Well, riding a dirt bike and doing wheelies on it isn’t a tough job once you compare it with maintenance and care. If you have tightened or changed the dirt bike chain, you may feel confident when truing a dirt bike wheel.
In actuality, it is far more tricky especially if you haven’t done it before. In my initial days, I was also afraid of doing these things due to a fear of making things complicated or worse. With time, I practiced and managed to reach this point to help you guys.
Wheels are the most important parts in a Dirt bike that enables you to ride but it is also that part that is prone to get damaged more frequently. If you adjust your dirt bike every month, lacing, truing, balancing, and cleaning your dirt bike wheels would also require twice a monthly schedule. You need to do it all by yourself so you can experience a smooth ride each time.
What if, you don’t know how to true a dirt bike wheel or how to balance dirt bike wheels and even how to clean them, we will let you know every single thing in layman’s terms so you can start doing it yourself. So, let’s get into it!
Step by Step Dirt Bike Wheel’s Maintenance Guide | Dirt Bikes Action
Oftentimes, some people may not even know the difference between balancing out a wheel vs truing a wheel. In actuality, both truing and wheel balancing are two different names for the same thing.
A wheel balancing or truing is the method in which we eliminate the wobble out of the bike’s wheel which is formed due to compressive loads and suspension issues in your bike. This might not sound technical or important, but it definitely is!
This is definitely technical as it needs effort and it is important too because you don’t want to spin your dirt bike wheel out of its straight movement. If you are at the lowest speed, it may not be a problematic thing, but it can cause serious damage and accidents if you are riding like a crazy boy. It is actually not difficult if you can understand the concept and technique. Otherwise, it would become!
How To True A Dirt Bike Wheel in less than 20 Minutes (Side By Side)
First, understand the type of basic balance outs. The first one is side by side in which your wheel wobbles out either on the right side or at the left and even on both sides in some cases. Then, the second one is an up and down wobble where your wheel isn’t certain on up and down motions.
Well, this isn’t something official as such but the most common ones. Even from it, you’ll mostly face side by side wobbles and we will let you know how to balance dirt bike wheels in this case. With that, you will get a concept and can easily fix your own.
In order to truing a dirt bike wheel, you need to have some tools. Now, in this method, you don’t need to arrange a whole toolbox but a couple of things would be more than enough. The first thing is having a truing stand, so you can do everything with perfection.
Now, it is not a strict requirement but if you are new to this, you should prefer this way. Otherwise, you can do it right on your standing bike as well. It might be a little trickier but at least doable!
Tools Needed:
A truing stand (As per your requirement)
Spoke Wrench (Here)
Step#1
Get the wheel out of your dirt bike and hang it on the truing stand (if you don’t want to do it right there on your bike without unassembling) and fix the wheel on your stand nicely.
Now, give that wheel a full swing by rotating it in the forward position in the right direction in which you travel (not in reverse). Now, identify the type of balance out in your wheel. Is it a side by side wobble or is it up and down?
Step#2
Get the pointer out from your truing stand and pull it towards the wheel and don’t touch the tip of the pointer with the rim. Give it a turn in the same position and get an idea of the spokes where the difference between the rim and pointer is closest and farthest.
This current turn shouldn’t be speedy but very slow as you want to identify and mark the exact range of sprockets where the wheel is having a difference. It should be on your wheel’s left side and then do it for the right side.
First, find the lowest spot by spinning the wheel slowly and mark the spoke where the difference between your wheel and pointer is the lowest. Similarly, do it for the highest spot where the difference between the pointer and wheel is the highest. Mark this one and get to the next step.
Step#3
So, you have now marked the left side. What you have to do; is just lose 05 spokes of the wheel’s left side (if you first fixed the left side) and head towards the right side of your wheel and tighten exactly 05 spokes from the right side but they should be of the same location.
Now, whether you are tightening or loosening up the spokes, it shouldn’t be way too tight or loose. Just grab your spoke wrench and give it a single yet complete turn and that’s it. Do it equally for both sides of your wheel so your wheel can slightly start shifting in the opposite direction. Set your wheel idle with one of your hands and then tighten/loosen the spokes so you don’t miss the exact ones.
Once you do this, you will see a little reduction in the wobble. Doing a couple of different adjustments will ultimately lead you towards a near to precise truing. Also, make sure to flip the wheel by turning the left side to the right side of the right one to the left. So, you can make sure the fix is working for both of its sides and this can prevent your wheel from bending to a specific side.
Just don’t lose hope, don’t lose focus, and don’t panic!
When you are getting closer and closer to your procedure, you will start to lose focus but that’s totally fine. Just do the nearest point and that’s it. Remember, you are riding a dirt bike on an uneven surface and tracks where you don’t need a lot of precision when truing a dirt bike wheel.
How To Balance Dirt Bike Wheels (Up & Down Wobble)
Well, you are not going to get both side by side and up & down movement at once. Even if you get it, the up and down wobble is going to be very minimal and you necessarily don’t have to fix it every time. But, if you still want to do this, this one is not that technical but let’s take a look at this as well.
Step#1
Exactly the same as above but a bit different too! Pull the indicator towards the wheel but put it under the wheel this time as you need to figure out the amount of wobble in the Up and down of that wheel. Once you set the indicator and wheel on top of the latter, fastly spin the wheel in the neutral position to figure out if there’s any wobble to balance or not.
If there’s a very slight wobble, better don’t fix it because you may mess up with things and make it even worse. Also, you don’t need to fix it because you are riding a dirt bike and it’s okay to have a tolerance of around 3 and even 5mm in some cases. But, if it’s more than that or your wheel is seriously out, follow me!
Step#2
Slowly turn the wheel in order to mark the closest and furthest points on your wheel. Now, if you have found the point, it’s time to tighten 6 spokes (3 from both the left and right sides of the wheel) so it can bring the wheel upwards and near to the center. If the seamed spot of your wheel is coming out, it will also affect the precision, and honestly, it isn’t a very big deal for motocross and dirt bikes.
Remember this rule, if you are fixing up and down wobble, always tight spokes in even numbers from both sides of the wheel. And, if you are fixing side by side wobble, preferably tightening the spokes in odd numbers will be good. For the current up and down wobble, tighten the spokes by first giving them a half turn each. If that works nicely, follow the pattern. Otherwise, you can give a full turn.
Once you give a turn to the downward spokes, it’s time to repeat the procedure with the spokes on the upside in order to balance out nicely. This isn’t a requirement if you are having dirt bike training wheels. That’s how to true it!
How Many Spokes are on a dirt bike wheel & how to fix them all?
You know well, it depends on the manufacturer, the model, and the size of a particular dirt bike. Some Honda models can have 32 and some other brands may have even 30 or fewer. But, most full size dirt bikes come with 36 spokes which is a 21” wheel size. By the way, there are a few other dirt bike wheel sizes too.
If you want to tighten the spokes of a full size dirt bike, you need to first have a spokes torque wrench set so you can proceed with the tightening. Now, you have to tighten it in a way, so you can’t mess up with the balance you just created.
For that, you need to follow a pattern and tight as per your wheel’s torque written on your bike’s manual. For dirt bike training wheels, this would be around 25 to 40 inch pounds. Now, the next job is to start tightening but with care.
Split the total number of spokes (36) at your wheel into 12 groups and tight the first one of each group. Reference your wheel with the tube’s hole and start from the spoke located right next to it.
Tight the very first spoke, leave the next 2 spokes, tight the 4th, leave the next two, now tight the 7th spoke, leave the next two and follow the exact pattern until you reach back to the last spoke located right there at that tube’s hole.
Now, pick the 2nd spoke from the first group, then the 2nd spoke of the second group, 2nd of the third group, and similarly give your wheel a complete round until you reach that hole again. Afterward, it’s time for the last round. Pick the remaining 3rd spoke of each group and tight (same turns as you did first) them all.
Spin the wheel once again and many Congratulations!
