A warning about lacing wheels

[dcstrom]

Agghh I have this problem with my rear rim again. I replaced it in France after the original developed cracks at about 80,000 miles. This one has only done 10,000 miles. I doubt it's a bad part, since almost nobody has had this problem at such low mileage. I suspect the guy laced it too tight, or something. Yamaha has a torque spec for the spokes, but of course correct torque does not guarantee the wheel will be true. In getting it true, I think he must have over-torqued it.

Yamaha, time to do something about this rim design! I'm not really that concerned if a stock rim will last 80,000 hard miles, but if there is some special technique required to lace the new one, then that's a problem...

I'm in Armenia right now, there's a guy in Yerevan who's apparently a genius welder, can weld aluminium, magnesium, titanium (and gets a lot of practice since OEM parts are unavailable in Armenia). Will let him have go at it.

 

[Dogdaze]

Hey dc, that's rotten luck! I hope you are able to get things sorted and on the move again ::008::

 

[tomatocity]

Sorry to hear about your rim issues. Let us know about the repair and how it holds up over time.

 

[~TABASCO~]

I have found by lacing up Tenere wheels it doesn't end up being much tension on the heads when your all done. If someone doesn't take the time to 'unload' the spoke while trueing the wheel someone could easily over tension one or more spokes in the back and forth 'game'of relacing a wheel. I suspect this spoke (maybe others) are to tight and could / can crack the center out. When done there really isn't much load on each spoke head.