Mickle's tip of the - Season to be Jolly: Wheel truing.

[BikingChris]

Its swings and roundabouts. In my experience tension is certainly important, one of the most important aspects, but 'plucking' has worked for me really well - I havnt had to do anything with my mtb wheels for about 2 year cont use at Guisburn, Dalby etc

 

[Theseus]

Leaving aside the tension question, I have a couple of observations.

1. Although there may be more bikes out there that use the derailer system for gears and they will have different spoke lengths for each side of the rear wheel, bikes that are fixed, single speed or have internal hub gears are more likely to have spokes the same length.
2. If the spoke breaks at the shoulder, it is not necessary to remove tyre, tube & rimtape to replace. The knack is to get the new spoke threaded and ready to screw into the nipple before you unscrew the old one. This can save a lot of time.

 

[jonny jeez]

I've picked up a wobble (buckle) in my rear this week that is effecting hard braking (makes it feel like I am running with the ABS on!)

Could a beginners attempts at trueing make things worse ...or should i drop it into the LBS?

 

[PpPete]

I've picked up a wobble (buckle) in my rear this week that is effecting hard braking (makes it feel like I am running with the ABS on!)

Could a beginners attempts at trueing make things worse ...or should i drop it into the LBS?

This beginner's first attempts certainly made things worse.... before I realised that I was looking at things the wrong way around, and was loosening spokes I should have been tightening. Why? I was looking from hub towards the rim and then turning the nipple clockwise.

Think of the spoke as a very long bolt and the nipple as a nut. To tighten a spoke you want to be turning the nipple clockwise as viewed when looking from rim towards the hub. Acutally it's safer to look from hub to rim and turn anticlockwise...just in case a spoke should break and the broken end travel at speed towards your eye - very very rare but it does happen.

Apart from that - read the OP above, and you can save yourself a lot of money at the LBS.

 

[Paul J]

I'd give it a go as I managed to true side to side movement quite easy and even made myself a dish gauge so I could check the rim was central on the hub. Just buy a good spoke key.

What I can't get rid of is a flat spot where the "fatboy" previous owner must have bumped up a kerb.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I reckon if I just tighten all the spokes as much as they will possibly go everything will be just fine.

 

[jonny jeez]

Odd, I thought I'd already posted this...but...

managed to remove the major wobble, (the offending nipple wasn't even finger tight! all straight forward with a little extra confidence from uncle youtube. Still have a general ripple to the rear, almost undetectable but not true, so what's this about a dish and how do I use that?

thanks guys.

 

[PpPete]

"Dish" is whether the centre line of the hub (with the cassette on) lines up with the centre line of the rim.
if you are are just truing a wheel (removing a wobble) it's nothing to worry about.
If you are building a rear wheel from scratch you usually need drive side spokes to be about 2 mm shorter (and a LOT tighter) than the non-drive side.
A dishing gauge helps to centre things up.

 

[John the Monkey]

Think of the spoke as a very long bolt and the nipple as a nut. To tighten a spoke you want to be turning the nipple clockwise as viewed when looking from rim towards the hub.

Yep. If you have a spokey type spoke key, mark the side you turn towards to tighten. (Roger Musson recommends a dot in permanent marker).

 

[Psycolist]

Nice onr bruv. The bit about egg shaped wheels was particularly interesting, CHEERS

 

[David Garside]

I spent 2.5 hours last night putting a new rim on the back wheel of my old Raleigh Dakota. Did it a bit at a time, drew a diagram and it all went together quite well. Took a little time to get it concentric and true but I'm pleased to say after a short ride today that it's ok so far. Will check the spokes etc regularly for the next few rides to see if it needs any more adjustment.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Point 3 just saved me going to bed in tears!

 

[Kins]

Just sorted a buckle in a new accusation, can't get the wheel totally true no mater what I do though.

Are the older alloy wheels harder to true?

 

[compo]

I had a go on my MTB wheel the other day as it was hitting he brake block as it revolved. I used a marker pen and spun the wheel and it marked the rim where it was out of true. Then I started on the edges of the line and loosened the spokes on the side where the line was just about a 1/4 turn, and tightened the spokes on the opposite side of the rim the same amount, slightly less on the ends of the line. It took a couple of goes doing a new line each time but then suddenly it was a good'un. The adjustments were so slight that I didn't need to do anything to the roundness of the wheel, or I would have put it in the shop. I have ridden it and it is fine. First time I have ever been successful doing a wheel.

 

[robjh]

I find with wheel-truing that it's very easy, and incredibly satisfying, to get it nearly right, but incredibly hard and frustrating to go that last little bit and get it spot-on. Just had a fairly enjoyable few hours attacking a kink and flat spot from a recent pothole incident, and replaced a few spokes along the way, but I'm still left with a persistent but smaller flatspot - although at least it no longer thumps on every revolution, but I know it's there. What's more, this talk of plucking spokes bothers me, as mine now sound like all the instruments of an orchestra before they've tuned up. Maybe it's back to the drawing board and my LBS.