Musical Spokes: Checking and Adjusting Spokes Manually (without spoke torque wrench)

[@Oddman1980]

You video makes me feel VINDICATED, I've been adjusting spokes with a battered old guitar tuner for years and I've been hassled for it the whole time.

[@13hubi13]

Is there an app for the iphone that can also be used for that?

[@31AdventureZ]

This helps! I dropped a wheelie and was worried the spokes might be off a bit this definitely gonna help me ease the worry of them being at risk of popping bc i cant find the size or any for sale for my 2024 hawk

[@BFAMOTO]

@@31AdventureZ nice! Yeah if you’re practicing wheelies and dropping the front end a lot (especially a bigger bike) this is great way to quick check the wheel.

[@BFAMOTO]

A guitar tuner could absolutely be used to get a measurement of the pitch of each spoke and help balance the tension on them. Keep in mind that balancing the tension on the spokes doesn't necessarily mean the wheel will be true. In fact, sometimes spokes will have to be tighter or looser to true a wheel. The pitch method is definitely a good starting point though. Just make sure the wheel runout is acceptable after and adjust accordingly.

[@ejwang615]

thanks for sharing, i was wondering the exact method to adjust my bike's wheel spoke but afraid to do so

[@BFAMOTO]

@@ejwang615 glad it helped!

[@michaelwade2339]

Great information. Thank you!

[@Texas3Percenter]

Thanks for posting

[@nata911]

the timing belt on my ducati is tensioned to 98db I can confirm this is an effective way to torque oddball stuff. oh yeah and theres an app called Guitar Tuna that i use to do it.

[@BFAMOTO]

Ducatis make all sorts of fun noises...especially their dry clutch engines and Desmodromic valves!

[@dominykas3341]

thanks, nice video! but that should i do if i bought clapped ktm and all the spokes ar different(like most of them are changed)and theyre braking really often, and the only tool with alot of heads are like 150$

[@BFAMOTO]

If the spokes are breaking often there might be another problem. Can you check rim runout? Even if just on the bike, spin the wheel and look for bent spots in all directions. If the rim looks pretty good I would get a full set of new spokes and change them out next tire change.

[@dominykas3341]

@@BFAMOTO yeah the rim runout is okay, if they will brake again too, i will replace all of them, thanks!

[@tbladesmith]

With a cheap clip on guitar tuner you could probably dial it in pretty easily and quickly

[@Oddman1980]

That's exactly what I use, I'm not always able to pick out different tones. Once you do it a couple of times on the same bike you'll be able to set the scale and then you can get it exactly right.

[@potaylo]

I was thinking I should match the highest pitch currently on the wheel? after watching this I am thinking it would be best to find the most constant across all the spokes and maybe lower the higher ones if they are in the minority.

[@BFAMOTO]

yes, that's typically what i do...find the higher ones and lower them to balance the rest...or find the extremely low/loose ones and bring them up slightly to match the rest. this definitely isn't a substitute for using a spoke torque wrench...just a quick way to find extremes either too tight or too loose and get them back closer with the rest

[@TechyMedic28]

But how do you know which tone is the right tone?

[@BFAMOTO]

Exactly, it's not a perfect method just a quick way to make sure you don't overly tight or loose spokes relative to the others. Ideally the spokes would have just the minimum tension require to true the wheel and no more which you'd have to start with them all loose and go from there...which would give you an idea of the starting point.

[@BFAMOTO]

I thought I could insert a screen shot of the service manual here but spoke nipple torque for my dirt bike says 4.4ftlbs...which basically is all the way loose, snug back, then maybe 1/2 to a full turn. That would be your starting point tone if you needed to figure it out.

[@michaelwade2339]

Take a quick listen to multiple spokes, then decide on the average tone- dont take into account the outliers, the ones that are way off the average tone. Be conservative while adjusting.