the shop on a busy afternoon and shouting, "hey dudes, the wheel you built for me failed the mot!"  that  would have shown them....
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal