Triumphrat

Moff · 04-02-2008

G'day All,
I've been trying to get some better rubber between me and the road and it seemed that a rim change was the way to go.
Tried the best guy here in Oz and didn't have much luck. Ordered my rims back in September, The 17"x3.5"x 36 holes wasn't a problem, but the 17"x4.25"x40 holes for the rear proved a bit of a problem. It was always "comming with the next order", or was "on the container, yet to be unloaded", but September stretched into February and still no luck.
So, I dropped an e-mail to Angel at Buchanons Spoke Works and had them in my hand inside two weeks. Any other Australians wishing to try this modification, I couldn't fault their service, give them a go.
Laced up the rims myself, (not difficult, just takes a bit of time) and fitted a pair of Michelin Pilot Powers front and rear. Unfortunately first time out the ignition coil packed it in so I can;t tell you yet what difference it made ;-(
Still haven't figured out how to attach photos to this post, but if you go to Moff's album, you'll see what it looks like ;-)

Cheers, Moff

mmelvis · 04-02-2008

How did you figure out how to lace up the rim ?

Moff · 04-03-2008

Place the new rim on top of the wheel and line up the hole for the valve stem. Then mark a spot on the hub where it lines up with the valve stem. Number all spokes at the hub and again on the new rim, then turn both wheel and new rim over and do the same for the other side. Take the spokes out of the old rim and lace the new rim up using the numbers you marked before. Fortunately I had the use of a wheel stand to spin the wheel to true it up and a good spoke spanner helps if you don't want to damage or distort the spoke nipples.
The rear wheel is easy, but you'll need a new set of shorter spokes to lace up the 17" rim to the front hub. I ordered a single example of the standard spokes (both inner and outer) from Triumph then sent them off to a local spoke maker with instructions to make up a batch 12mm shorter than the examples.
If you think you might need it, draw yourself a simple sketch of which spoke goes where when they cross each other.
I just read the above and it sounds a bit complicated, but once you try it, it's not that hard, just takes a bit of time.
Final note, when you get your front spokes made up, order a set of 40 even though you'll only need 36 for the front wheel. That way you'll have a couple of spares of both inner and outers if you ever need them.

Cheers, Moff