How to Lace Up TTR125 Rims
By Jerry Matta
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The Rear Wheel
I decided to do this article in order to save some poor souls about 5 hours of aggravation, because heavy duty spokes and hubs and rims can sometimes clash.
Since I don't lace rims all the time, the first thing I do take pictures of them at various angles. This way, I can always refer back to them if I have a problem with my memory. No I'm not a stoner, I'm just getting old. I started with the rear rim, because I know it's ten times easier than the front. Obviously the first thing to do is undo the spokes. However make a note about the bends and the lengths for each side and whether it's an inner or outer spoke. (Check Pic 3)
Even though it appears to have four different bends, the replacements only have two, but if your doing stock spokes, that will be good to remember.
Here are the various angles I to so I could refer back to them if I needed to.
Well next, I found out the the rear nipples were too big for the rim, so I to drill the rim. What I did was place the rim on a plastic crate so I could quickly spin it without worrying about scratching it. Next I made a jig out of a YZ85 swingarm that I got off ebay, and started lacing. Lace the inner ones first then the outer ones. Make sure every spoke is going in every forth hole on it's side of the rim. Mine came out almost perfectly true. But now it's time to true them up and next put duct tape around it and you're good to go.
The Front Wheel
First off, the front wheel is a pain. If you notice the spoke all go in the same way. They are all inside spokes. So if you've laced rims before, but not a TTR front rim, this will save you about 2 hours of grief. Problem one. The heavy duty spokes had too much angle on them. They were about 90 degrees when they should have been about 70. So now you've have to drill the hub. Not a little, a lot. More so on the lower holes. Also, don't just drill a round hole, you have to oval it out in the direction of the way the spoke goes. They have to be able to slide in and flip toward the direction of the wheel. It's the flipping part that is the pain. Get it all drilled out and make sure every hole works before you begin lacing. Now the lacing. If you notice, each spokes crosses another spoke four times. Also, take a look and the way the spokes go. Spokes that are right next to each other go 180 degrees away from each other. Not only that, but each set of cross spokes are every eight holes. This is a problem and the guy who design this should be shot. So you have to lace one side, the lowers go on the inside, then you have to do the other side. For the nipples, just twist them about two turns. However in order to do the other side, you have to put the spoke in and undo each spoke on the opposite side them work it over to the appropriate hole. I did uppers first then lowers, but I don't think it matters. Either way it's a slow tidies process. However about an hour later or so you will be lacing up the last spoke and it will be ready to be trued.
Wheels Part Duex
Ok, the Pro-Wheels suck. They flat spotted and the spokes stripped out. So I replaced them with BBR rims. However while lacing up the front wheel, I found a way to do it fast and easy. With the emphasis on easy. If you note on the pic the outside spokes hang down. When you put one side of the spokes in, put all of them in, but let the outside spokes hang down. They might get a little bunched up, but it will work. Then after you lace up the inners, just swing the outers around and lace them up. Otherwise, you have lace them in one at a time and undoing two spokes to get one in, which takes forever.
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*****Pro-Wheel came out with new generations of wheels since I wrote this.
