Potential DIY solution for spoke & spoke related damage?

[Supchrgamx]

my comments were not directed at you or your situation ,only that I like the product and would like to see a better version, nothing more

Laurence

[OCD]

"In my opinion, the excessive angle caused by the crossed spokes on the above Magic Pie is simply unacceptable, It would not be a problem if you were lacing the hub into a motorcycle type rim that was specifically designed to allow the spokes to exit at a large angle:"

You cannot lace an MP2-5 (with paired holes) into a motorcycle rim. The reason for the one cross pattern was that I originally bought the MPII to lace with the 19" motorcycle rim, but the drilling only lines up on one side due to the paired holes being in the wrong place for this application to work, causing the opposite side rim holes to be angled in the wrong direction. I also believe the semi radial pattern is weaker than the one cross but the reduced angle works with the cheap non-angle drilled GM rims.



This wheel appears to have no spoke bend at the nipple whatsoever, does the angled tape allude to someone having correctly angle drilled the spoke holes? I've never seen a factory GM wheel with such a straight nipple/spoke relationship. 



Here's the factory job of wheel lacing, see how the spokes curve towards the nipple? This spoke curvature and spoke/nipple/rim angle mismatch (plus the use of generic brands of spokes/nipples) contribute significantly to the broken spokes/damage/out of true wheels which are referenced at the beginning of this thread.

Crazy L 

[Bikemad]

This wheel appears to have no spoke bend at the nipple whatsoever, does the angled tape allude to someone having correctly angle drilled the spoke holes? I've never seen a factory GM wheel with such a straight nipple/spoke relationship. 

Here is a picture of the exact same wheel showing the bendy spokes which was taken when I first received it, before I pulled it apart to fabricate and install my flange modification to allow the rim to be centred correctly on the bike:



I put the masking tape on the rim before I dismantled it so that I could try to angle the holes correctly by inserting a metal rod of the correct diameter into each hole to gently "bend" the rim to the required angle. Unfortunately the alloy rim was not quite as ductile as I has hoped, and I did end up with a few small cracks in the rim around some of the spoke holes.

Although this was not ideal, it was still much better than the original spoke angle, and the cracks are still exactly the same and do not appear to have increased in size, and this rim has been subjected to a fair amount of power:



Alan
 

[OCD]

I am in agreement with everything you've said/posted Alan, it's too bad that no ebike wheel manufacturer has come out with a hub motor specific rim similar to the dimpled motorcycle rim, but for bicycle sized tires. There would be less trouble for customers all around. I'm switching my 3k watt builds to motorcycle rims but those running lower (1500 watts or less) systems may not want the extra weight of a four ply moped tire.

  :oL

[e-lmer]

I wanted to comment on the restringing video.

I don't know if it was by luck or if it was secretly planned, but if you do not get the valve stem
in the correct spot it makes it very difficult to put air in the tires.

By the time I discovered it, the wheel was strung and I was not going to take it apart and
start over.


Look at the hub.  There will be two holes nearly exactly across from each other,
   and one on each side adjacent to this pair.  Call this a group of four.

When you start the threading pattern, be sure that the spoke on one of the two
     center holes of a group (the ones nearly directly across from each other) end
    adjacent to,  but angled away from the valve stem hole in the rim.