Jet_Tech
01-22-2007, 03:34 AM
Ok guys, heres the 411 on rims. On a recent trip to Florida on my GY-5, thats right...from Louisiana to Florida in 14 hours on 3 tanks, but thats another topic, I visited with my brother inlaw who is big in the MX circuit there. He let me take home some valuable information to pass on to you guys. If you ever thought about replacing your factory rims, dont fret after market rims will fit our bike as long as 3 things matches.
1. Rim width...this measurement is taken from the edge of the bead seat. you may go wider but you might want to check for tire clearance.
2. Diameter...we all know our rim size if not look on your tires. My fronts are 21" and rear is 18". Same as width you may go up or down a size but make sure you have clearance for the tires.
3. This is the most important....spoke count. Be sure you have the same spoke count as the factory rims. You will be using your factory hubs and if the count on the new rim is different, you will not be able to lace the hub.
He and I experimented fitting 1 after market rim and 3 factory rims from Honda, Yamaha, and a old 21" from a Harley Davidson on my GY and all of them fit as though they were factory. Before I spill the beans be sure you are mechanically incline to proceed and if not pay $90 bucks to have it done at your local bike shop.
Before you start be sure to have the following tools and items on hand...A digital camera, a bottle of correction fluid (liquid paper), a spoke wrench and a T handle inch pound torque wrench with flat blade adapter, anti sieze, grease, brake cleaner, new spokes and barrels, and what ever else you are replacing. This would be a good time to replace or repack the wheel bearings and replace the seals. When you purchase your spokes you could bring in your rims (factory and replacements and have them match the spokes) while you are there you can find out the torque value of the spokes.
First - remove your old rim and stand it vertical in front of you, you should be looking at the tire. If you look to the inside of the rim you will notice a pattern, spokes to the right and spokes to the left, you will also see on the hub what we call cleat side and spoke side they alternate in pattern (cleat then spoke then cleat...ect). Now lay the rim down flat and pick a reference point on the hub, with the correction fluid put a dot on the hub above the cleat of the spoke (the ball end that you can see on the outside of the hub), do this on both side that way you know which holes recieves the cleat side out when you are ready to relace. Now take out you digital camera and take numerous detailed photos of each side, this will be your template. Now take the replacement rim and place it on top of the factory rim and align the spoke holes, again with the correction fluid mark only the holes which will receive the cleat side out spokes, once this is done double check and disassemble the rim.
second- By now you should have the hub completely removed from the old rim ready for installation on the new rim. Start by lacing the new spokes into the hub, start with cleat side out and work all the way around the hub until you have both sides laced up. Remember those pics you took? This is when your going to use them. Insert the spokes using the same pattern that is in the pics use the dots on the rim and hub to help you. If your putting a spoke side out spoke into a dotted hole than you messed up. Take your time and have patients. Once all the spokes are threaded through the rim double check and recheck, you dont want to be on your last barrel and have to start over! As you thread each spoke screw a barrel on the ends just enough to hold them in place. After all the spokes are in and barrels installed hand tighten each one just to SNUG them down but still loose. The forks of your bike should be off the ground and high enough for clearance, your going to use your forks as a truing jig. Install the rim and spin it, you should see horizontal and vertical wobble, run the barrels down but do not over tighten and spin it again, We are going to correct the horizontal true. As you spin the rim you will see a gradual high wobble, at that point loosen the spokes at that point and tighten the spokes on the opposite side, this should be a gradual sequence and none of the spokes should be bottomed out if they are than loosen and start over. It took me 4 tries to do the first one and after I got the hang of it I did the second rim on the first try. Its not hard just takes patients. Once you got it now your ready for the vertical true. Spin the wheel. Rest your thumb against the frame or brake so that you can see how wobbly the wheel is. Find the worst wobble and stop the wheel holding the wobble next to your thumb because that’s the part of the wheel you’re going to work on first. Note that there are spokes that originate on the right and left side of the hub. This is important. Never make an adjustment to a barrel until you are sure which side of the wheel the barrel/spoke is on. Adjustments are made by loosening and tightening barrels in the area of the wobble. Follow these rules: To move the rim to the right, loosen the barrels (at the wobble) on the left side of the rim and tighten the barrels on the right side of the rim. Vice versa to move the rim to the left. Always turn the barrels in quarter- to half-turn increments, then spin the wheel and see how you did. Then repeat. Follow these rules and remove the wobbles until the wheel spins past your thumb with no significant wobbles. You should now have a reasonably straight wheel. It’s also important to keep the horizontal true. Double check this again, spin the wheel again and look for high spots or dips (low spots) sighting from the side. Remove low spots first by slightly loosening spokes in the area. Then slightly tighten the spokes at the high spots. Gradually, the wheel will get round. You’ll then need to check side-to-side straightness one more time. To finish the rim, you need to tighten all the spokes to the torque point where they won’t loosen. It’s called tensioning the wheel. Start at the valve hole and torque every spoke. As long as you followed the directs above, the wheel will remain true and round. The goal is to end up with the rim exactly centered in the frame. After each round of tensioning, go around the wheel grabbing parallel pairs of spokes and squeeze them gently to stress relieve the spokes, seat them in the hub and rim and unwind any spokes that got twisted. Repeat the rounds of tensioning until when you grab the spokes, they feel as tight as the spokes on your rear wheel. Install the tire and tube and you’re ready to roll. I know this is alot of information but trust me the first one I did under supervision took 2 hours the next one I did by myself took 45 minutes. I think its worth doing yourself because you gain experience plus theres nothing like standing back and feeling proud about a job well done. You can take the 90 bucks the shop would have charged you and put that in your tank for weeks of joy riding.
1. Rim width...this measurement is taken from the edge of the bead seat. you may go wider but you might want to check for tire clearance.
2. Diameter...we all know our rim size if not look on your tires. My fronts are 21" and rear is 18". Same as width you may go up or down a size but make sure you have clearance for the tires.
3. This is the most important....spoke count. Be sure you have the same spoke count as the factory rims. You will be using your factory hubs and if the count on the new rim is different, you will not be able to lace the hub.
He and I experimented fitting 1 after market rim and 3 factory rims from Honda, Yamaha, and a old 21" from a Harley Davidson on my GY and all of them fit as though they were factory. Before I spill the beans be sure you are mechanically incline to proceed and if not pay $90 bucks to have it done at your local bike shop.
Before you start be sure to have the following tools and items on hand...A digital camera, a bottle of correction fluid (liquid paper), a spoke wrench and a T handle inch pound torque wrench with flat blade adapter, anti sieze, grease, brake cleaner, new spokes and barrels, and what ever else you are replacing. This would be a good time to replace or repack the wheel bearings and replace the seals. When you purchase your spokes you could bring in your rims (factory and replacements and have them match the spokes) while you are there you can find out the torque value of the spokes.
First - remove your old rim and stand it vertical in front of you, you should be looking at the tire. If you look to the inside of the rim you will notice a pattern, spokes to the right and spokes to the left, you will also see on the hub what we call cleat side and spoke side they alternate in pattern (cleat then spoke then cleat...ect). Now lay the rim down flat and pick a reference point on the hub, with the correction fluid put a dot on the hub above the cleat of the spoke (the ball end that you can see on the outside of the hub), do this on both side that way you know which holes recieves the cleat side out when you are ready to relace. Now take out you digital camera and take numerous detailed photos of each side, this will be your template. Now take the replacement rim and place it on top of the factory rim and align the spoke holes, again with the correction fluid mark only the holes which will receive the cleat side out spokes, once this is done double check and disassemble the rim.
second- By now you should have the hub completely removed from the old rim ready for installation on the new rim. Start by lacing the new spokes into the hub, start with cleat side out and work all the way around the hub until you have both sides laced up. Remember those pics you took? This is when your going to use them. Insert the spokes using the same pattern that is in the pics use the dots on the rim and hub to help you. If your putting a spoke side out spoke into a dotted hole than you messed up. Take your time and have patients. Once all the spokes are threaded through the rim double check and recheck, you dont want to be on your last barrel and have to start over! As you thread each spoke screw a barrel on the ends just enough to hold them in place. After all the spokes are in and barrels installed hand tighten each one just to SNUG them down but still loose. The forks of your bike should be off the ground and high enough for clearance, your going to use your forks as a truing jig. Install the rim and spin it, you should see horizontal and vertical wobble, run the barrels down but do not over tighten and spin it again, We are going to correct the horizontal true. As you spin the rim you will see a gradual high wobble, at that point loosen the spokes at that point and tighten the spokes on the opposite side, this should be a gradual sequence and none of the spokes should be bottomed out if they are than loosen and start over. It took me 4 tries to do the first one and after I got the hang of it I did the second rim on the first try. Its not hard just takes patients. Once you got it now your ready for the vertical true. Spin the wheel. Rest your thumb against the frame or brake so that you can see how wobbly the wheel is. Find the worst wobble and stop the wheel holding the wobble next to your thumb because that’s the part of the wheel you’re going to work on first. Note that there are spokes that originate on the right and left side of the hub. This is important. Never make an adjustment to a barrel until you are sure which side of the wheel the barrel/spoke is on. Adjustments are made by loosening and tightening barrels in the area of the wobble. Follow these rules: To move the rim to the right, loosen the barrels (at the wobble) on the left side of the rim and tighten the barrels on the right side of the rim. Vice versa to move the rim to the left. Always turn the barrels in quarter- to half-turn increments, then spin the wheel and see how you did. Then repeat. Follow these rules and remove the wobbles until the wheel spins past your thumb with no significant wobbles. You should now have a reasonably straight wheel. It’s also important to keep the horizontal true. Double check this again, spin the wheel again and look for high spots or dips (low spots) sighting from the side. Remove low spots first by slightly loosening spokes in the area. Then slightly tighten the spokes at the high spots. Gradually, the wheel will get round. You’ll then need to check side-to-side straightness one more time. To finish the rim, you need to tighten all the spokes to the torque point where they won’t loosen. It’s called tensioning the wheel. Start at the valve hole and torque every spoke. As long as you followed the directs above, the wheel will remain true and round. The goal is to end up with the rim exactly centered in the frame. After each round of tensioning, go around the wheel grabbing parallel pairs of spokes and squeeze them gently to stress relieve the spokes, seat them in the hub and rim and unwind any spokes that got twisted. Repeat the rounds of tensioning until when you grab the spokes, they feel as tight as the spokes on your rear wheel. Install the tire and tube and you’re ready to roll. I know this is alot of information but trust me the first one I did under supervision took 2 hours the next one I did by myself took 45 minutes. I think its worth doing yourself because you gain experience plus theres nothing like standing back and feeling proud about a job well done. You can take the 90 bucks the shop would have charged you and put that in your tank for weeks of joy riding.