A friend of mine brought up a very good question regarding the spoked wheels on my Road King. Is there any maintenance to be done to the spokes as far as making sure they are tight and run true? Has anyone ever had a problem with the spoked wheels? Let me know as I will be bring my bike in real soon for its 10,000 mile service and need to know if I should have the stealer check the spokes while they are at it.

Thanks for your input in advance.

 

Spokes I hate spokes to hard to clean and yea I think it is a good idea to maintain them if you run them.

 

they do suck to clean but I really like the looks of them on the RK Classic.

 

You gotta keep them tight. I learned my lesson with spokes on a late model bike. First, the spokes are cheap and stretch. Second, the Twin Cam puts out more torque than an HD to date, so it makes the stretching worse.

At 31k miles, my spokes loosened. I had then tightened and trued. I checked the spokes at 62k miles before leaving on a trip. They were tight. Less than 200 miles into the trip, they started loosening quickly. I ended up with a ruined hub and a trailer ride home.

My experience is not an uncommon one. I ditched the rear spokes and put on a 1200C wheel.

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Have the dealer check the spokes. If any loosen up, they could wind up breaking or causing the wheel to go out of balance. With that being said, in over 13,000 miles on my E-Glide, I have not had a single issue with my spokes. I do check them regularly simply by tapping them one at a time with a screw driver. They should all make the same sound. If you come upon one with a lower "ping", it should be tightened. The shop manuel has torque specs for spokes, but some guys just tweek a loose spoke just enough to make it sound like the rest. Not the best method, but it will do in a pinch.
Even though spokes are more maintainence intensive than cast wheels, I still love them. The look is just simply righteous. I'll keep my Profile laced wheels on my Glide. Might change my mind one day, but for now I'm happy with them.

 

You do have to from time to time "ping" the spokes with an allen wrench and make sure they have nice ring to them. If they thud you have loose ones. I had the spokes on back wheel get loose and you will know when they are. The bike got real sloppy especially when you roll off the throttle on the freeway. Take it to your shop, they will true and tighten. Costs about $100.

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I used this "loose spoke" reason on my wife to justify switching to new Renegade wheels. Because I was very concerned about my safety.

 

I like the thouight process - whatever works is my philosophy!

 

It's easy to do it yourself.
Spokes that don't have a "ping" to them
you can tighten with a 1/4" wrench
untill they "ping" again.
Takes 5 minutes per wheel, bike handles great
and no inbalance.
Did it last week for the first time after 40K.
I really love the laced wheels on my RKC

Peter

 

wow i love this forum, learn all kinds of new **** every time i read the threads!