I know you said to not bother with the old wheel build stuff, but I'm only pursuing this to ensure you get the right wheel build done. It sucks to not be able to ride.
maarkmohamed said:
On the other hand you said the spokes are shorter on one side of the rear hub?
Yes, generally--but from the pictures you posted later, it looks like you have one of the few exceptions.
On rear bicycle wheels, the wheel is generally dished to leave more space for the freewheel or cassette, between the hub and the frame, so that the tire itself is still centered on the bike frame.
The hubs themselves will still generally be the same distance from flanges to outboard ends of the hub, but the axle will generally be offset so it is longer on the freewheel / drive side, and spacers are used on the axle to keep the dropout/frame from rubbing on the outer sprocket.
However...the pictures you post show a hub with no freewheel, but rather a "fixed" cog adapter. If you are using a single cog, and not a freewheel or cassette with mulitple cogs, that is different from an average bicycle. It may not require a dished wheel to give clearance and still center the tire.
So...it depends on what you are doing with the wheel.
Either way, the wheel you wanted to build could've been done with the right length spokes, given all the other info you've posted so far about it. So whatever you go with now, I recommend verifying the ERD of the rim by measuring it yourself before ordering spokes for it.
. I cant explain to you exactly what the bike shop said, they confirmed, it was the right size spoke length, he test fitted the nipples to see if they sit flush when i dropped off the rim, fit well.....
I guess it depends on how the bike shop verified the spoke length. They *should* know how to measure ERD, and determine the right spoke length for any particular hub, and measure spoke lengths.... But anyone can make a mistake, and it would only take a few mm on each spoke to make an unbuildable wheel.
Now...on to building the wheels you want.
First you have to decide what size wheels you want. If your frame is wide enough to hold the tires without rubbing (MC tires are wider than bicycle tires generally), then 19" MC tires and rims may fit in a 26" (to 29") wheel bicycle frame.
If your frame is not wide enough, you probably can't use MC tires without going to a substantially smaller wheel size, which may change the ride height and/or geometry of the bike so much it becomes unrideable (or no fun to, anyway).
If the front fork isn't wide enough, you can swap it out for a fatbike fork and it would probably be wide enough then.
Either way, you can go to the thread on ES linked in the first reply here, and it discusses quite a lot of options for rims and tires. I don't know if all the links to specific products are all still good, but they'll show you the kind of thing to look for. Yes, its' a lot of posts...but if the info isn't in there somewhere, it probably isn't anywhere.
FWIW, I went to Shinko SR714 (IIRC) 16" moped tires, along with good real-rubber extra thick moped tubes, on my 20" bicycle rims for SB Cruiser's rear wheels, mostly because of flats, but partly for load carrying capacity and the better ride quality of a larger-volume tire. The best I could do was 2.5" tires due ot the way I'd built the frame at the time, as I didn't want to cut up the fender frames/wheelwells and rebuild them (or I would've gone with 3-4" tires if I could've fit them on the rims).
The tires and tubes are several times heavier than bicycle tires...but I don't have to use heavy MC rims with them, which would probably add several times more weight to the wheels, which are already very heavy due to the hubmotors in them. The rims I have are strong enough, with the right (thin) spokes on them, to withstand most of the abuse I put them thru.
But for the future build of the trike, with much larger diameter wheels, I might have to go ahead and use something like 19" MC wheels and tires...I'd rather not, but I kinda need "guaranteed" flat protection, if I'm out in the summer heat taking one of the dogs with me, or some similar situation. Iv'e tried all the tricks I can with bicycle tires, and it's just not enough, not always--works great as my front tire...but the rears take a lot more load and abuse. :/
