The front wheel in question is part of my latest dirt bike project at the time of writing – Project Honda XR250. Up until this point refurbing a wheel was new to me, as are most things I do with this project. Previously I was capable of removing and installing the front wheel but that is where my skills and knowledge stopped.
I decided to split the refurb process down into 2 seperate posts because I felt it had a natural break from getting the wheel stripped down to then starting on the refurb and rebuild stage.
There was actually more to it than I thought so there is quite abit to cover and I like to be as detailed as possible in the hope it may help someone else out in the future.
Here I will cover the following stages of the refurb and it assumes the front wheel is already off of the bike, as it was in my case because I had done a complete strip down all in one go. Once I have written post 2 I shall link to that probably towards the end of the post.
- Removing the tyre and inner tube
- Removing the wheel bearings
- Removing the spokes and nipples
Those are the 3 stages of the process so let’s get stuck in.
Removing The Front Wheel Tyre and Inner Tube
The last time I had taken the tyre off of a bike was on my bicycle as a kid and it was pretty straight foward so I went into this quietly confident. That was the wrong assumption!
Allow me to walk you through what I done and i’ll include a couple of top tips I worked out along the way that really helped me out.
First I hit up YouTube for some friendly advice and came across this video which seemed to show the process well and made it look very easy.
I didn’t have the Tusk wheel stand they are using so I was working directly on the floor which was fine. The stand is something I will consider at a later date when funds allow, as I would like to get one at some stage.
First I let the air out of the tyre and removed the valve nut then also unscrewed the rim lock nut. I needed a little WD40 on the rim lock nut but apart from that so far so good.
Next they say to ‘crack the bead’ by which they mean getting the tyre to break the seal from the wall of the rim. This part was easier than I expected and I think that was because I was working on the floor.
I simply locked my arms straight and put downwards preasure through my hands and you then have most of your weight bearing down on the tyre. If the tyre is on a stand then I can see you will need a different angle of attack which maybe harder.
Another item I didnt have was the tyre lube. Had I researched this prior to having a go then I would of bought some, but I like to get stuck in straight away after making a decision to do something, so good old WD40 was the closest thing to hand. It’s still a lubricant and seemed to do the job.
Now was the time to try and get this beast off! Aided with 2 tyre spoons I inserted the first spoon to lever the tyre up and over the rim. The problems started when I tried to get the second spoon in.
TOP TIP No.1 – Insert both tyre levers before levering the first
If you look at the video you are meant to press down on the opposite side from where you are inserting the tyre spoon so as it goes in, the whole tyre shifts towards you. This is only possible by pushing the rim of the tyre into the drop centre on the opposite side to free up space for movement.
In the image below you can see the tyre goes from the rim where it normally sits after being installed (blue line), then when pushed down it will fall into the valley and rest at the bottom of the drop centre (the pink line).
The thickness of the yellow space line is the amount of movement the tyre will move towards you on the side you are trying to get the spoons in.
When you put the first spoon in make sure you get a second in position before you lever the first. This is because as you do so the rim of the tyre will loose that extra space you created as you lever it out and over the rim, making it a nightmare to get your second spoon in.
TOP TIP No.2 – Use 3 Tyre Spoons
For the reasons I have just mentioned I can see it being therefore easier to start the process with 3 spoons not 2 like me.
Im aiming to get myself this cool set. You get 3 spoons that are a decent length as well as the valves and valve tool so they should make life abit easier. Something else going on the list for next time!
Removing The Wheel Bearings
I was looking forward to this part since buying my dirt bike bearing puller from when I done the refurb on the swing arm. I knew it would make light work of it and I wasn’t disappointed.
Looking to see what bearing puller I have? Here is a post I wrote about it: Dirt Bike Bearing Puller Review
The wheel quite simply has 2 bearings, one either side, with a collar sandwiched between them. I will be renewing both of these when I put it back together, one of which definitley needs doing and the other I could get away with.
Renewing them both means I have piece of mind knowing they have been done, it also makes sense whilst I have the wheel in bits and the cost is relativley low compared to other parts of the rebuild.
Firstly I had to remove the dust seal, which unfortunatley I don’t have a pick as I forgot to take one.
Basically it sits over the bearing and fits snug around the axel so no dust and grit can get inside. On this front wheel getting it off was done by simply just using a flat headed screw driver to pry it up.
Once off it will expose the bearing. The pic below shows me with the bearing puller inserted and just about to use the slide hammer.
I repeated this on both sides although the second side did give me a little hassle. It was also the side where the bearing wasn’t in great condition which makes me think that when somebody changed them before that they only changed one, leaving this bearing in place, which was probably just fine at the time.
During the period that has past this older bearing has had more time cement itself in place. That said it did come out in the end, it just needed a little more ‘encouragement’ than the first. Another perfect job for the puller because if you were trying to get that out by hand you would probably end up in a mess.
Removing The Spokes and Nipples
Up until this point, we have the wheel off the bike, the tyre off and inner tube out, and have just pulled both bearings and taken out the inner collar.
The final part of this front wheel strip down is to take off the 36 pairs of spokes and nipples, leaving the rim detached from the hub.
It is my firm belief that these are original to the wheel as they were firmly attached and rusted in. I knew these would be tough to remove and I had already made the decision that the refurbed wheel was going to have new stainless spokes.
Because this was the case I could of just cut them out, but I wanted to see if I could manage to get as many out as possible. At the minimum I needed one whole one out so I could compare it against one of the newer spokes that had already arrived which were an after market version.
Buying original Honda XR spokes were going to be £4.16 including the VAT and that is for 1 spoke!!! Check out this link, it is item for on the list(https://www.fowlersparts.co.uk/parts/5141879/xr250rm-1991-ed/front-wheel)
I needed 36 in total to complete the wheel which would of been £149.76. I couldn’t justify that when a new stainless steel set of 36 was around £50 delivered. More about that in the rebuild post to follow.
So to remove these rusty dirt bike spokes I first tried a good soaking of WD40 and let it sit. That had no effect what so ever so next I turned to heat.
Using my little kitchen blowtorch I allowed it the heat the threaded nipple in the hope it would free it from it’s rusty prison. That too failed.
After doing a little research I thought that if I couldn’t do it with heat then it was probably done for. The only thing I could think of was to get a bigger blow torch as the current one wasn’t fit for purpose. It is tiny and used in kitchens.
I bought this cheap blow torch and gas set from Amazon which I think is aimed at the camping market. I set it up to aim at one of the nipples and let it heat for about 4 mins solid without touching it. Eventually I was able to get a spoke off!
To help you out, I made a quick video of this, here it is.
The time it took to remove just one rusty spoke was probably 6 mins or so and that doesn’t include any stubborn ones that didn’t want to shift. For that reason I decided to get out the angle grinder for the remaining 30 or so spokes and I just cut them in half. Man was that satisfying…and quick.
At least if you have rusty spokes and need to get them off you have a method at your disposal, but I would say if you can afford new… do it.
That’s it for the strip down. The entire front wheel is now in bits and ready to be cleaned, refurbed and rebuilt. All of which I shall detail in my next post which can be found linked below.
XR250 Front Wheel Refurb Part 2 – The Rebuild
Thanks for reading.