Ok, time for some updates.......
Well, i received the spoke sets from TC Vintage_001 from Ebay in Thailand. They are great. He didnt have any for the N,T,X models so i sent him some samples and he made me up a free set for the front and rear. The bend, length, gauge etc are great and the quality looks good. Worth a go if you need spoke kits and they are cheap to buy.
Anyway, thought i would put up a review of how i rebuilt the wheels. I tore them apart, blasted and repainted the hubs, fitted new wheel bearings and new brake shoes. The brake arms were newly zinc coated and new seals fitted. Original rims were cleaned up as best as i could and the spoke sets organized.
OK.. here we go.......
This is the front wheel and you follow the same routine for the rear also. There are only 2 different spokes for the front. 18 spokes with a slightly less than 90 degree bend at the nipple end and 18 with a 90 degree bend. I did the outside to inside spokes first. I cant remember which bend it is but just try one of each and you will notice that one bend of spoke will not bend in toward the rim. Find which bend fits and then just insert them every second hole in the hub. There are 4 different hole types in the rim. Find the hole type that corresponds to the direction of the spoke. Be careful here because i got it wrong once even though i could of swore i was correct. Anyway, the hole you want leans out to the outside of the hub and in the direction of the spoke. The other 3 holes either point towards the other side of the hub or in another direction....
Put all 9 spokes in and loosely put a nipple on each one.....
Turn the whole thing over and put the other 9 outside to inside spokes in. The reason we are doing all the outside to inside spokes first is because we are going to put our inside to outside spokes in last and dont want to get trapped like i did the first time i did it.
OK, we should have all our outside to inside spokes in with loose nipples. Next, you will use the other bend spokes and go inside to outside. Work you way around and find the corresponding hole in the rim.
You should end up with something like the above....
Keep the rim on the edge of a table and thread through all the inside to outside spokes as above.....
You will notice that the spokes go over the first sets you put in. Makes them easy to fit eh.....
The finished product. Its all loose and wobbly but thats the next bit we will tackle....
I made my own wheel truer using some good ole wood from Bunnings. A cable tie under the rim and one on the side cut so that they just touch the side and underneath of rim. There are plenty of Youtube vids to show you various techniques to true a rim so do a bit of research. I kind of got the vertical runout nice by using the technique of pulling the top spokes up a bit if the rim hit the cable tie at the bottom. Same for the sides. If the rim touched the cable tie on the left, i would tighten up a few spokes on the right to pull it over. Play with it for a while and it all comes good. Then just nip them all up to your desired tune... i have always tapped them to get a nice high note and check for tightness.
Anyway, thats the basics... just check a few vids out first. Also, take plenty of pics of your rims before you start so you can see your pattern. Not all spoke lengths are equal either and also not all rims and hubs are equal on both sides so measure the run out on each side before you start using a straight edge.
Cheers,
Alex
