First off, did you tell the rep that you have tubes? The figures he gave you would normally be for tubeless tires, according to their own website. Tubes or severe usage need 10 and 13 oz. which is what virtually all of us use. The only way you would ever find out that 8 and 10 oz. is not enough is when you have a flat! I would MOST STRONGLY advise you to put in 10 and 13 from the beginning!

When I added Ride-On, I left the weights as is and never had an issue. When I replaced the rear tire, I kept the tube, which was only four years old and had the Ride-On in it for only two years. Didn't lose any in the process, but I was careful to keep the valve stem upwards during the change. We then re-balanced the new tire with weights, which may not have been necessary, but it didn't seem do any harm.....the new rear was smooth from the first mile.

As for the spokes, I've never heard of torqueing all of them to the exact same value! I think that doing that will almost guarantee having an out of round wheel, unless you are building a wheel up from scratch and are using that as an initial value before truing the wheel. That being said, the rear TW wheel is very strong, and perhaps yours won't get pulled out of true by doing this, but this is certainly not the way I was taught to adjust spokes. Since I'm not willing to buy a truing stand and learn the real art of truing, the most I will do is to check all the spokes by sound and if a few go CLUNK instead of TINK, tighten those JUST enough to get them to not go CLUNK but not try to bring them up to the TINK stage.....usually no more that 1/4 to 1/2 a turn. Very scientific, I know.

If the wheel is noticeably out of round I will take it to a professional.

 

Like Rocky said. I just don't believe you could get all the torque values the same (or would have to) on a used wheel. Just as long as they are all snug, they don't have to "ring" the same. I've looked at those fancy torque spoke wrenches and thought they would be neat. But some times a loose spoke will require you to "bust it loose" before it will turn freely in the nipple, and i'm sure that fancy torque wrench would "click" before that would happen. You could still bust it loose, but like any other clicker torque wrench, you shouldn't beat on it like that. If you were building a new wheel up with NEW components, it would probably be ok. Just more of an expensive toy that may or (more likely) may not work the way I see it-Glenn

 

What? Your going to torque the spokes?

 

Wow, some folks are more precision oriented than I am. I tune by ear, I try to get all spokes of same length singing the same pitch when stroked. And who doesn't like getting stroked?

 

Hi guys: Thanks for the input. I think I will follow RockyTFS's suggestions. Later.

 

Yeah, I've laced and trued close to 100 wheels in my day, and have never heard about torquing them, never. This is a first. I agree with what Rocky said. Plus IMO you'd be asking for problems buy doing so. Just make sure the spokes have a tink to them, and only tighten the ones that sound dead, just to snug, not anything over that. How tight the spokes are is what centers, up/down and left right the hub to rim. Over tightening or loosening may result in an out of true wheel. Not every spoke will be the same for that reason. Do not fix what ain't broken. Leave well enough alone. Unless you know what your doing. Truing a spoke laced wheel is a science, and very complex. Messing with it may not change it right then when you do it, but will settle in after riding, and will become out of true. Making each spoke exactly the same torque is just wrong, period. It's possible, but you'd have to loosen every spoke, and start from scratch, even then, they would be close, but not exact as far as using a torque wrench.

 

Truing a spoke laced wheel is a science, and very complex..

I was going to say "art form" I used to have Mt. Bike rims laced up by a buddy of mine a long time ago, he started to explain that the rims need a certain amount of "dish" and offset for the sprockets to line up with the derailleurs etc. etc. I would immediately get real tired and want to sleep lol.

 

Hi Bob: FYI the service manual calls for 4.3 ft.lbs torque per spoke. and if you do a spoke torque adjustment, from further study one goes every third spoke by 1/4 turn max or click and in three revolutions of the wheel should be done unless more than 1/4 turn necessary on a spoke. Then check true and turn out.

 

Well, If you feel the need, then have at it. If your wheel is true and not loose, I just can't understand why. Not trying to steer ya wrong. Just tryin to help ya out from 25 years of experience. I hope I don't have to say I told you so. Good luck....

 

Hi Bob: I'm planning on following RockyTFS's suggestions. Just wanted to say that there is a system to do what i planned on doing, and just to be perfectly honest, I could not find in the service manual if the rear tire had exactly the same torque specs as the front one which is the only figure i could get absolutely. Would have had to get a Yamaha tech rep to confirm rear specs. Take care and have a happy holidays, and don't go off having your riding buddies busting their bones, at least until they have a chance to heal.

 

Hey man, it's all good. Just tryin to save ya some greef. Merry Christmas...

 

The hubs with sprokets are fixed, so lining it up for that is done with axle spacers. But centering the rim left/right to clear chain is the issue without being offset one way or the other to much.
Yeah, whatever ya want to call it, it's basicly boring. Takes a LOT of practice too. Back in 1981 while in motorcycle mechanics school, only 3 days where devoted to wheel lacing and truing. Most couldn't do it to save their lives. I guess I was lucky, and had a knack for it, as I picked it up pretty quick. Since then, I practiced a lot. Then while I was working in motorcycle dealerships as a mechanic, and they found out, I was the "go to" guy for lacing wheels. When anodized aftermarket rim colors became popular in the motocross world, I started doing this at home. At times, I was doing 2 or 3 a day for years. Guys bought gold (most popular) rims, with different color hubs, and needed me to put them together. That's back when the motocross bikes were getting more colorful, making them look "Trick" (was the word back then) with aftermarket parts. Most bikes came with black hubs and silver rims. I enjoyed it. I had a table setup along with a truing stand in my living room in front of the TV. So after I got home from wrenching on bikes all day at work, I laced and trued wheels at night. Made some nice side cash. I was doing work for other shops and race teams. Back when manmade indoor supercross tracks started getting popular, a lot of riders were bending rims, spokes, etc., while learning to double and triple bigger jumps. That kept me busy. It's just been so long since I've done it, who knows how long it would take me now, if I even remember some of my old tricks.

 

Don't know if this is your first time using RideOn, but I can tell you that it works! The stuff really does flawless balance the tires! I'v been using it for like a year now and it seriously does improve tire life and decrease vibration at highway speeds!

 

I've been a mechanic for 30 yrs and my saying is "torque wrenches are for people who don't know how to tighten a bolt" Trust the professionals like Werlock and read this then tell me if you still want to torque your spokes. Can you use a torque wrench to inspect a bolt for proper torque? | AMT Community

 

Hi Peterb: Thanks. I think I already got that message with regard to spokes. As far as engine bolts, wheel shaft lock nuts, etc. I'll trust a torque wrench any day over a guesstimate. Also, in passing, I said as anyone who has read this thread through, right after I mentioned my initial plans and asked for suggestions, the comeback was such that my INITIAL RESPONSE was to agree with RockyTFS and not screw with the spokes. Okay. Enough!

 

I always thought that adjusting the spokes was a process designed ONLY to true a rim. As kids we played with the spokes to get our bicycle rims as close to exact round and true while rotating and with a guide set on both the top and outside edge we tried to make sure the rim edge did not wobble as it rotated and was near perfect on the circular spin. The pros actually use dial indicators to get them as close to perfect as possible and for sure every spoke could have a completely different torque value when done.

As far as the Ride On being inserted in our tubes while leaving the existing spoke wheel weights on, I would have to disagree. It seems to me this would cause the Ride On fluid balance to have to counter act against the lead balance weights. I would say use one or the other but not both. The benefit of internal liquid balance is it remains a liquid and is ever changing with tire wear. Fixed external spoke weights cannot correct for tire wear unless you keep re balancing the wheels.

GaryL

 

.........
As far as the Ride On being inserted in our tubes while leaving the existing spoke wheel weights on, I would have to disagree. It seems to me this would cause the Ride On fluid balance to have to counter act against the lead balance weights. I would say use one or the other but not both. .......
GaryL

This seems perfectly logical, but I have had Ride-On in both tubes now for over 5,000 miles without taking the weights off and the wheels are smooth as ever and the wear is very even, so at least on my tires it doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

"In my carpentry I used to get really mad because I cut a board twice and it was still too short" I always do that with the last piece of really expensive trim.

 

When possible I try to always cut the longest piece first so a mistake can become the second longest piece. But of course you already knew that.

 

I do it the exact opposite! Use the shortest pieces that will fit first and then end up with the longest left overs. Measure twice, cut once is the rule and if you are working with very critical measurements then use a hard ruler instead of a tape measure. The end tab on most tape measures have a little play in them so if you are measuring inside dimensions and then using the tape to measure outside dimensions there could be a sixteenth of an inch difference.

GaryL

 

i torqued mine using a spoke wrench, in lbs torque wrench and this tool.

Shortly going to make another tool by cutting the wrench in half and welding a 1/4" drive socket to it.

edit: obviously always kept at 90° to the wrench to maintain torque value.