Due to the high amount of stress put on dirt bike wheels by rough terrain, dirt tracks, jumps and loose gravel, most dirt bikes are made using a traditional hub, spoke and rim system. Unlike the alloy wheels often found on cars and street bikes, spoked wheels are trueable and maintainable, meaning that they can be fixed when the rough terrain they're ridden on knocks them out of round. Learn how to true your dirt bike wheels at home, and save time and money over taking your bike to your local motorcycle mechanic.
Set your dirt bike on its center stand if equipped, and weight one end of the bike so that the out-of-true wheel can spin freely. If you do not have a center stand on your bike, set the bike upon a milk crate, large box or other sturdy object so that you can spin the wheel without moving the bike.
Spin the wheel and watch the rim closely. Look for dings, dents or other damage that is not fixable through truing. If the rim is bent, it may be fixed by a qualified mechanic. If there are only small dings in the rim, they will need to be ignored during the truing process in order to get the rim into round properly.
Attach a zip tie to each fork leg or frame tube. Make sure that the zip tie is the same height as the top of the wheel rim. Use a pair of wire cutters to snip the end of each zip tie about a millimeter away from the rim. These ties must be the same length, or you may offset the dish of the wheel accidentally while truing.
Spin the wheel slowly and watch the rim and zip ties on each side. If the rim touches the zip tie on one side but not the other, or if the rim is closer to the zip tie on one fork leg, the wheel should be trued at these points. Locate the first non-centered part of the rim. Use a spoke wrench to tighten the spoke attached to the hub on the opposite side of the rub. This will pull the rim toward the other tie, centering it between the two. If the rub is between two spokes on the opposite side of the wheel, tighten both evenly.
Continue spinning the wheel, watching for rubs and tightening spokes to correct them. Never loosen spokes to correct a rub, as this will result in a vertical "hop" in the wheel. If at any point a rub cannot be fixed by tightening the opposite spoke, the wheel should be taken to a mechanic to be re-laced. When the wheel spins and is centered between the ties all the way through its rotation, the wheel is true.
