Ivy: New Front Wheel

A long time coming, but Ivy finally gets her new front wheel: new spokes (actually 35 new, 1 old), good clean rim, new rim strip and tube, and the good IRC tire.

The stool under the engine once again makes the front wheel swap a breeze.

Spare Wheel: Modify to Fit

After getting confirmation from the group, I knew I needed to widen the holes in the hub to get the outer spokes to fit.  I used the old weird hub from Viola to do some testing.  At first I just went straight in with the Dremel sanding tip to widen the hole.  But then I realized it's not so much the width of the hole but the the material where the spoke first hits.

So I came in with the Dremel at the same angle and direction the spoke would.  Just taking a bit of material out of the top of the hole allowed the spoke to slide right through.  I only did the outer holes, marking it as I went.

Also, a revised lacing procedure:

1. Insert all the inner spokes on both sides of the hub
2. Add nipples to all the inner spokes on both sides
3. Insert all the outer spokes on one side
4. Add nipples to those outer spokes
5. Repeat for the other side outer spokes
6. Job done!

Spares: First Time Wheel Lacing

First time wheel lacing.  No surprise that it didn't all go to plan, I guess.

The first big gotcha was that the 90-degree outer spokes wouldn't pass through the holes in the hub.  When I measured the diameter they were 3mm and the old ones were literally a fraction smaller.  I'd need the digital caliper to really measure the difference.  But they were just thick enough not to fit.

The only option then (if I want to use them), would be to widen the holes a bit...?  Hate to muck with a perfectly good hub, though.

The cross-2 pattern was straightforward enough and I used old spokes to do all the outers on one side.  Got stymied a bit when it then felt like the hub was pulled too far off center to then do the other side.  But then realized I had to push down on the hub a bit when getting the first few in on the opposite side.  After that the rest went in a lot easier.

Figured out the little trick to doing the inner spokes and had the whole thing done pretty easily.

So here's my procedure:

1. Install all the outer spokes on one side and fasten with nipples (not too tight).
2. Flip and do all the outer spokes on the other side with nipples.
3. Now install all the inner spokes on both sides without nipples.  Make sure they lie correctly and don't interfere with each other.  They should lie against the hub and out of the way.
4. Finally, add nipples to all the inner spokes.

And the spoke situation.

• Old spokes
• Outer - have 14 of these left
• Inner - have all 18 of these
• Honda NOS spokes
• Have 10 of these but no nipples that fit
• Aftermarket spokes
• Outer - won't fit the new hub
• Inner - work fine

Spare Wheel: Spokes Out

Took out all the spokes from the spare today.  Had to Dremel cut the 4 frozen ones.

One strange thing I discovered yesterday was that even though the NOS Honda spokes were the correct length for a cross-2 lacing, the nipples I have don't fit the threads (nipples are too big).

But I just ordered the full 36-spoke set including nipples anyway, so sort of moot.

Spare Wheel: Spoke Check

Very tough to get the big 3.00x18 tire off Viola's original rear wheel.  It was crusted with rust and there was an audible crack each time I pushed it down and separated it from the wheel for the first time in decades.

Also the hardest wheel to get the bead off so far.  Relatively hard, that is.  Still not so bad all in all.

It had the same extremely rusty section that the front wheel had.  No surprises there.

Then I went around trying to free each spoke.  Remarkably, only 5 seemed to be frozen (flagged with the painter's tape).  I was able to get all the others free just using the wrench.

I compared a few of the spokes but while there were small differences in the bend at the head, they seemed to be inconsistent, and seemed like just a case of age and not manufacturing.