Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rayivers]

I really wanted to use the latest MX rear tires but they're nearly all for 19" rims, so I changed out the 18" rim on my '16 FX rear wheel with a 19 x 2.50 Warp 9 Elite (7075 aluminum). 

Stainless 9 gauge spokes (9S) & nipples (N9309S) came from Buchanan's Spoke & Rim.  I sent them LH & RH '16 FX rear spokes as samples, and they made new ones .500" longer.  NOTE: the '16 wheels use all shorter spokes on the RH/brake side for rim offset.

Truing & rim-lock drilling the Warp 9 rim was more difficult than the OEM Zero rims. 7075 aluminum has similar characteristics to mild steel, so L-R truing required loosening one side & tightening the other (on the Zero rims just tightening one side was enough) and drilling required more pressure, cutting fluid, and time. I used my spare swingarm as a truing stand, and made up a wood clearance block for offset / truing measurements. Three new spoke ends protruded past the nipples and required @ 1mm of grinding, but the remaining 29 were fine (Honda style 32-spoke wheel).  Final true was @ +/- .75mm in both radial & axial directions, which is fine for a dirt bike.  Nearly all the Zero wheel rims were very true from the factory (@ +/- .3mm).  I used Emgo 1.85" and 2.75" rim locks, which are much sturdier than the Motion Pro Lite ones that fell apart on me.

It just wouldn't be a Zero mod without an expensive new tool so I finally had an excuse to get something I've wanted for a long time - a spoke torque wrench:



Torque was brought up from 5 in/lbs (initial coarse true) to 45 in/lbs 1/4 turn at a time, while continuously checking & adjusting trueness and offset along the way.  Now I understand why Buchanan's charges so much for lacing / truing.   Installing a larger rim & longer spokes was a lot more work than just replacing OEM spokes with new ones, as I've done on most of my vintage wheels.

Videos:   

Here's the finished wheel:



...and here's the complete set of FX wheels, which really should go on ASAP as the '14 rear wheel bearings are starting to show rocking play:



Ray

[Keith]

WOW!! 

[odedmaz]

Ray, you do incredible work. I am trying to catch up with your upgrades.

Read you had a chance to test ride the new Alta MX, I was wondering why it took you so long to ride this beast 😉

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[rayivers]

Thanks y'all!  And here I was thinking I was the only one on Earth interested in a 19" rear wheel...

Oded - until very recently, the closest Alta dealer to me was > 2,000km away.  This one was about a 1.5 hour drive, not too bad - and they are mainly a dirt-bike dealership, which I haven't seen in my area since the '70's.

Ray