greaser_monkey_87
New Member
I've been wanting better wheels for a long time now. Finally I got an opportunity to piece one together. A couple months ago, my wife's brother-in-law acquired an old dirt bike for scrap, and told me I could have whatever parts I wanted off of it. It turned out to be a Yamaha MX125. I took the front wheel and some other random parts. When I got the wheel home and tried to take it apart, a few of the spokes were rusted so bad they snapped. No biggie, as I was more interested in the hub anyway, a nice large drum which turned out to be 130mm. I decided that I wanted to put the hub in a 24" rim. So this past Friday, I finally ordered one. I went online and found a spoke length calculator, and determined that the spokes from a 26" coaster brake hub were the correct length to lace the hub into a 24" rim in a 4x pattern. The rim will be here tomorrow, and I happened to have a spare set of spokes from a 26" coaster rim. I won't be able to use it right away, because I have to wait until I can get a tire and tube for it. But that shouldn't take too long.
I also wanted to build a good, solid rear wheel. I'm currently running a 26" alloy coaster rim that I converted to freewheel. I really wanted a stronger wheel though, and since I still have this motorcycle wheel, I thought maybe I could use that. So I started looking at tires, and found out that an 18" motorcycle tire (that's the size wheel I have) is around 24" when inflated. I also found that there is a website that sells disc brake adapter brackets for bikes without disc mounts. So I decided that what I want to do is lace a disc hub into my motorcycle rim and use a Top Hat sprocket adapter. So I will be running a 130mm front drum and 140mm rear disc on a dual-pull lever. This should give me excellent stopping power. I've already prepped the drum by sanding the shoes and the drum and swabbing with alcohol, as the shoes were a bit glazed. I lightly sanded with 100 grit. The rear wheel may take a bit longer, as its going to be a bit pricey, the tire costing $20 and the disc hub, whatever that costs, then the top hat adapter, disc rotor and freewheel, also if I need custom spokes that will add to it. I will update with pictures as I get them done.
I also wanted to build a good, solid rear wheel. I'm currently running a 26" alloy coaster rim that I converted to freewheel. I really wanted a stronger wheel though, and since I still have this motorcycle wheel, I thought maybe I could use that. So I started looking at tires, and found out that an 18" motorcycle tire (that's the size wheel I have) is around 24" when inflated. I also found that there is a website that sells disc brake adapter brackets for bikes without disc mounts. So I decided that what I want to do is lace a disc hub into my motorcycle rim and use a Top Hat sprocket adapter. So I will be running a 130mm front drum and 140mm rear disc on a dual-pull lever. This should give me excellent stopping power. I've already prepped the drum by sanding the shoes and the drum and swabbing with alcohol, as the shoes were a bit glazed. I lightly sanded with 100 grit. The rear wheel may take a bit longer, as its going to be a bit pricey, the tire costing $20 and the disc hub, whatever that costs, then the top hat adapter, disc rotor and freewheel, also if I need custom spokes that will add to it. I will update with pictures as I get them done.
