I agree with Dave on all accounts (again?!?!  lol).  

I've built a few MTB wheels when I was younger and did the 18" wheel on my Savage.  It's both therapeutic and frustrating at the same time.  I think it's a black art that just takes experience.  I found the motorcycle wheel to be a little easier.  Bicycle rims move around a lot compared to the heavier MC wheel.  

Honestly, I didn't use a dial indicator and never balanced my wheels after I put tires on. I used a zip tie or spoke as an indicator and was able to get it almost "naked eye" perfect.   But, I'm sure my wheels are not perfect and I can't even tell.  I even got the bike up to 80 mph once!  lol

Use your gut.  If go with what you have and it turns out your runout is too much, then try again.  We call that refactoring in the programming world and I do it every day at work.  Refactoring, refactoring, refactoring....eventually you get something that works pretty well and you learn a lot along the way.  

Gary:

I also found out that you should not start your tightening at the same point each time around.  I was using the valve stem as a reference point, and I started the sequence at the valve stem each time.  This tended to pull the rim in the direction where you first started the sequence.  I had better luck when I would begin the sequence at 1/4 way around the rim intervals.  I would use a piece of tape as the reference, and each time I went all the way around with my tightening  - I would move 1/4 of the way around the rim to start the next tightening phase.

Wow, what a learning experience. I actually lost count of how many times I loosened the spokes and re-started the process. It was at least 6 times - each time learning something new. I'll post a few tips here for anyone that is truing a wheel for the first time. It is really an easy process - once one comes to the realization that one input requires 3 counter inputs.

My front rim was challenging because it was darn-near defective. It had a natural hop across 90-120 degrees or rotation of 0.10". I called Buchanan's to see if they'd swap it out but Jim Buchanan said that a good wheel guy would be able to eliminate it. So I had two choices; send it back with the hub and have them true it (which would cost me over $100 with shipping) - or - become a good wheel guy. Here was the winning technique:

1. Lube the nipples with the supplied graphite lube or use never seize. This step can not be overlooked.

2. Get the nipples finger tight and place the wheel assembly on a wheel stand.

3. Get the spokes to a similar length, maybe two threads exposed, maybe where the threads end - just do something consistent for all 36 spokes.

4. Set up a pointer and spin the wheel. This is your opportunity to see what natural problems you will have to correct. On one side of the rim put tape down on the rim on the section that has radial runout (hop) that needs to be corrected; on the other side place small pieces of tape with a left or right arrow that indicate the direction it needs to move to correct lateral runout. If you don't get it now, you probably wont get it correct at the 3rd or 4th round of tightening. When going through successive rounds of tightening you'll want to be aware of the natural problem areas, especially hop.

5. Make 1/4 turns in the area that need to move. You HAVE TO loosen the opposite spoke. This is true for both lateral and radial runout. You can't just keep tightening - if you do you'll get runout that looks like an "S" with a twist in the rim. Once you see that - start over.

6. Repeat step 5 about 4 or 5 times. From here it is my opinion that a spoke torque wrench is required. In talking to Jim Buchanan he said that I should shoot for 60 in-lbs - the more torque the better - but too much will snap spokes and potentially damage the hub. A friend let me use his spoke torque wrench and I don't think I could have gotten this properly done without it. With a torque wrench you can initially set it for 40 in-lbs to get you "in the zone". From there you can increase it to 50 in-lbs and for the final round set it for 60 in-lbs.

7. For the final two rounds of tightening I used a dial gauge. I wanted to be +/- 0.001" lateral and 0.020" radial - which is a tedious process - but worth the effort, especially on a front wheel. Here is where radial runout can drive you nuts. The side of the rim where the dial gauge reads is not vertical, it has about 15 degrees of angle. If you have any wheel hop it will appear as lateral runout on the dial gauge. That's why wheel hop has to be corrected as early as possible. Your dial gauge will tell you that the wheel is perfect, yet when you spin it you'll see lateral runout.

8. A lot of the videos I saw online said to do a final torque round to make sure all spokes are (equally) tight. I tried this on several of my failed attempts and I think it's a dumb suggestion. Once the dial indicator says that the wheel is true, ANY movement will create a cascading change in the rim. When the dial indicator isn't moving (beyond your goal range), the resulting torque is the resulting torque. You're done. Because I had so much hop in my wheel I have spokes that are at 60 in-lbs and some that are around 40 in-lb - maybe less. Any effort to correct this reintroduces hop.

On the final round of tightening, go slowly from spoke to spoke, and the dial gauge will tell you the exact requirement for the individual spoke. If on a right-side spoke the needle moves right of center you need to bring the rim right by tightening that spoke and loosening the two spokes besides it (they would be left side spokes). Now you need to recheck the spokes you just loosened - and so on and so forth.

My rear rim is now in the stand and my initial spin shows that it's in much better shape then the front. I'm 99.9% certain with my new found skills I can get this one correct on one try.

Good work and great instructions.

Be sure to check the spokes after you ride it. You may find that some of those spoke tensions even out and need minor adjustments.

With my cafe racer off my work bench, it's time to get serious about the Street Tracker. I've been slowly assembling it a few nights a week. This Monday I took a crack at installing the fuel tank. I thought this would be a simple affair, much like what I've seen done on this forum several times.

Not so lucky.

On my initial fit I discovered that the tabs that hold the tank mount cushions were narrower then the frame itself. I thought about this for a few days and even started a thread in the Cafe to solicit solutions. Over the last few days I thought of several ways to mount the tank, but all of them had something about them that I didn't like. According to my measurements and calculations, this tank will just barely fit. Oh, to complicate it - there didn't appear to be room to have the fuel petcock clear the frame.

While running today all I could think about was this tank. And a simple thought came to my head. So simple that I actually started to laugh out loud.

Photo time:

There are actually two tank mount systems on the DRZ frame. Top center you can see that there are cushion mounts. These fall just below the tank and are therefore useless. Moreover, they are 3.6" wide and the tank is 3.2" wide at this location. Ahead of that to the right is the mount that the tank that came on the bike used.



My first step tonight was to remove the original cushion receivers from my pristine 40 year-old tank. It took me about an hour to actually start the grinding as I really didn't want to mess up my tank. Once started it took about 30 minutes to completely eliminate the mounts.



Here is a photo of the tank in position and the location of the tank mount.



Here is a photo of the tank mount from the DRZ tank in a vertical position. You can see that all I need to do is weld an "L" bracket to the bottom of the tank and attach the tank mount to this.



Here's an oddity. That tank mount is only on the right side of the frame - even though there were left and right mounts on the tank itself. Here is a photo of the left side. No mount and no indication that there ever was a mount.



I purchased a NOS fuel valve for this tank. It's quite large - and doesn't fit in the small space in the frame where the petcock is located. Raptor to the rescue - it's a perfect fit! Zero extra room.



Here is the status of the project as of tonight.

Love it so far. Nice work on the wheels. Too bad you have to hang a radiator on it.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 05/27/17 at 06:42:11:

I've never seen a stone for a die grinder so big. Its a mini bench grinder..
I want one.. but, probably never happen.
Be careful with it. Bang it, get a tiny , invisible crack, and at about ten thousand RPM that thing disintegrates.. Dude could get a lump on his head.

It's a 3M Scotchbrite wheel. I have them in 1" and 3" for the pneumatic grinder and I keep a 6" on the bench grinder.

Nice!  I think that seat just might work for you, not bad at all, good idea.