Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/703695
105 www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS nAugust 2016n hook, peening the end to form the button, and then threading. Materials, notably stainless steel alloys, have been improved too. There are propri- etary formulas for spoke metals, hub alloys and rims, the idea being a sort of compatibility among the three that, combined with (what I call) computer- ized machine assembly, minimizes or eliminates many of the old bugaboos associated with spoked wheels. The modern spoked wheel doesn't suffer loose or broken spokes, cracked hubs or bent rims nearly as much as the wheels of decades past (like mine). And they remain incredibly strong for their weight! As mentioned above, the stiffest, most rigid spoked wheel is one with a radial spoke pattern; i.e., since the spokes go straight out from the hub to the rim without crossing another spoke, the spokes are 100 percent in tension. Thing is, this is next to no good for a wheel that is expected to take bumps and dips as the spokes below the hub will be loosened every time the wheel takes a hit, so the wheel will quickly come out of true. Yet…and yet… the real problem isn't spokes coming loose (there are thread-lockers to deal with that); it's that they can't cope with rotational forces! Nailing the brakes or gassing it hard, especially while tilting the horizon… can snap radial spokes like bread sticks. The ideal compromise is a two- or three-cross pattern, where every spoke crosses another two or three spokes. In any cross pattern the spokes are longer than in a radial pattern so although they only stretch and contract the same per- centage as a shorter radial spoke, actual stretched length is higher. Meaning… you have a wheel that can absorb a higher force yet retain its true. The tradeoff is the wheel isn't quite as stiff or as rigid as a radial-patterned wheel. The point being—if you're transferring any forces other than the weight of the vehicle between the hub and the rim, you need leading and trailing spokes! So, justifi ably, the wire spoke wheel is still with us and its design sophisti- cation hasn't exactly stagnated either! It is a very elegant and incredibly effi - cient bit of engineering technology, and its day is far from done… I think. As for my old bike with the busted spokes… there is no alternative to fi xing it… except replacing it. So, thanks to Fleabay, I'm doing both! I have a set of brand-new spokes with which to replace my old rim and hub. I also have a used wheel with no issues (yet) on its way as this is written. Replacing a spoked wheel is one thing. Rebuilding one… is another ("one-on- one in the wash" so to speak). The way I fi gure it, I've got nothing to lose by wheel building myself. If I manage it, I'll learn something and save money. If not… Buchanan's is close by. I'll let you know how it turns out! Motorhead Memo Continued from page 101 State-of-the-art cast wheel, again as used by Buell, but of a type currently in vogue. Harley cast wheels these days come in plenty of variations in looks and styles, but that can be deceiving. Not many are a functional improvement over the OEM wheels. Honestly, when it comes to wheels, cast or spoked, these days the decision is esthetic. Too bad! Hollow spoke cast wheels, as pioneered by Marchesini (and used by Buell), were wheels of choice for sport bikes all through the 90's. Thing is, not all the copies of this type wheel were as virtuous as the originals. Some (I swear) were alloyed with lead and heavy as hell, not to mention easier to damage (I speak from experience and from owning a scale!).