Where to True Wheels?

EuroIron · Post by **EuroIron** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:52 am

I'm at a loss as to why most motorcycle mechanics wouldn't want to simply true a wheel on a nicely kept bike

grab yourself one of those nice Rowe spoke wrenches and have a go at it.....

it's really not hard

a magic marker and a dial indicator is nice to have

even if it's one of those less than 20 buck chinese jobs

EuroIron · Post by **EuroIron** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:56 am

and the procedure is very simple

get it true radially first

then work out the side to side variation

don't beat yourself to death trying to get it perfect

I'm absolutely thrilled when I can build a wheel and get it to within 0.025" in one or both planes

and I think the industry standard is 0.060"

gladly stand corrected if that is wrong

Allan.Atherton · Post by **Allan.Atherton** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:44 am

... I have called around thinking that trueing the slight wobble in my front wheel would be a simple task... most don't mechanics don't want to touch the wheels... who trues wheels? Do I take off the wheels, and ship it to a shop?...

I had the same problem. I had to drive 2 hours each way to deliver a set of wheels to a builder, then repeat the drive to pick them up, and pay for the work. Shipping would be prohibitively expensive. After that I bought a $100 stand and a spoke wrench and built the next three wheels myself. Truing is mainly a matter of patience and keeping track of where the wheel is vs what you are doing to it. It is possible to lose your concentration and be turning a spoke the wrong way on the wrong side. Otherwise it is so simple that seems a shame to pay anyone.

See Lonnie Walker's wheel page... the truing part is toward the end:
http://agwalker.com/wheelbuilding.html

Here's my setup. I have a dial gauge but a pointer that can be positioned to rub on the rim is just as good. Even just eying the turning rim against a reference point across the room works.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roundel/sets/59592/

Note one detail. When the wheel is hanging on the axle in the stand, the weight of the wheel tends to spread the right and left tapered bearings, and this allows the wheel to sag down a tiny bit. This can throw off truing and balancing as the axle is not in the center of the wheel. To prevent the sag, the bearings must be restrained or held from the side. This can either be done by slipping a sleeve on the bike's axle and using the axle nut to hold it, or using a custom machined two-piece axle. I don't know how important this is, as I bet many people don't know or bother.

EuroIron · Post by **EuroIron** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:12 pm

nice links

and really, wheels aren't hard to true or build

growing up as kids, many of us learned on our bicycles using a little butterfly type spoke wrench

BMW wheels are very straight forward to lace compared to many patterns which can be extremely trying

the simple appearing front disc brake hub on mid seventies HD sporties and superglides is a real bear and some of the wheels having 60 to 100 spokes will flat out test the patience of even the the most mellow craftsman

get a good spoke wrench and the Rowe is the best one I've ever found

anyone that has a bike with spoked wheels needs one

you can simply true it while on the bike........ easy enough

yep......... your forks make an excellent truing stand

I just laced a Zuki 4LS hub to an 18 inch low shoulder alloy rim using custom made stainless spokes from Buchanons

was simple

my guess why most shops want no part of helping you is the liability issue, I can't say I blame them unless you are willing to buy new rim, hub, and spokes....... and then only if it is legal to actually waive liability where you live....... it isn't in my state

Allan.Atherton · Post by **Allan.Atherton** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:08 am

... your forks make an excellent truing stand... I wonder why I never heard of that or thought of that. Would have to screw down the damper real tight to lock for fork from moving. Why doesn't everybody do it? Are there any drawbacks? Is it frictionless enough to also balance the wheel?

schrader7032 · Post by **schrader7032** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:42 am

Is it frictionless enough to also balance the wheel?

Isn't there grease in the bearings? Seems the wheel wouldn't spin freely...

Kurt in S.A.

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:23 am

Is it frictionless enough to also balance the wheel?

Isn't there grease in the bearings? Seems the wheel wouldn't spin freely...

Kurt in S.A.Yes, but spinning freely is a requirement for balancing, not truing. I think EuroIron is right about being able to true a wheel on the forks, but nobody said that you could balance a wheel (and tire) that way.

That said, I've only trued a wheel using my wheel balancer. It was convenient, as I could have everything up on my workbench, and it provided a variety of possibly places to mount a pointer (I, too, used a dial indicator, but it's not necessary).

comet · Post by **comet** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:24 pm

EuroIron is correct, I have been truing wheels on the bike for years and yes .060 is close enough (thats 1/16 inch) I have seen new rims off that much. A dial indicator will drive you crazy, use a pointer clamped somewhere on the frame or fork. Be sure the wheels are centered and aligned front to rear. BMWs are easy...........Comet

comet · Post by **comet** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:31 pm

A wobble is more likely to be an incorrectly mounted tire. If one bead of a tire is deeper in the rim than the otherside you WILL get a wobble.......Comet

EuroIron · Post by **EuroIron** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:33 pm

I will never forget the very few wheels that luckily fell together with 10 thou runout in one or both planes

ignoring the seam of course

it just seldom happens even with todays stuff made with much better techniques

Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners