Help! Wobly rear wheel

[westladog]

Help! I shattered my finace's TTR125L rear wheel hub and broke a few spokes trying to jump a 50 foot tabletop (don't do it on a stock TTR125L). I went out and ordered new rear rim, spoke set and hub. Now, everything is back in one piece but there is a problem. It's wobbly. It's not severe but enough to notice it.

All I did was tighened all the spokes on the rear wheel. What else can I do to get this wheel aligned correctly. Or do I need to take it to a professional?

By the way, what is the consequences of riding on a wobly rear wheel anyway? The rider is a novice.

[Ronin]

West, first off I personally have no clue how to work on a wheel, I was kind of wodering how to do it the other day. I just remembered that Fasst Co. has a great section on their site about using their torque wrench to setup a wheel and the proper way to align the rim. with that said, I simply copied it all here for your reference.

Later,

Ronin

*It is very important to only turn your nipples a half of a revolution, or two flats at a time on a newly

laced wheel. If you find yourself having to turn more than a half of a turn go to the next spoke in the

pattern, and gradually bring the nipples up to torque by working the pattern. Once you have all your

spokes close to the torque range this will no longer be necessary. If you turn the nipple more than 180

degrees to bring it up to torque you will pull the offset of the wheel off to one side or the other.

Start at the spoke next to the rim lock. Call it spoke #1

Back off spoke #1 until it turns freely, then tighten until spoke torque wrench clicks. Go to spoke #4 - repeat step #2. It will come from the other side of the wheel.

Go to spoke #7 - repeat step #2.

Go to spoke #10 - repeat step #2.

Continue around the wheel torquing every third spoke, until coming back to spoke #1 (on a 36-spoke wheel). Move to spoke #2 and repeat step #2.

Go to spoke #5, then #8, then #11, continuing this pattern all the way back to spoke #2.

Move to #3 and use the same procedure on spokes #6, #9, #12 and so on around the wheel.

It will take 3 revolutions of the wheel to complete the torquing process. You will torque 12 spokes per revolution.

To avoid having the nipples seizing on the spoke it's a good idea to pull the spoke nipples off one at a time and fill them with waterproof grease. While you have the grease out, use it to fill in the void behind the wheel seals to protect the wheel bearings.

[The_Missile]

A very wobbly wheel is dangerous. It is inherently unbalanced and the wobble will only get worse as the spokes loosen over time. Fix it.

The key to understanding what you are doing when TRUEING a wheel (getting rid of the wobble) is which direction the rim moves when you tighten the spoke.

It may seem obvious once you know but remember that if you tighten a spoke the rim is pulled towards the side that the spoke originates from in the hub.

Loosening a spoke will allow the rim to MOVE AWAY from the side of the hub that the spoke originates from.

If the wheel is still on the bike, to identify where the kink is, use a rubber band or tape to strap a wrench/screwdriver to the swing arm so that it just touches the rim. Rotate the rim and you will have perfect vision of where the kink is.

For each kink in the rim, firstly try and figure out what the problem is: too tight on one side or not tight enough on the other or a bit of both.

Dont just work on one spoke work on the 3-4 on whichever side you choose (or both) around where the kink is.

With a reasonable torque on the spokes on 'both' sides, loosening one side will have exactly the same effect as tightening the opposite side.

You may want to work on both sides at once, loosening one side to then tighten the other to take up the slack.

Work patiently and work in 1/4 to 1/2 turn increments at MOST. You will be surprised at how easily and how much the rim moves for even a 1/2 turn of one spoke.

If you have a multiple wobble, figure out where the middle ground is and work towards that on each kink individually. So if you have two kinks, adjust for the first slightly, check what you have done. Then work on kink number 2. Check your work. 1, 2, 1,2 until you have it done.

If your wheel is off-centre then you should loosen all the spokes on one side very slightly by the same amount and take up the slack on the other side by tightening slightly all the spokes. This will slowly move your rim to the centre line. Be carefull to not overtighten one side or the other.

Finally, remember that when you tighten any individual spoke it has very slight effect on the spokes of the whole wheel. If you severely overtighten all the spokes on one particular area of the wheel, you will create a flat spot on the rim...basically you are causing your wheel to ovalise.

Thoroughly confused....I hope so ?

[YAMAKAZE]

SEE MY WHEEL SETUP PROCEDURE POST.....

I would have posted it here but got in a hurry and hit the post new instead of post reply....

I'm getting old and don't see well without my glasses and a cup of coffee in the am..

Good luck..

hmmmmm.....Now that I have relooked a couple of these post's it is apearent that someone else knows about the Fastco site as well......

Bonzai ?

[ January 23, 2002: Message edited by: YAMAKAZE ]