How do i fix my Front Wheel Spokes

[cody196]

So last year my spokes ended up loosening so much that my wheel got noticeably shifting side to side, finally re-tightened spokes and now I am dealing with my front end bouncing up and down repeatedly due to the wheel shape not being a complete circle. Any help, Ive been trying to re-adjust spokes and only change is it is either making wobble worse or slightly improving it but not fixing the spot where the rim dips. Here is a diagram of how it looks roughly. The red line is roughly the shape currently.

 

[Chalo]

If you don't have a spoke wrench, get one.

Loosen all the spokes until you can see threads above the nipples. Then tighten them until there's barely any thread showing, like just the start of the first thread. Now turn each nipple a little at a time, a half turn per spoke, all the way around the wheel. Keep doing it until the whole wheel is tight. For this operation, it helps if you can have your bike upside down to use it as a truing stand.

At this point you can begin truing the wheel to correct its shape. But given what you've​ already said about your previous efforts, it's probably best to take your wheel to an experienced professional.

If you really want to learn wheelbuilding, read The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt, and practice on wheels you don't need. You can also use Sheldon Brown's online tutorial, but it won't give you as much understanding about what is going on with your wheel.

If your wheel​ has spokes thicker than 14ga or 2.0mm, it's going to loosen chronically, and you can either maintain it constantly or else rebuild it with thinner spokes so it doesn't self-disassemble.

 

[wesnewell]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=true+a+wheel

 

[amberwolf]

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64324


But there has to be a reason your spokes came loose in the first place.

They might not have been tensioned properly from teh factory, or they might be so thick that getting them tight enough to be tensioned properly has caused the rim to being failing at the nipple holes.

So you might want to examlne the rim around the nipple holes in bright sunlight with a magnifying glass for cracks, because it's not uncommon for that to cause spokes to loosen. If there are cracks you need a new rim.

If it is laced with thicker spokes (12g, etc), this is more common (seen it on several of my own OEM hubmotor wheels), and you'd probably be better off to replace them with 14/15 butted spokes, or 13/14 butted at the largest, so they can be tensioned properly without damaging the rim (and/or use a rim that can handle thicker spokes).

 

[cody196]

Update: 2 spokes have broke on my wheel so far, can anyone provide links to the right kind of wheel and good size spokes for the front hub motor 1000w

 

[Chalo]

What motor, what wheel size?

 

[amberwolf]

Did you read the wheel-building/fixing threads yet?

 

[cody196]

something similar to this, hub motor looks the exact same

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-48V-1000W-26-Front-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Motor-Conversion-eBike-Kit-Bike-/252512247034?hash=item3acae71cfa

 

[Chalo]

To get the right spokes, you have to have precise hub and rim dimensions to work from, not a picture.

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

Or take your wheel to a professional, which is also valid and effective.

 

[fechter]

You could also remove an unbroken spoke and measure it.

 

[wesnewell]

something similar to this, hub motor looks the exact same

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-48V-1000W-26-Front-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Motor-Conversion-eBike-Kit-Bike-/252512247034?hash=item3acae71cfa

If that has a Champion rim, it comes with 158mm 12G spokes. 160mm would be better, but not over 163mm. BTW, I've got about 20 of original spokes for it left. How many do you need?

 

[Chalo]

Deleted comment conflated this and another recent thread-- my mistake, apologies.

 

[cody196]

@WesNewell - 36 spoke rim but 20 of those and i can probably just get another 16 or jsut go with 32 spokes instead, but trying to figure out where i can maybe get another champion rim or a better rim that would support a hub motor

 

[spiros]

A little tip...
Use blue loctite to not having issues with loosen nipples frequently!!!

 

[Chalo]

A little tip...
Use blue loctite to not having issues with loosen nipples frequently!!!

Pro tip:.
Absolutely DO NOT use blue Loctite on spokes. Ever. Unless you never want to true your wheels again. Purple Loctite would be preferable, but it will still make servicing your wheels an ordeal. Wheelbuilders use boiled linseed oil as a mild thread locker that will not prevent later maintenance.

 

[wesnewell]

@WesNewell - 36 spoke rim but 20 of those and i can probably just get another 16 or jsut go with 32 spokes instead, but trying to figure out where i can maybe get another champion rim or a better rim that would support a hub motor

Why do you need a new rim? If it's just out of round with no other damage, truing it will make it perfectly round.How many spokes are broken or missing?

 

[dogman dan]

You might have permanently bent the rim. if it does not come back fairly round when you have loosened the spokes as Chalo said, you need a new rim.

It is possible to get a bent rim round, but the result is overtightened spokes in the wheel, which then start breaking. sound familiar?

New , better quality, rim and spokes would be the best possible approach. The better dealers do sell rims and spokes for the motors they sell. The best, Grin Technology, will cut custom spokes once you know the length you need.

Its also possible to find more common size, cheap e bike spokes on ebay.

If the rim is not bent that bad,, just get some of those spokes from Wes. Truing a wheel is an art, but if you can't learn it, a bike shop might be willing to true a rim for you. After that, you just keep up with it, by tightening a loose spoke from time to time. Riding with loose spokes is part of how you permanently ruined that rim, so don't do that anymore.

 

[cody196]

@wesnewell two spokes are broken and the nipples are gone too.

 

[wesnewell]

PM your address and I'll mail you 4 with nipples. Might be next week before I mail them.

 

[cody196]

PM your address and I'll mail you 4 with nipples. Might be next week before I mail them.

okay however several more spokes the nipples are stripped so i got to use vice grips to twist them but that works still.

 

[dogman dan]

Buy a pile of what you need, from Wes, or whatever.

If that rim is permanently bent, you'll keep breaking spokes forever. Getting it round will over tension half the wheel. What you need today is only a fourth of what you will need to get through the summer with a trashed rim.

Give it a try,, if you get it straight again easy, it was not bent. If it fights you, yer wasting your time, although it won't be a waste to practice, and learn to adjust a wheel.

My favorite trick, a zip tie on the frame is cut to just the right length, to turn the frame into a wheel truing stand.

The other advice, NEVER turn any nipple more than a quarter turn at a time. Go around the whole wheel over and over and over. But don't take big swings at any one spoke that screw it up, taking you hours to correct. Slow, easy, patient, however many beers it takes. In the beginning, you'll turn that nipple the wrong way half the time anyway, so don't turn it 3 revolutions at once.

 

[cody196]

Buy a pile of what you need, from Wes, or whatever.

If that rim is permanently bent, you'll keep breaking spokes forever. Getting it round will over tension half the wheel. What you need today is only a fourth of what you will need to get through the summer with a trashed rim.

Give it a try,, if you get it straight again easy, it was not bent. If it fights you, yer wasting your time, although it won't be a waste to practice, and learn to adjust a wheel.

My favorite trick, a zip tie on the frame is cut to just the right length, to turn the frame into a wheel truing stand.

The other advice, NEVER turn any nipple more than a quarter turn at a time. Go around the whole wheel over and over and over. But don't take big swings at any one spoke that screw it up, taking you hours to correct. Slow, easy, patient, however many beers it takes. In the beginning, you'll turn that nipple the wrong way half the time anyway, so don't turn it 3 revolutions at once.

alright thanks for the tips, i saw some videos on how to do it too lately. Seems pretty straight forward if you got the time and patience, hell if your good at it it could take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours to finish a whole rebuild

 

[cody196]

Also i got spare front wheels that are 36 spoke and 26 inch as well that are perfectly straight. If im careful could i just take the motor off the old rim and rebuild it onto that good rim?

 

[amberwolf]

See this thread, maybe about halfway thru, for the potential problems with that
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=87843

 

[cody196]

Will this new rim work for my Ebike? Cause I trashed the old rim, not litterly trashed but its cut up cause i tried putting it on a regular single wall bicycle rim and when i try to do second single cross pattern with spokes, they wont reach the proper hole no matter what is done. Should this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/281283056971