Lost art?

[Doug]

Just finished spoking up two wheels for my 250. As far as I can remember the last time I did this must have been around 30 years ago. The first one took about an hour and a half and the second about an hour. I seem to remember it taking less than 30 minutes back then!
This got me thinking about how few apprentices are around nowadays and what are we going to do when us old farts have gone and taken our skills with us.

 

[shanered6]

doug your so right ! i taut my self to respoke wheels at a young age , ive tried to show my sons how to do stuff !......but i get the same answer!
WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW THAT .....THATS WHAT GAS ARE FOR ,( or in this case .....thats what dad is for ) .
i think this generation has jumped forward at a faster pace than we did , and hence see's no value in knowing stuff like that . and its a great shame !

the jack of all trades is a dieing breed !

 

[DaveM]

Skills like these are just being lost it is now a culture of throw out and replace

 

[dazco]

This got me thinking about how few apprentices are around nowadays and what are we going to do when us old farts have gone and taken our skills with us.

then we all get alloy wheels. (already got em here)

 

[hemibee]

Skills like these are just being lost it is now a culture of throw out and replace

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I've been lucky with my oldest son, he has done all the maintenance on his race bike and hasn't had to take it to a shop for repairs. I'll guide him thru the work or lend a helping hand when needed but he has done the work. My wife was a little upset when I bought him a $50 USD DVD set on bike maintenance but she then realized with the first rebuild he saved her over $600 and she then thought the DVD's were well worth the money. He was talking about getting another set of wheels so he can have spares ready to go when he starts racing again, I plan to have him lace his own.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DaveM]

This was about the same way I had to learn back then I bought the bike my Dad would pay for any spares but I had to do the work. No book no DVD just learn as you go. It sure was fun when I had to replace a selector drum in my one gearbox the first time

 

[Rocky]

Good for you Doug! Congrats for doing it yourself
What you say about disappearing skills is quite true.
I rebuilt the wheels on both of my old British bikes. The first one was about 15 years ago and the second one was three years ago.
I had never done this before so it was quite a chore.
The lacing wasn't any problem, but the trueing nearly drove me nuts. I stuck with it and brought all wheels well within specification.
It was a bit of a chore, but a great feeling of satisfaction when they were finished.

 

[shanered6]

rocky you are spot on ! i get a real kick out of knowing that all the work on my bike is done by me ! big or small job , and i love doing something for the first time and learning about it as you go .
ALL SO YOU GET TO KNOW YOUR BIKE INSIDE OUT ! and you know strait away if something is not quit right .

 

[DaveM]

I just wish I had the tool and a place to work on my bike but for me it all has to be done outside with limited tools :y8:

 

[Silli]

I used to do all my own work on my bikes (and cars) because I couldn't afford to have the work done professionally. Enjoyed it too, back then.
Never re-spoked a wheel though.

These days, I do not have the time or inclination to work on vehicles.

 

[shanered6]

i've just put my car through the MOT test for this year , it needed a lot this time as it only just got through last year.
my driveway which is a dirt track ,does tend to give the car a hard time, anyway !.......it cost £600+ in parts this year !....it had all new ABS sensers , 3 new tyres,new anti roll bar bushes both sides, crack rod end and tie rod end.... right side, new rear box on exhaust , the horn was not working right and finaly new wind screen wipers .
i did it all my self after work in the evenings , if it had gone to a garage to be repaired it would have cost £2000+ .
so the car is mint again ! and should be fine for a good few years now, so saved a lot of money and i know my car a lot better now.

the hole time i worked on it my son and his mates just couldn't see why i bothered !....just send it to the garage.
my reply i cant afford it ! ..........

 

[DaveM]

Also you end up knowing the work was done properly ....... we I hope so

 

[Silli]

A new crack rod end eh.................. very interesting!

 

[CarlS]

I have never laced a wheel; but I have trued them and replaced spokes many times.

 

[Doug]

Carl,it's not that difficult if you're logical about the assembly order and which pair of spokes is going to pull which way. Of course it's a whole lot easier if you're starting with a new set of spokes and a new rim.

 

[Rocky]

I took photos of the wheels and hubs before I took them apart, printed them 8x10 and used them as my guide for lacing.
The lacing was the easy part. I was using new rims and spokes and freshly powdercoated hubs.
Getting them true and the offset correct was the hard part for an amateur.
But I did it and was pretty proud of myself when they were done.

 

[CarlS]

Carl,it's not that difficult if you're logical about the assembly order and which pair of spokes is going to pull which way. Of course it's a whole lot easier if you're starting with a new set of spokes and a new rim.

I think I could do it; I just wouldn't be very speedy at it.

 

[Rocky]

I think I could do it; I just wouldn't be very speedy at it.

It can be a very frustrating chore for an amateur. It took me a couple of days to do one wheel.
I would work at it for an hour or so, take a break and go back to it, several times a day.
But I was determined and got it done.....eventually

 

[Gary]

In the year 2525, people won't need arms or legs (maybe 2025) or so the song goes.

I recently bought a small dual purpose bike that needed a new rear tire (previous owner was "afraid" of the front brake of course). Anyway, I bought a new spoke ring (the rubber liner that goes over the spoke ends inside the wheel, a new tube and a new tire). Then I started looking for someone to mount the tire. The closest place was a bike shop 40 miles away and they wanted US $110.00 to mount the tire and leave the bike for two days, but they couldn't balance the tire.

No one within 100 miles of me could balance a motorcycle tire.

I immediately ordered a bead braker, tire irons, a motorcycle wheel balancer and some weights from the internet (total less than $110). None of these items were available from any store in my town (half of the auto parts places had clerks who did not know what a tire iron was - they insisted it was another name for a lug wrench.

I looked again locally, and finally was told of a gas station that could mount a motorcycle tire (but not balance it and certainly not true it if the spokes needed adjusting). Anyway, I pulled the wheel off the bike and took it to the gas station - they mounted the tire for US $20.00.

I didn't get around to remounting the wheel and tire for a couple of days, and when I started I noticed the air was low, so I put in some air, balanced the wheel (it was about 12.5 grams out - a lot IMHO) and went ahead with the remount. Next day - flat tire. I immediately ordered another extra heavy duty tube from a place that delivers in 24 hours.

That same day my other internet order came in, so I pulled the tire that night and guess what; there was a hole pinched in it near the valve from sloppy mounting. Then I got to looking at the tube and it had 2 patches on it and I realized it wasn't the new tube I took to the gas station.

The next day, I took it to the gas station and asked for the new tube that wasn't used. The guy said "Well...I tore the new un up trying to git it in soins I had to use the old one to git er done." I guess it never occurred to him that he owed me a new $20 tube.

That evening I slipped in the second new tube, balanced the wheel again (closer this time) and remounted it - no problems since.

This is pitiful.

 

[DaveM]

This is bad that he can just do it and not tell you about it, what next you ask yourself