Not trueing my wheel

[Bigtallfatbloke]

...well I am trying to true up my rear wheel, but failing.
I thought i would give it a go because that is the only way i will ever learn. So i eventually managed to remove the tyre (schwalbe marathon+) and set about it. I fancied the musical approach as having spent 30 years tuning and setting up guitars I reckoned this should be a piece of cake..erm...WRONG....bicycle wheels are not musical instruments, the principle of pitch tension is the same but it's a lot harder because th espokes are so thick, and in my case I dont have a trueing wheel and only a multi tool spoke key.
Ithen tried to use my two 'available' frames upturned in a workbench vice as a truing wheel, but natuarally my cassettew would not fit into either of them...so I set about removing the cassete with my new chain whip and cassette removal tools...I did exactly what that bloke in the bicyle tutor vids does, but either he is superman or my cassette is morphed into the bike as it just will not budge...is this another job for metalmallet man I ask myself?

On th eplus side I have finally managed to remove at least the front two chain wheels and give them and the chain a proper bath in white spirit. I cant get the crank off though, I have hollow tech shimano cranks and even though my wiggle tool kit states shimano crank tool it clearly doesnt inclued the type I have.

So right now my bike have no wheel, no gear cable, no pedals (on bianchi) and is feeling very unloved. Am I learning anything...well...I think so, mostly how not to do things at the moment, but I reckon mistakes are how I learn...which is ok but it's still gonna cost me a LBS wheel true I reckon.

 

[swee'pea99]

"If you're not falling over, you're not learning." - trad. skiers' saying

 

[bobg]

Yup it's a bummer innit.... Re the sprocket/cassette removal, put the removal tool in a vice, slot the wheel onto it so that its horizontal, put the whip round the sprocket, stick a 2ft lump of tubing over the handle of the whip and heave. BTW make sure you're turning it the right way! I heartily agree with you about truing Im afraid, I chase the run out all round the wheel and on the rare occasions I succeed, its run out free but elliptical.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Shouldn't the cassette be left on though as it will affect the tension required to true the wheel on the one side???

 

[bobg]

Shouldn't the cassette be left on though as it will affect the tension required to true the wheel on the one side???

Hmm you might be right SB, but I'm not totally convinced ... I was just responding to BTFB's prob re removing the cassette.. having had the same problem only to realise after about 1/2 hour of tugging that it was a screw on........

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

...I hink I need to start again at the beginning, only I am not sure where the begiining is. Should I release all the tension in all the spokes and go from there, or pick one spoke as a 'reference tension' to match the others to? I lost track of which spokes I tightened and which I didnt ...I am seriously thinking of taking a guitar out there and using the G string to match a spoke (I read the Gmaj was the right note to use..I assume that if the guitar is at A440hz but anyway..)...is that a good place to start? I have watche dth ebicycle tutor vid on this a lot abd he doesnt comment on the starting tension.

Can I do any permanent damage to my wheel by messing around like this? One thing is for sure...i REALLY dont EVER want to have to do this myself on tour on a muddy campsite.

 

[Amanda P]

I'm beginning to think, BTFB, that what you need is a mate who's done this to show you, man to man (so to speak).

There is, after all, only so much you can convey through the written word. And a tourist really does need to know how to true a wheel, at least roughly.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

beingshown is only really half the battle, it's the actual doing it until it is second nature that is the key. I was shown it on my cycel course recently, but even though I do as I was told I just cant seem to get the hang of it. I will try again tomorrow and then go to a LBS and ask them if they know what wheel trueing is...that should stump them

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

this guy makes it sound easy:
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/skills/spokes.htm

I think I have loosened some spokes in error thinking I was tightening them...doh.

 

[swee'pea99]

Two quick things...1) As someone said earlier, it's easy to get confused about which way to turn. Relax, take a deep breath, then imagine that instead of using a fiddly tool you had the tyre and tube off and were using a screwdriver from outside the rim, to tighten/loosen the nut on the end of the spoke - clockwise to tighten/anti to loosen...then think how that translates to the spoke tool. 2) I've just noticed there's a tutorial on bicycletutor.com - might help.

 

[John Ponting]

BTFB some are born to maintain cycles and some are born to play rock guitar.

I've heard your music and ....

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I have been using bicycle tutor as a guide, only the computer isnt in the garage so I forget what he said/did by the time I get out there.

 

[mickle]

The cassette can stay on, it'll have no effect whatsoever on the spoke tension.

Spokes are just long bolts (with a RH thread as per usual), nipples are funny shaped nuts and a spoke key is a spanner.

If you are new to wheel fiddling just take it easy, no more than a quarter turn of the key at a time.

It's a feel thing, the more you practice the better you'll get.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

.that's what I said to the Mrs but....

 

[Danny]

beingshown is only really half the battle, it's the actual doing it until it is second nature that is the key. I was shown it on my cycel course recently, but even though I do as I was told I just cant seem to get the hang of it. I will try again tomorrow and then go to a LBS and ask them if they know what wheel trueing is...that should stump them

Sounds like you may have to ask them what wheel building is