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Ordered new black excel rim and excel spoke set and they came in today. Im concerned about the aluminum nipples. Will the threads hold up? Anyone run this setup? And how do you like them? Is there a stainless nipple set that will work? Thanks

Aluminum is fine.

This will be my first time lacing a wheel. I've rebuilt pretty much everything else on dirt bikes and I've got YouTube vids!

Check old threads for info on using Excel on a KDX. It has been a while (17 years, but who is counting), but I seem to remember discussion of having to drill out the rim's nipple holes to use the Excel nipples. Measure the stock size and the Excel size.

Does anyone remember what the thing was about using them??

I searched a little.

viewtopic.php?f=115&t=19217&p=172568&hi ... le#p172568

viewtopic.php?f=77&t=6765&hilit=excel+nipple

Yes, using a stoke rim you will have to drill out spoke holes to 8.5mm. I bought the excel rim cause my stock rim is crusty, it's seen better days. Pluse I wanted black rims.

Please take pictures of your process and progress. Looks like a fun project!

I am waiting on some tools to arrive. It will be a slow process and I will take pictures of it.

Thanks for the refresher. I appreciate it.

You're welcome. I have done alot of reading on the different rim and spoke companies. I wanted to get the tusk rims but it states the tusk rim will only work with oem spokes or aftermarket direct replacements. And I did not want to drill out a new rim. So I paid alittle more knowing that there wouldn't be a fitment issue. It's too bad tusk doesn't make the complete wheel for the kdx, I would have dropped the coin for them.

You certainly did not make a bad choice going with Excel's over Tusk. Drilling out the rims and or hubs isn't that bad if you end up having to. It ends up only being a very small amount of material removed. I was nervous the first time I had to do it too, but wasn't a big deal.

Ewbarger wrote: 09:33 pm Jan 16 2023 You're welcome. I have done alot of reading on the different rim and spoke companies. I wanted to get the tusk rims but it states the tusk rim will only work with oem spokes or aftermarket direct replacements. And I did not want to drill out a new rim. So I paid alittle more knowing that there wouldn't be a fitment issue. It's too bad tusk doesn't make the complete wheel for the kdx, I would have dropped the coin for them.

I bought Tusk rims and Buchanan spokes which have oversized nipples. They installed without having to ream out the holes.

Tusk wheel truing stand and Warp9 spoke torque wench should be here next week. All old spokes are seized so I guess I'm going to do some cutting!

I think cutting them off with a cut off wheel is the better route anyways, 10x faster than unthreading and taking each one out.

I have a dial indicator with a magnetic base that I use to help the truing process. Its definitely not needed, but I think it helps me get there faster when I can relate how much adjustment I need to do based off of numbers on a dial rather than visual interpretation of how far the tip of a bar is from the rim, for me at least.

DO NOT cut any spokes before recording wheel dish!! (offset it has it)

ericr wrote: 03:05 pm Jan 17 2023I bought Tusk rims and Buchanan spokes which have oversized nipples. They installed without having to ream out the holes.

I did the same but with Warp 9 rims. Fit perfectly and I'm still beating the hell out of those Warp 9 rims all these years later.

KDXGarage wrote: 06:50 pm Jan 20 2023 DO NOT cut any spokes before recording wheel dish!! (offset it has it)

This is sage advice right here. I thought they were all the same until I took my Warp 9's I built for my E-series and then swapped them to my H-series bike. Had to shift both rims over 5mm in relation to the hubs.

Well, it's been awhile. I have the rim together but still working on getting the dish right. I measured the old wheel with brake side down and it was 3 cm and the sprocket side was 5cm. Right now I have 4cm.

Good job! I know truing the rear is harder than the front. Well, it was for me anyway!

It wasn't that bad. I still need to get the dish right. The one thing that I'm pissed at is, one dang nipple is stripped. The spoke and nipple kit is Excel. The nipples are aluminum and I only tighten them to 10 in pounds. So I ordered a nipple set not knowing if I'm gonna have fitment issues.

I don't trust torque settings for nipples. I do the sound test and if they all sound similar when tightened I'm good and have been for over 8 years on my Warp9 rim. Honestly, I found that when trying to torque them to a spec the rim would always end up being out of true. I now only worry about getting them true and then will go around on the nipples, from side to side (start tightening at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock) and work my way around, and I tighten them by turn count and only to what I feel is tight enough. I always use a little anti-seize on the spoke threads to help lubricate them and to make down the road adjustments possible.

If you have the rim true then it's easy, but tedious, to adjust the dish. Mark your spoke (super important!) where you plan to start the dish adjustment, I recommend different colors for each side. Now, let's say you need to move the whole rim to the left 5mm. You first start by loosening all the spokes on the right by a 1/4 turn (keep it at 1/4 so as to not cause the spokes to actually be loose - you want to keep them under tension) and then immediately follow that up by tightening all the spokes on the left by that same 1/4 turn. Now, check your measurement to see how much the rim moved for you and you''ll have an idea of how many times it will take to get the rim where you need it. Also, front and rear rims will move a different amount per 1/4 turn due to their different diameters so just be aware. Anyway, it's slow but it works well without creating any issues once you have it trued. Test for that proper spoke sound and call it good! Fot the first few rides I check them for any loosening and then check only when I change tires.

Finally got it all together.