Lacing wheel, are my spokes too short?

cwah · Dec 29, 2015

Hello,

I had a cracked rim from my leaf motor and decided to transfer the spokes of this motor:
http://www.leafbike.com/products/diy-bike-conversion-kit/20-inch-electric-hub-motor-kit/newest-20-inch-36v-750w-rear-hub-motor-bike-conversion-kit-908.html

To this rim:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/alienation-delinquent-bmx-rim/rp-prod46613

When I was relacing the wheel, I noticed the spokes holes were too small for the nipple to fit. (13G). So I decided to drill with a M5 bit to make a larger hole:

Then I decided to do a radial lacing of the motor into the rim:

While trying, it seemed that my spokes were too short??? I couldn't put all the spokes on the holes. Have I done something wrong?
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5905557/bike/dahon/motor/2015-12-30%2002.37.21.jpg

Are they too short??? What should I do?

Thank you

tiny_n_terrible · Dec 29, 2015

The ERD of the rims must be the same to reuse old spokes.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/spoke-length.html

cwah · Dec 30, 2015

Thanks, I finally decided to do all the measurements properly. Here's what I got:

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/spokecalc/

It seems that my spoke is too short as I need 78mm:

Any idea where I can buy 78mm (for radial lacing) 13G spoke delivered in the UK for decent price? Can't seem to find seller doing such a short spoke length on ebay.

Thanks

Ykick · Dec 30, 2015

NeilP recommended this UK vendor (Graham) to buy good spokes - http://www.tillercycles.co.uk/

Shame you drilled your rim spoke holes instead of using 13/14ga butted spokes. Oh well…

cwah · Dec 30, 2015

ahhh nooo I didn't know

But now that's done, can I get these spokes:
13g DT Swiss Champion at 55p each? You can find them at the bottom of the spoke list:
http://www.tillercycles.co.uk/page2.html

Would they fit my nipples? How can I find that out?

Ykick · Dec 30, 2015

Any 13ga (2.3mm) spoke should fit 13ga nipples.

btw, I noticed he mentions not accepting “new customers” on home page. Might wanna touch base before going too far down this road.

bowlofsalad · Dec 30, 2015

My favorite ERD measuring method was something I read in a book I bought from http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/ this site. Though, calculating spoke length is more than just the ERD.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H1UA9Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004H1UA9Y&linkCode=as2&tag=xbnijgbr-20&linkId=RMF7O54OZEVLPK4O
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H49Q4KU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00H49Q4KU&linkCode=as2&tag=xbnijgbr-20&linkId=FW6H5MTJIDH5VSYK
I also recommend checking out these videos. I've read a lot of stuff, tons of anecdotes, forum posts, books, videos and so on, many who claim to know and understand wheel building are often pretty far off from an ideal technique, there are pretty much always at least two camps to an idea. I am not saying you can't build a wheel by basically guessing and taking a few pointers from similarly knowledgeable folk, but there are better ways of doing just about anything.

cwah · Jan 1, 2016

bowlofsalad said:
My favorite ERD measuring method was something I read in a book I bought from http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/ this site. Though, calculating spoke length is more than just the ERD.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H1UA9Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004H1UA9Y&linkCode=as2&tag=xbnijgbr-20&linkId=RMF7O54OZEVLPK4O
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H49Q4KU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00H49Q4KU&linkCode=as2&tag=xbnijgbr-20&linkId=FW6H5MTJIDH5VSYK
I also recommend checking out these videos. I've read a lot of stuff, tons of anecdotes, forum posts, books, videos and so on, many who claim to know and understand wheel building are often pretty far off from an ideal technique, there are pretty much always at least two camps to an idea. I am not saying you can't build a wheel by basically guessing and taking a few pointers from similarly knowledgeable folk, but there are better ways of doing just about anything.

thanks i'll need to read a book sometime. i hope for this truing i wouldn't need it

cwah · Jan 1, 2016

Ykick said:
Any 13ga (2.3mm) spoke should fit 13ga nipples.

btw, I noticed he mentions not accepting “new customers” on home page. Might wanna touch base before going too far down this road.

it was possible to buy via paypal so I bought it now lol. Waiting for them to arrive unless he doesn't want to ship to me

spinningmagnets · Jan 1, 2016

Also, consider finding a local shop that can cut and thread spokes, then find/buy spokes longer than needed.

cwah · Jan 1, 2016

Yeah but i can't where i could find duch a shop as it needs specific equipment locally.

Lacing wheel, are my spokes too short?

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