Spoke Tension

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

How do you measure spoke tension?

I ask because my OH wants me to look at his front wheel because the spokes are talking to him when he cycles. I have not asked what they are saying, but have to confess I don't want to cycle with him at the moment because of the noise they are making! - this is his road bike.... strangely the wheel is still true, so they all seem to be working loose at more or less the same rate...

 

[400bhp]

I have the same issue!!

Last week started occurring. The wheel is still true and the spoke's tension feels broadly equal??

I can't be arsed don't want do fiddle for the worry of making a bigger mess..

 

[actonblue]

You can do it by tone, pluck the spokes and compare their pitches. Roger Musson uses this technique on most of the wheels that he builds. Or you can use a tensionometer to give you a numerical value for each spoke's tension.
You are aiming for an equal tension in each spoke ±20%. If they are within those parameters your wheels should stay true.

 

[Graham]

You could get a Park Tools tension meter - but they are £50+. Otherwise seems to be the squeeze test.

Presumably its the spokes rubbing against eachother a bit - do they still make a noise if you spray a bit of WD40 where the spokes cross eachother? If so, and if they are all roughly the same low tension (i.e. a 'buuunnngg' rather than a 'piiinng' ) then it can't hurt to put a 1/4 turn into all the spokes and see if that solves the problem.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

You can do it by tone, pluck the spokes and compare their pitches. Roger Musson uses this technique on most of the wheels that he builds. Or you can use a tensionometer to give you a numerical value for each spoke's tension.
You are aiming for an equal tension in each spoke ±20%. If they are within those parameters your wheels should stay true.

You could get a Park Tools tension meter - but they are £50+. Otherwise seems to be the squeeze test.

Presumably its the spokes rubbing against eachother a bit - do they still make a noise if you spray a bit of WD40 where the spokes cross eachother? If so, and if they are all roughly the same low tension (i.e. a 'buuunnngg' rather than a 'piiinng' ) then it can't hurt to put a 1/4 turn into all the spokes and see if that solves the problem.

Regretfully I am tone deaf - however I do have an identical front wheel which is not giving issues to compare life to and have worked on wheels before, so it is not a totally unknown field at at least this time I won't be sitting in the middle of an unknown field when I have to take matters into my own hands (in the middle of nowhere on tour I finally lost patience by my OH's hand built rear wheel on his tourer after it broke its 6th spoke inside 8,000km. After I looked at it, and 'had words' with the spoke tool we were carrying, it never broke another spoke - useful becuase they were a difficult size to obtain.

They are indeed rubbing together superbly creating this 'chatter'. I was thinking of 1/2 turn but might see what happens in the next 2 hours. there is a park tool spoke tension meter up at £30.... otherwise I will chance a 1/4 turn on each spoke, re-true and switch the wheel onto my road bike and test it. I don't like noisy bikes so it is a really good method of ensuring it shuts up!

thanks

 

[Sterba]

In the old days, when it was daring to have wheels laced with only 28 spokes, where the spokes crossed they would be wired together and a drop of solder applied to the wire to increase the strength of the wheel. It certainly eliminated any spoke movement and stopped them rubbing against each other, which is generally what causes the noise. I don't expect anyone goes to that trouble any more.

 

[e-rider]

a spoke tension meter is the best way, but the cheapest is the Park Tool at £50 (other brands cost even more).

probably cheaper to take wheel to decent shop, tell them the spokes are loose and get them to fix it - probably cost you 10 - 15 quid max.

 

[e-rider]

In the old days, when it was daring to have wheels laced with only 28 spokes, where the spokes crossed they would be wired together and a drop of solder applied to the wire to increase the strength of the wheel. It certainly eliminated any spoke movement and stopped them rubbing against each other, which is generally what causes the noise. I don't expect anyone goes to that trouble any more.

yes, spoke soldering is coming back into fashion with the middle class hipsters who ride steel frames

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

a spoke tension meter is the best way, but the cheapest is the Park Tool at £50 (other brands cost even more).

probably cheaper to take wheel to decent shop, tell them the spokes are loose and get them to fix it - probably cost you 10 - 15 quid max.

My only issue with getting it to an LBS is that somehow I need to cycle 7 miles to the nearest LBS with a 'spare' rear wheel and then home again afterwards. So far I have not managed to come up with a way of securing it to the bike or me that is neither unsafe or comfortable. My bike is my only transport during the week and at weekends, my OH wants to be using the said bike.

Whilst I am more than happy to support my LBS, I simply can't suss out how to get a 2nd bike to him using only my bike as transport.

 

[Davidc]

Spoke tension by musical note table is HERE

The frequencies corresponding to pitches can be looked up on line via Google if you want them.

It can be done with a guitar tuner.

I have an oscillator program on my laptop, and feed the wanted frequency to an earhone next to the spoke. At resonance the spoke sings the note quite loudly.

I've never been quite sure what tension spokes should be at. Rim makers give a range and I aim for about 2/3 of the way from bottom to top of it, get the spokes the same, relieve the tension on them, get them the same again then fine adjust to get it true. A bit different on dished wheels where the 2 sides need to be different from one another.

Haven't done one for a while, but have one to do when it's warm enough to spend the time in the garage, and another which needs rebuilding with a new rim. (Unless someone knows a way to get a sharp dent out of a rim that went into a pothole)

 

[400bhp]

You could get a Park Tools tension meter - but they are £50+. Otherwise seems to be the squeeze test.

Presumably its the spokes rubbing against eachother a bit - do they still make a noise if you spray a bit of WD40 where the spokes cross eachother? If so, and if they are all roughly the same low tension (i.e. a 'buuunnngg' rather than a 'piiinng' ) then it can't hurt to put a 1/4 turn into all the spokes and see if that solves the problem.

I did this (actually sprayed with wd40 the evening before you posted this) and it appears to have sorted out the problem.

 

[e-rider]

My only issue with getting it to an LBS is that somehow I need to cycle 7 miles to the nearest LBS with a 'spare' rear wheel and then home again afterwards. So far I have not managed to come up with a way of securing it to the bike or me that is neither unsafe or comfortable. My bike is my only transport during the week and at weekends, my OH wants to be using the said bike.

Whilst I am more than happy to support my LBS, I simply can't suss out how to get a 2nd bike to him using only my bike as transport.

you'll have to spend £50 on a tool then, and another small fortune on a wheel jig, dishing tool and spoke wrench (about another £100) and several months practice at wheel building; and do it yourself

 

[snorri]

so they all seem to be working loose at more or less the same rate...

They are expanding equally as the temperatures rise with the increasingly warm weather.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

They are expanding equally as the temperatures rise with the increasingly warm weather.

hummm - they came loose whilst we were in scotland in that really cold spell over easter.... cold - he's having my front wheel for the time being becuase I have given up and ordered new wheels for my bike - fed up of having to re-do the bearings in the hubs every 10-12 weeks , (it is getting rather boring!) so have ordered some better wheels - my only transport being my bikes...

 

[Davidc]

you'll have to spend £50 on a tool then, and another small fortune on a wheel jig, dishing tool and spoke wrench (about another £100) and several months practice at wheel building; and do it yourself

I don't agree with you.

Tension tool is entirely avoidable (see above)

Wheel Jig - I've used old steel forks (one for front wheels, one stretched out for rear).

Dishing gauge - I use the corrugated cardboard one shown in Building and Truing Wheels. Before that I used one made from an old rim. Either way cost approximately zero.

Spoke wrench - couple of £s. I have one that came in a tool kit. I find a screwdriver easier but that does mean carefully smoothing all the heads with a needle file before fitting a tyre.

Wheel building takes practice - agreed. Truing takes a lot less. I started with truing and moved on to building later.

Using simple tools wouldn't be good for a professional, they're slower and take too long to make and set up, but they work perfectly well for an amateur.

My warning to anyone though is that truing takes a little while to get right, but building (and rebuilding) are a lot more difficult. If you don't want to do it because you enjoy such things it does make more sense to go to an LBS with a good wheel person. Also, don't expect a really good wheel first time. It took me four or five goes and a load of time to get a perfectly true and non-eccentric wheel. That said I haven't done a full build for several years - laziness.