One commonly overlooked component of a highly responsive dirt bike are the spokes. Over miles of use spokes become bent and loose, and this directly affects the handling and overall feel of the bike. Replacing broken or worn spokes will make a huge impact on your bike and is easy to do with some simple tools and patience. Read on to learn how to spoke a dirt bike wheel.

Instructions

1) Find the bent spokes if you are just replacing certain ones, or pick a starting position if you plan to replace all the spokes. Take a spoke wrench, which is a specially sized tool for just this job, and loosen the bolt nearest the wheel. Then loosen the bolt nearest the hub.

2) Unscrew the spoke with your fingers if the wrench did not finish the job. Slide the spoke back and forth until one of the ends becomes free of the wheel. The ease of performing this depends on corrosion and damage to the spoke.

3) Plan out the order you plan to remove the spokes, if you are taking a majority or the entire system of spokes out of the wheel. In order to prevent damage and further complication, it may be best to replace each spoke immediately after you remove it and mark it as complete by coloring a dot on the spoke with a permanent marker.

4) Remove the new spoke from its packaging and line it up with the proper holes on the wheel. Hand screw one end into the opening and then hand screw the other until the spoke is securely in the wheel.

5) Tighten the spoke using the spoke wrench until there is sufficient tension in the prong that it feels new and responsive.

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