How to Respoke Motorcycle Rims

Spoked wheels are incredibly strong, and are rebuildable when they inevitably go out-of-round.

Motorcycle wheels made with laced spokes rather than alloy can withstand an incredible amount of stress and abuse. This is because of the way weight and force are distributed through the entire wheel when riding, hitting a bump, or avoiding potholes. However, spoked wheels also have disadvantages, one being that the wheel, when abused too heavily, can go out-of-round, or out-of-true. The best way to fix a wobbly wheel is to rebuild it from scratch, and you can save time and money by doing this yourself at home and skipping the trip to your local shop.

Things You'll Need

• Zip ties
• Spoke wrench

Instructions

1. Remove the wheel from your motorcycle. The method by which this is achieved is slightly different with every bike, but most often one can simply loosen the axle nut, slide out the axle, and pull the wheel out of the fork.

2. Let the air out of the tire and remove the tire from the rim. Loosen the spokes of the wheel using a spoke wrench. Be sure the spoke wrench you have is the correct make and size for your bike, otherwise you may round off the spoke nipples, causing unnecessary stress and difficulty.

3. Set aside the rim and spoke nipples. Remove the spokes from the hub and inspect each, making sure that none of them are bent or broken. If they are, you should obtain replacement spokes before continuing with the project.

4. "Load" the hub with spokes on the non-drive side by inserting a spoke into every other spoke hole from the outside of the hub. You should be able to see the butt of each spoke from the outside of the hub, and should have an empty hole between each one.

5. Insert one of the spokes into a forward facing spoke hole on the rim, then secure it in place by threading a spoke nipple onto it. Attach the next spoke (to the right of the first) into the spoke hole three holes forward on the rim. Continue attaching spokes in this manner until every spoke in the hub is attached to the rim, and there are three empty spoke holes between each one.

6. Turn the wheel around so that the drive side of the wheel is facing you. Insert and attach a spoke into every other spoke hole on the hub, and every fourth spoke hole on the rim in the same way you did on the non-drive side.

7. Flip the wheel around so you can work on the non-drive side again. Insert a spoke into each of the empty spoke holes on the non-drive side of the hub from the inside. You should be able to see the bend in each spoke from the outside of the hub. Attach each of these spokes to a rear-facing spoke hole on the rim, so that they cross over the existing spokes. Be sure to once again skip three spoke holes between each spoke in the rim.

8. Turn the wheel around and attach the remaining spokes to the non-drive side of the hub from the inside. Attach these spokes to the remaining rear-facing spoke holes in the rim in the same manner you attached the second set of non-drive side spokes.

9. Reattach the wheel to the motorcycle. Put a zip-tie around each of the fork legs or swingarm legs so that they rub the very edge of the rim. Trim the zip ties so that they just barely skim the rim of the wheel, and are exactly the same length.

10. Spin the wheel slowly, and pay close attention to the zip-ties. If at any point the rim rubs one zip-tie and not the other, tighten the spoke opposite the rub. This will "pull" the rim closer to the other spoke. Continue spinning the wheel and tightening spokes until the wheel is able to spin a full revolution without touching either zip-tie more than the other.

11. Remove the wheel from the motorcycle and reinstall the tire. Air up the tire to the recommended pressure written on the sidewall, then reattach the wheel and take your motorcycle for a test ride.

References

• Honda Motorsports General Service Manual; Honda Motorsports; 2009