Wheel rebuild needed

[buggsubique]

Hey lads, so has anyone here got the good oil on rim suppliers in NZ. advice I'm getting is to go Excel. My Africa Twin needs a new front rim, probably spokes as well, but trying to avoid that... It is a 1.85 x 21 36 spoker, so wider than most MX ones out there (around 1.6x21).

This guy in the UK (http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-twin-technical-specs/41411-africa-twin-wheel-info-answers.html)did a new front with a 2.15 (same as a 990 adv?).

Anyway to cut a long drivel short, anyone know anyone who knows anyone?

Should I just get a 36 hole MX Excel drilled for the twin, or should I be focusing on the OEM dimensions or going even bigger?

Cheers, Matt

[Underground]

Mine are rooted as well, lots of oxidation flaking away quite deep on the inside.
What I did was clean them up with a paint stripper wheel on the drill then gave them a good soak with a clear epoxy sealer we use for rust on the boat .
A cheap fix, and it is stabilised for now and of course once the tyre is back on its 'out of site out of mind'
But new rims will be inevitable at some stage :facepalm:

[Eddieb]

Woody's Wheel works in the US

If Phreaky Phil and ADVrider are to go by there's none betterer, and he can make whatever you want.

[buggsubique]

Woody's Wheel works in the US

If Phreaky Phil and ADVrider are to go by there's none betterer, and he can make whatever you want.

yeah nah. I reckon there'd be a couple of places in NZ or Oz that would do a decent build. I'm intending to lace it myself - used to do it for MTB wheels and have a truing stand turning up at Xmas.
\
Just need the bloody rim - most seem to be 1.6's for MX bikes...

[johannvr]

Hamco Industries in Palmy North. They'll restore your current rims & stick new spokes in, or build you a set of shiny new ones :woohoo: (06) 324-8345 or 027-231-7864 - speak to Craig

[Box'a'bits]

Hamco Industries in Palmy North. They'll restore your current rims & stick new spokes in, or build you a set of shiny new ones :woohoo: (06) 324-8345 or 027-231-7864 - speak to Craig
Agree with Hamco. Also you need to decide what you'll use it for. On the 640's the hot tip was to go for the narrower rims, to stop them bending.

[Waihou Thumper]

OK, I used an old retired guy who rebuilt, laced my DRBig...1988 vintage. He was cheap and old school! Knew his stuff and did a great job, afterall, the wheel is still true and tight and lasted the Dusty Butt down there and back...:)

[Phreaky Phil]

There are plenty of people around who can lace a wheel. If you have a blank and have to get it drilled thats another story. The places like Hamco will have a jig with a mill drill so they can drill the holes on the right angle.
There was another place in Auckland I was talking to but I cant find the name at the moment.
The reason I used Woody's was that no one else will touch the cross lace Beemer wheels

[warewolf]

The later 640A's come with 2.15" wide fronts. Apart from the particular OEM rim being utter rubbish, it is too wide. Might be nice on the tar to put more rubber on the ground but off-road it's crap. Part of the reason for the dings is the increased leverage from the rim edge to the spoke centreline. Ppl tend to fit 1.85" which is considered better for road-focussed heavy adventure bikes, or 1.6" which handles better in the dirt.

Recently I've swapped in the 1.6" rim from my EXC and it is great. Definitely turns better in the dirt, but also I was always smashing the side knobs off the front tyre - in as little as 100-ish km on a trail ride 80% were rooted. Raced the 1.6" on the 640 for 4 hours in a cross-country and it didn't lose a single knob.

You can probably find out on an AT forum if there is anything unusual about the rim. Your AT is probably "Jap indexed" which refers to the angle of the nipple holes (where the 2 spokes form an X, the spoke between the X goes to the left); this is the most common type. If so, grab any rim that takes your fancy, and you can swap it easily by putting zip-ties on every spoke crossing, overlay the rims, and move the spokes one-by-one to the new rim. I haven't done it myself but supposedly the wheel comes up fairly true.

Woody's Wheels... says: Excel A60 is the strongest thing out there, and dismissed suggestions that it was a brittle MX-only rim. Silver is generally cheaper than colours including black.

The Excel "Signature" 7000 series (aka double-stamped) is cheaper and stronger than the OEM single-stamped Excel. Then there's also a new cheapo Excel designed to compete with the cheapo rim brands, available on trademe, but they're not recommended by Excel for rigorous use.

[buggsubique]

The later 640A's come with 2.15" wide fronts. Apart from the particular OEM rim being utter rubbish, it is too wide. Might be nice on the tar to put more rubber on the ground but off-road it's crap. Part of the reason for the dings is the increased leverage from the rim edge to the spoke centreline. Ppl tend to fit 1.85" which is considered better for road-focussed heavy adventure bikes, or 1.6" which handles better in the dirt.

Recently I've swapped in the 1.6" rim from my EXC and it is great. Definitely turns better in the dirt, but also I was always smashing the side knobs off the front tyre - in as little as 100-ish km on a trail ride 80% were rooted. Raced the 1.6" on the 640 for 4 hours in a cross-country and it didn't lose a single knob.

You can probably find out on an AT forum if there is anything unusual about the rim. Your AT is probably "Jap indexed" which refers to the angle of the nipple holes (where the 2 spokes form an X, the spoke between the X goes to the left); this is the most common type. If so, grab any rim that takes your fancy, and you can swap it easily by putting zip-ties on every spoke crossing, overlay the rims, and move the spokes one-by-one to the new rim. I haven't done it myself but supposedly the wheel comes up fairly true.

Woody's Wheels... says: Excel A60 is the strongest thing out there, and dismissed suggestions that it was a brittle MX-only rim. Silver is generally cheaper than colours including black.

The Excel "Signature" 7000 series (aka double-stamped) is cheaper and stronger than the OEM single-stamped Excel. Then there's also a new cheapo Excel designed to compete with the cheapo rim brands, available on trademe, but they're not recommended by Excel for rigorous use.

Great info thanks Colin,

Yep I saw a J stamped on the DID front rim, so that might indicate the Jap index as you say... I'll see what i can find in the Excel at 1.85 by the sound of it. MIght give Hamco a buzz first - the riding weather here is just awesome...
thanks for the replies.

[warewolf]

Dunno 'bout the J. :scratch: Suspect it's not related to the spoke hole but the rim design.

[Woodman]

I relaced the rims on my benelli. The front was the original, but the rear I laced the original spokes to a wider DR alloy rim.


Total fuck up.:facepalm:

[pampa]

You should talk with Donald on Stokes valley, he may be able to recommend something and he also does the job and is quite reasonable ...

[NordieBoy]

Get a DR650 front rim - same size (1.85").
Not sure if I've ever seen a bent one.

[Aslan]

You should talk with Donald on Stokes valley, he may be able to recommend something and he also does the job and is quite reasonable ...

Matt - what Pablo said - Motorcycle Maintenance - Don Trealor 4/5635054

cheers S

[GSers]

Woody's Wheel works in the US

If Phreaky Phil and ADVrider are to go by there's none betterer, and he can make whatever you want.

Yeah Holler Woody on ADV site he will give you the information required we have had alot of discussion with the 21" on the 1100. The up shoot of this is 2.15" is best used for the road 1.85" is a good cross road / trail 1.6" is the best for hard off road as the width of the tyre stops the rim coming in contact with the ground and rocks on hard hits.
regards GSers

[buggsubique]

Yeah Holler Woody on ADV site he will give you the information required we have had alot of discussion with the 21" on the 1100. The up shoot of this is 2.15" is best used for the road 1.85" is a good cross road / trail 1.6" is the best for hard off road as the width of the tyre stops the rim coming in contact with the ground and rocks on hard hits.
regards GSers

wellthe 1.85 seems rare as an economical after market... any thoughts of caution about me going down to a 1.6? they're plentiful. i do ride hard offrd. but also ride a lot on seal . im comfortable handling a dog on the road.

[Squiggles]

Wheel and Spoke in Auckland? (http://www.wheelandspoke.co.nz/)

[buggsubique]

Anyone heard of these rims? appraently they've been around ages. Wheel & Spoke seem to be best price at the moment based on these rims, otherwise ~$600 for OEM DID or KTM equiv with several months of fingering my own arse waiting for it to arrive.

He can do one of these rims for $325 which seems reasonable.

[Underground]

Thanks for doing all this legwork Matt , I'll be riding on the back of this someday as part of my rolling restoration ,mine really are rooted but I'll keep them rolling till I can justify the expense.

[Kickaha]

Anyone heard of these rims? .

They are what used to be Akront, Morad bought their tooling but had already been building their own wheels for ten years before that

[Team Buffoon]

Hi you could try Tom Morriss Wheel and Spoke Services 09 576 0312. He has just moved so number might not be right. www.wheelandspoke.nz Not used him but came recommended to me.

[Eddieb]

Buggs, Check the Adv deals and specials thread, there are rims in the Torpedo 7 Boxing day sale.

[buggsubique]

Buggs, Check the Adv deals and specials thread, there are rims in the Torpedo 7 Boxing day sale.

Never really looked at the site, but looks good. If they had my front him size I'd have grabbed a complete set. Have actually opted to order one through Tom at Wheel & spoke services. Have a truing stand here so will see - might just need to get it drilled then get my spokes nickel plated, new nipples and then rebuild sometime in March along with replacing the steering bearings and races and de-rusting the front subframe...and stripping the carbs...

[Transalper]

Wow just what I needed to know too.... for the Transalp.
So Mr buggsubique how are you getting on and should I follow your path to 'Wheel And Spoke' ?

So far I had only found that our sizes are a pain and I would prefer to keep original sizing for the road/trail compromise... and recent info I had been given was the price out of Honda was $470 and Yamaha who use the same is about $110 cheaper, but they may be gold in colour rather than silver (don't care about the colour so long as it's not pink)

[Transalper]

Pictures of my front before I picked and filed it a bit smoother at which point the patch had almost doubled in length.
Rear is heading that way too.
Most of it is around the Valve stem hole.

Rims sizes etc..
Front 21x1.85 36 spokes.
Rear 17x2.50 32 spokes

[NordieBoy]

It's a pity T7 don't do Honda style (32 hole) rear dirt rims. Only 36 hole.

[Underground]

TA, find out what Cooney is painting on the rim that I sent down to him.
3 of my rims look at least as bad as that and I've epoxied them so I recon they will be sweet for a few years in a stabilised condition.

[buggsubique]

Wow just what I needed to know too.... for the Transalp.
So Mr buggsubique how are you getting on and should I follow your path to 'Wheel And Spoke' ?

So far I had only found that our sizes are a pain and I would prefer to keep original sizing for the road/trail compromise... and recent info I had been given was the price out of Honda was $470 and Yamaha who use the same is about $110 cheaper, but they may be gold in colour rather than silver (don't care about the colour so long as it's not pink)

wheel and spoke were good. Got an akron front for maybe $360 if i recall correctly. Undrilled, in silver. For now tho im just maintaining both my front and rear with a dremmel to remove flakes and edges and where possible im taking it down below the oxide layer to try and avoid the sort of delamination thats evident in your pics.

Spokes are expensive so i was looking to get mine cleaned back and nickel plated thru my brother rather than order new or get any made up. Let me know how you get on.

[Transalper]

Yeah, think I'll just be cleaning them up and treating them with marine anti corrosion paint for at least this season if not longer.
Nice to know mine aren't any worse than what others are continuing to use.