Buchanan's Spoke and Rim wants you to torque off road spokes to 45 in/lbs - street bikes to 65 in/lbs.

When I have laced up my wheels I have found that  trying to get to 65 in/lbs is impossible - as the wheel rim gets pulled out of alignment no matter how carefully I proceed.  It could be that aluminum rims should not be torqued as high as steel rims...not sure what the cause is.

Since the Savage is not heavy and doesn't have a lot of power or braking power - it may not be necessary to have the spokes as tight as they would be on an 800 pound torque monster.

And......when installing new spokes/nipples the threads are lubed and turn easily - I fear that on a bike with corroded spoke threads it may be impossible to use a torque reading, and you may have to rely on the old method of "tuning" the spokes to get rid of any dull "thud" sounds when you tap on the spike with a wrench to ensure the spokes are tightened similarly.

Dave wrote on 01/20/20 at 07:59:38:


I concur that 65 is impossible (or at least impractical).
Using the "tuning" method is doable on the front.  The rear spokes are so short and thick that I don't know if that will work very well.

Sure hope someone has an SSM and it is listed in there.. somewhere.

Just gonna give this a bump.. cause I can't believe that NOBODY out there has a Suzuki Service Manual for the LS650..

verslagen1 wrote on 01/22/20 at 08:25:32:


Thank you!!!  

Wheel building is a black art.

I'm pretty sure more rims have been laced without a torque wrench than with.
Just put it together, put a piece of wire in a block, and set it by the rim.
Rotate, see distance between wire and rim, adjust,,
Do that with the whole thing,, center it on the spindle, work it to concentric and true, if it's your first time, it's gonna be a bigass hassle..
Tape on the wire
To help you get concentric.
Gotta work all three , center spindle, concentric, true,

Thanks for all your comments saying it is impossible to get the torque value correct on all the spokes.
I understand that.

I need the torque spec so I can get them closer to what they needs to be as I keep the tire true.

Spokes stretch.  Especially when you ride.. on rough roads (dirt, river beds, etc)

Loose spokes = broken spokes
When I put the torque wrench on 10 in-lb and NOTHING happens on ANY spoke.. hmmm..  Need to tighten them up.
I said TIGHTEN.. not TRUE!!!!
I use the time honored method of starting at the spoke beside the valve, turn 1/4 turn, skip 2 spokes, turn 1/4 turn, skip 2 spokes, turn 1/4 turn, etc.  Go all the way around.   Go to the next spoke from the valve.. same routine, all the way around.  Got the next valve from the spoke, and one more time around the wheel.
That's right THREE times around makes one "set"
Why skip 2 spokes?  Because that puts you tightening on the opposite side of the rim.
Spin the wheel.. make sure you are still "True" (should be, you did the same thing to each spoke).
Keep going round and round and round.  Eventually, the torque wrench will hit the value you want on a spoke.  
I will be setting my wrench a bit below the spec. That way I can finish out the set of rounds with the non-torque wrench.  A 1/4 turn ain't gonna put you over if you started out a bit below.

Sound OK?

Oh WAIT.. somebody is sure to say that not all the spokes will have stretched the same amount.  GIVE ME A BREAK..    
I will do what I need to do to get them as tight as they need to be while keeping the wheel as TRUE as I can.
Anything will be better than loose as a goose and the rim wandering all over the place under load.