Lacing Wheels

[Kerick]

Hey guys I had my first problem with my bike and it has a cracked rim. I bought a yz250f excel rim for cheap on ebay its like new. Excels website said itd fit. So I was wondering how hard it would be to take my spokes out of my rim and put them in my new rim. I have no experience with this but have the time to do it. I dont want to pay 75$ for a lace and true at the local shop. All help appreciated...

[oldskool83]

1st off if you never did it its gonna take you about 3 hours to lace a new wheel, 1 hour to unlace it.

best way i learned to take a wheel and take a rim and start swaping spokes over. only do every other spoke 1st, flip it ad do the other side, then go back and fill in the missing ones....now after your waist 1/2 a day learning you'll be saying $75 the shop wants is cheap.

time to go jump in! i learned when i was 14, laced a few wheels since then.

[dirtjunkie85]

Truing and lacing a wheel sucks that why the shops charge so gosh dang much for it. But, If you've got the time go for it! you've gotta learn sometime right??? i would spend the cash on new spokes though. I'm not a fan of the Old mixed with New idea. just make it a whole new wheel spokes don't cost much.
here are some spokes and a tool that will help immensely with the project again and again.
Wheel Truing Stand
Motorcycle Spokes

[Vealmonkey]

What I always do is, first you need a grease pencil. Secondly make sure you have a spoke wrench and start loosening up all the nipple on every spoke. Then you lay the rims side by side and make sure you have the innertube schrader valve holes lined up the same on both rims. Next you number the inner hub spoke by spoke. Then you trace each numbered spoke and put the same number with each spoke on the rim. Then you go to your old rim, flip it over and letter the spokes on the other side of the inner hub and do the same by lettering each spoke on the old out rim and you letter your new rim just the same. Once you have done this you can remove all the nipples, leaving the spokes in the hub and you manuever the hub around until all the spokes are free and clear of the old rim and you place the hub and spokes in the middle of the new rim and you start inserting your spokes until you have all the spokes in their proper holes. Once you do that then start putting the nipples on each spoke and making them finger tight. Now hopefully you have a truing stand or have made one from and old rear swingarm. Put your rim in the truing stand and start to tighten your spokes little by little and one by one spinning your rim around until you have all your nipples fairly snug. Now you want to use your truing needle and see how true your rim runs. And now is when you will start the truing process by either tightening or loosening some spokes until you get your rim to run true. It's time consuming. $75 is a bargain as long as you trust your shop to do this kind of job. Your safety is depending upon these people to do the right job. It's a bit of a chore if you don't do it all the time. And you may have 4 different spokes on a wheel, so it can be challenging. Have fun whatever you decide to do. Not a job for the impatient. Best of luck.