Are HD rims crap?

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Are HD rims crap?

1/2

Mr.Mow
4 years ago

I wanted to replace my spokes with stainless (live near the beach), local guys ‘oh just buy a new wheel, it’s not worth rebuilding HD rims’, wanted to change my wideglide rims to chrome, different shop ‘oh just buy new wheels’, my softail has a flat spot, different shop ‘just buy a New wheel’.
Are Harley wheels crap or something? Or are the shops just lazy? I’ve laced wheels before it’s not difficult (tightening spikes and trueing I’ve not done).

Ratbob
4 years ago

I don’t think HD rims are crap rather in our throw away world, lacing wheels is a disappearing art.
I get the dealers position, yeah, buy a new wheel, less work, more profit and he knows you’ll be back in a few years when that one corrodes.
When we had a sea change all my bikes started corroding, we moved back to the hills.

Smokey61
4 years ago

Quoting Mr.Mow on 25 May 2020 01:36 AMedited: 25 May 2020 01:36 AM
I wanted to replace my spokes with stainless (live near the beach), local guys ‘oh just buy a new wheel, it’s not worth rebuilding HD rims’, wanted to change my wideglide rims to chrome, different shop ‘oh just buy new wheels’, my softail has a flat spot, different shop ‘just buy a New wheel’.
Are Harley wheels crap or something? Or are the shops just lazy? I’ve laced wheels before it’s not difficult (tightening spikes and trueing I’ve not done).

Looking to do the same with my Widey. I hit the rust on the originals with alfoil once in a while, works, but it's a prick of a job. Go the stainless. I did it on an older Softail way back when, never regretted it.

Far Canal
4 years ago

Hi Mow, I am no expert but have laced and trued 3 wheels before and would do it again no probs.
If I was changing a rim I'd prefer a Harley one over some generic brand one any day, have heard of new generic ones not being true straight out of the box. Also would use stainless spokes.
My harley workshop manual had much better instructions on how to lace and true than other literature previously used.

speedzter
4 years ago

If you want a good wheel builder in Melbourne, get in touch with Phil at Lightfoot Engineering .
Likely not cheep, but I'd guarantee his work.
www.lightfootwheels.com

Grease Monkey
4 years ago

Quoting Far Canal on 25 May 2020 03:50 AM
Hi Mow, I am no expert but have laced and trued 3 wheels before and would do it again no probs.
If I was changing a rim I'd prefer a Harley one over some generic brand one any day, have heard of new generic ones not being true straight out of the box. Also would use stainless spokes.
My harley workshop manual had much better instructions on how to lace and true than other literature previously used.

You nearly have me inspired to have a crack at respoking my rims, I've not done it, bit hesitant in case I stuff it up

Far Canal
4 years ago

Quoting Far Canal on 25 May 2020 03:50 AM
Hi Mow, I am no expert but have laced and trued 3 wheels before and would do it again no probs.
If I was changing a rim I'd prefer a Harley one over some generic brand one any day, have heard of new generic ones not being true straight out of the box. Also would use stainless spokes.
My harley workshop manual had much better instructions on how to lace and true than other literature previously used.

Quoting Grease Monkey on 25 May 2020 09:05 AM
You nearly have me inspired to have a crack at respoking my rims, I've not done it, bit hesitant in case I stuff it up

It's a piece of cake GM, in fact thought you would have been all over it long ago.
You do not need one of those fancy bench type wheel holders to do it either.
Just do the trueing up with your wheel fixed back on the bike and in the air. It is surprising how close you can get it to perfect with a bit of patience.
No need for dial gauges, you can use cable ties tied to your forks and get the runout to within the thickness of a tally ho paper.
Pays to take a few photos of your spokes and wheel before you undo everything first, so you know exactly what to aim for putting it back together.

beaglebasher
4 years ago

You must have a good eye FC . How many thous is a tallyho paper?

Far Canal
4 years ago

Quoting beaglebasher on 25 May 2020 11:13 AM
You must have a good eye FC . How many thous is a tallyho paper?

Couldn't say old boy, do not own a "thou-o-meter."
Some old bike manuals say that if you can get the wheel running to within + or - 2mm (wobble, which is side to side and hop, which is up and down) then it will be good.
Get it to a tally ho thickness and you know it shits it in.

Grease Monkey
4 years ago

Quoting Far Canal on 25 May 2020 03:50 AM
Hi Mow, I am no expert but have laced and trued 3 wheels before and would do it again no probs.
If I was changing a rim I'd prefer a Harley one over some generic brand one any day, have heard of new generic ones not being true straight out of the box. Also would use stainless spokes.
My harley workshop manual had much better instructions on how to lace and true than other literature previously used.

Quoting Grease Monkey on 25 May 2020 09:05 AM
You nearly have me inspired to have a crack at respoking my rims, I've not done it, bit hesitant in case I stuff it up

Quoting Far Canal on 25 May 2020 10:42 AMedited: 25 May 2020 11:00 AM
It's a piece of cake GM, in fact thought you would have been all over it long ago.
You do not need one of those fancy bench type wheel holders to do it either.
Just do the trueing up with your wheel fixed back on the bike and in the air. It is surprising how close you can get it to perfect with a bit of patience.
No need for dial gauges, you can use cable ties tied to your forks and get the runout to within the thickness of a tally ho paper.
Pays to take a few photos of your spokes and wheel before you undo everything first, so you know exactly what to aim for putting it back together.

Thanks for the tips, I wheel do it :)

speedzter
4 years ago

Only a crazy man would true a newly spoked wheel when fitted to a bike !!??
I have a cheap ebay balance stand that I use.
Be prepared for many hours of fiddling.

A spoke torque wrench would also make things easier.

Birtyyy
4 years ago

Well I hope HD rims aren't crap, I've just bought a 17" x 4.5" wheel that I'm going to lace onto the hub off my stock 16" x 3" Street bob wheel. I've used Phil from Lightfoot before as someone else mentioned, the man is a genius. I am very keen to give lacing a truing a wheel a go myself though.

Far Canal
4 years ago

Quoting speedzter on 25 May 2020 10:44 PM
Only a crazy man would true a newly spoked wheel when fitted to a bike !!??
I have a cheap ebay balance stand that I use.
Be prepared for many hours of fiddling.

A spoke torque wrench would also make things easier.

"Only a crazy man would true a newly spoked wheel when fitted to a bike !!??"

A crazier man would imagine that I meant while I was riding it.
Maybe this picture better explains it for the unimaginative.
The wheel is in the air and ready for truing, you can use the fork sliders to make sure you get the rim dead central and using cable ties on the sliders you can get the hop(up and down) to within a cunt hair, bees dick,poofteenth or what ever you want to measure on your thou-o-meter.

speedzter
4 years ago

Nice looking wheel .
I wasn't doubting your work, but these days I like to make things easier if possible.
There was meant to be a :-) at the end of that comment .

Smokey61
4 years ago

Quoting speedzter on 25 May 2020 10:44 PM
Only a crazy man would true a newly spoked wheel when fitted to a bike !!??
I have a cheap ebay balance stand that I use.
Be prepared for many hours of fiddling.

A spoke torque wrench would also make things easier.

Quoting Far Canal on 25 May 2020 11:00 PM
"Only a crazy man would true a newly spoked wheel when fitted to a bike !!??"

A crazier man would imagine that I meant while I was riding it.
Maybe this picture better explains it for the unimaginative.
The wheel is in the air and ready for truing, you can use the fork sliders to make sure you get the rim dead central and using cable ties on the sliders you can get the hop(up and down) to within a cunt hair, bees dick,poofteenth or what ever you want to measure on your thou-o-meter.

Nice looking rim, that. What's the make?

Far Canal
4 years ago

I bought the rim from HD Wheels in California. It is chrome plated aluminium and top quality. Also rather expensive.

robots
4 years ago

thnks FC great info,
do you use a torque wrench? i have had some wheel/hub issues and its definitely fun playing around with a spoked wheel

Far Canal
4 years ago

Quoting robots on 26 May 2020 12:28 AM
thnks FC great info,
do you use a torque wrench? i have had some wheel/hub issues and its definitely fun playing around with a spoked wheel

I don't have a torque spoke wrench, so no. Notice Buchannans in the US does sell a spoke torque wrench but I have never seen one and do not know if they are suitable for a range of nipple sizes. My cheapo spoke wrench can deal with 6 different size spoke nipples I think.
You don't do the nipples up stupidly tight.
Usually you hit/tap each spoke and listen to the "ping" they make, you can tell straight away if one needs to be tightened a bit by the flat sound it makes. Idea is to get em all pinging the same note.

robots
4 years ago

yes i going to finish off without a torque wrench, think its 55in/foot or something, not much
the manual is very informative on wheel building and setting offset isnt that difficult

thnks

Far Canal
4 years ago

The Harley manual is really good about explaining it.
I like the way they tell you to concentrate on 4 groups of 4 spokes at 90 degrees to get the rim close to true. Wish I'd read that before doing my first one,

Topics

1/2

Are HD rims crap?

Are HD rims crap?

Mr.Mow

Ratbob

Smokey61

Far Canal

speedzter

Grease Monkey

Far Canal

beaglebasher

Far Canal

Grease Monkey

speedzter

Birtyyy

Far Canal

speedzter

Smokey61

Far Canal

robots

Far Canal

robots

Far Canal