When I did it a lot and as I remember.It was all about preparation.Make sure all the threads were clean,spokes and nipples,lace them,hang the wheel in fixture,then it was adjust the offset,start tightening and trueing at the same time.Not all spokes will take the same torque.Always wanted the minimum torque on all spokes.Bottom line was to have the wheel run very true.After trueing and installed on bike,run it for a while then recheck all spokes and runout.A pain and the reason why I went to mag wheels a long time ago,especially running big inch motors.

 

after you get the wheel within the "wobble" and "hop" spec then you torque em all down evenly. It shouldn't pull the wheel out of true if you do it right. As far as wondering if all the spokes need the same torque...yes, within the spec.

You can't just slap the spokes in and start torquing them down. You have to get it true first. When you true the wheel you might have, for example, one spoke shorter on one side than the direct opposite spoke. It won't be by much but it will be some. I'm talking by thousandths if not 10 thousandths of an inch here. When you true the wheel you aren't making it true by how tight the spoke is....it's really by how short, or long, that spoke is and it's relation to the spoke directly opposite it, and the one right next to it (example the one on the right side of the hub and left side). When you tighten the nipple it means you have made the spoke shorter and pulled it in the rim toward the tube.



Torquing the nipples just makes sure all of them are the same tightness and YES it's recommended by the factory.

 

you can't torque spokes.

 

To quote Harley-

"Verify the spokes are tightened to 55-65 in lbs"

 

but that's after removing the neg battery cable

 

4'' adjustable and the "ting" method has worked for yrs for me...

 

Why I never....

Dag nab it! I'm going out and messin with mine right now! Inquiring minds gotta know! (-:

 

In the past 30 years I have laced up/ trued almost 2000 bicycle wheels. Motorcycle spoke wheels are just the same only bigger.

I have a truing machine that I have adapted to do a mc rim also. The process is the same and I use the "ping" sound to see that the spokes are even. Not as accurate as a torque wrench but close. In life I go for close enough is good enough. Perfection is a waste of time and money.

I always had mag wheels on my motorcycles but my 07 FXSTC has the 21" spoked rim. This post got me to thinking that I got it in Aug 07,06 so I better check it out before I start riding it this season.

This pic should show some of the 50 bicycles in my collection. It used to be 160 but I have pared it down to the ones that mean the most to me. My oldest is an 1899 Rambler from the company that in 1900 became the Rambler car company then Nash/Rambler in 1916.

 

Good enough might be good enough if I'm doing my own thing but if I'm paying someone to do the job, ESPECIALLY with my wheels, I don't want good enough. I want perfect. I demand perfect, or as close as possible, so I try to do my best to make my own stuff as close to perfect as possible.

 

To quote me-

"you can't torque a spoke"

i'll cut you hella deal on handle-bar stretchers w/ hd logos