Sound of the Spokes

[I am Spartacus]

Just fitted new wheel and a short test ride.
Wheel still very true, but 1 spoke sounds 'dull' when tapped in comparision to the rest.
Should I tighten or not?

 

[jimboalee]

Nip it up until it starts pulling the rim across, then loosen it to let the rim return to true.

It might start pulling the rim straight away.
If this happens, take the wheel to LBS and ask them to check the spoke tension of a selection of other spokes.

 

[I am Spartacus]

Nip it up until it starts pulling the rim across, then loosen it to let the rim return to true.

It might start pulling the rim straight away.
If this happens, take the wheel to LBS and ask them to check the spoke tension of a selection of other spokes.

ta! I am a refusenik re LBS tho'

 

[NickM]

...I am a refusenik re LBS tho'

In that case, you need to be self-sufficient!

It is possible for a wheel to be true and round and still have wildly varying spoke tension. This is not a good state of affairs, because the wheel is unlikely to stay true for long. Whether all the spokes on a side have fairly equal tension is easily tested by "pinging" them (unless you are tone deaf...). They should be within a semitone of each other.

In your case, if the spokes (on the same side of the wheel) which meet the rim either side of the "dull" one are tighter than most, they could be compensating for the loose spoke between them. If that seems to be the case and tightening that spoke pulls the rim over, try loosening its neighbours.

Alternatively, there may be a spoke or spokes on the other side of the wheel which are less tensioned than their comrades, again (in combination with your notably "dull" spoke) allowing the rim to run centrally - though this would probably be apparent as a roundness blip.

Most of my wheels are tuned in F#

 

[PpPete]

If bought from LBS or online dealer - it's got to go back.
Otherwise take it apart & rebuild it.

Not sure about F#
I'm completely un-musical, but when I build wheels I make sure all my spokes sound pretty much the same note because, as Nick M says, the wheel won't stay true if tension is uneven.

 

[spandex]

You can have one of two things

1st a true wheel and uneven spoke tension or

2nd the spoke tension the same but a badly buckled wheel.

There is no way you can have both unless you are paying hundreds and hundreds of pounds.

 

[jimboalee]

Playing a wheel like a Harp doesn't really count for anything. It is an approximation at the most.

Tensiometer at LBS is the correct tool.

There will be a difference in pitch between 14 plain gauge, 14/12 D/B, 12 P/G; and when you try to pluck Aero spokes, forget it!

 

[NickM]

I don't lace a given side of a wheel with differing types of spoke, and I don't use aero spokes with crossed lacing. Tensiometers are overkill. My wheels don't go out of true.

 

[jimboalee]

I don't lace a given side of a wheel with differing types of spoke, and I don't use aero spokes with crossed lacing. Tensiometers are overkill. My wheels don't go out of true.

So you don't have aero spokes in the rear wheel.

And you've not got plain gauge spokes in the drive side and D/B in the non drive side.

Do you use a plectrum? Or are you a broken chord freak and use finger picks?

 

[NickM]

...you've not got plain gauge spokes in the drive side and D/B in the non drive side.

I didn't say that. I said:

...Whether all the spokes on a side have fairly equal tension is easily tested by "pinging" them...

I have to listen to R4 rather than R3 when building wheels

 

[jimboalee]

I have to listen to R4 rather than R3 when building wheels

I listen to Kerrang.

 

[PpPete]

You can have one of two things

1st a true wheel and uneven spoke tension or

2nd the spoke tension the same but a badly buckled wheel.

There is no way you can have both unless you are paying hundreds and hundreds of pounds.

I beg to differ. I'm not a pro wheel builder, far from it, but my relatively inexpensive homebuilt wheels are built true and stay true BECAUSE they have even spoke tension.

 

[jimboalee]

I beg to differ. I'm not a pro wheel builder, far from it, but my relatively inexpensive homebuilt wheels are built true and stay true BECAUSE they have even spoke tension.

I doubt it very much.

No two spokes are identical. There is a manufacturing tolerance.

The same goes for rims. There is a hole for the valve and a butt weld opposite the valve hole. Who says the extrusion process is perfect?

 

[NickM]

I think the phrase "other things being equal" appiles here. In other words, other things being equal it is better that spokes on one side of a wheel all have the same, or very similar tension if that wheel is to remain true for a long time.

Yes, we know that other things are not precisely equal; but the differences between supposedly identical spokes attributable to manufacturing tolerances are, I would suggest, entirely trivial in this context.

 

[PpPete]

I doubt it very much.

No two spokes are identical. There is a manufacturing tolerance.

The same goes for rims. There is a hole for the valve and a butt weld opposite the valve hole. Who says the extrusion process is perfect?

Precisely why I think a tensionometer is overkill.
The approximately "even tension" I can get with my cloth ears is quite adequate.