Wheel truing how difficult

[jackthelad]

Guys looking for views on truing wheels by myself.We have quite a few bikes in the family and was thinking of doing the wheel building course at Edinburgh co-op,along with buying the parks home memchanic truing stand and the park spoke tention wrench.

Is truing quite straight forward if you receive the correct tuition and purchase the proper tools.
With having a few bikes in the family I recon the tools plus course would pay for its self in no time.



Was also wondering how often do you check your wheels for truing,any help or advice appreciated

jackthelad

 

[TVC]

No bother at all:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU2yKPRglaM


You don't really need a jig for it, do it with the wheel on the bike and use the brake block as a reference.

A universal spoke tool will cost less the £10 from your LBS.

 

[Dayvo]

Not difficult, but you need to be patient and thorough; no short cuts here, I'm afraid!

It's easier to goole for advice, really, but start with the best: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html

And you'll need a dishing tool: http://www.ehow.com/video_2363041_h...5-b22a-fc536c442218&pid=1&wa_vlsrc=continuous

It does take a while but it is very satisfying once you learnt and, eventually, mastered the art!

 

[smokeysmoo]

^ on the contrary - I think it's witchcraft

 

[PpPete]

No bother at all:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=cU2yKPRglaM

You don't really need a jig for it, do it with the wheel on the bike and use the brake block as a reference.

Absolutely agree with first part of your post.

BUT BUT BUT
Universal spoke tools are the work of Stan. Get a Sspokey or one of the many copies thereof. £5 if you look around. There are two sizes of nipple you might come across - or in very very rare circumstances a third. The universal tools try to tell you you need six sizes which is bollux, and they round off the corners of the nipples very easily. The Spokey grips on four sides and rarely rounds anything off - even crap quality nipples that have been on for twenty years.

 

[dan_bo]

And don't forget, when I use in a wheel spokes only become LOOSE. That means you will only have to LOOSEN them if YOU OVERTIGHTEN them. Sounds like a granny/egg oral interface scenario but it can be quite easy to get in a bit of a tizz.

 

[jackthelad]

guys thanks for getting back to me ,,pete asking about spoke keys was probably the next question i was going to ask,would the park green and red spoke keys the best to buy

 

[GrumpyGregry]

there's a great e-book here recommended to me by our very own John the Monkey iirc.

I recommend it to anyone. Wheelbuilding is a bit of a zen thing. you can lose yourself for hours doing it.

I check my wheels before the bike goes in the shed. takes seconds.

 

[jackthelad]

ok pete found the spokey key on line,is there just the one type that fits 2 different size of nipples or is there 2 different sizes of keys

 

[samid]

I can recommend Park SW-20 - it grabs the nipple on 4 sides and hence is less likely to round it (SW-40 seems to be using the same principle but I haven't used it; the Spokey key mentioned above may be as good but I haven't used it; yet another good key is Pedros Pro Spoke Key - but IME SW-20 is better).

As for building the wheel - Sheldon's advice is good as ever. My 0.02 though (based on the 10 or so wheels I built for myself):

- Get yourself a spoke tension meter. Park TM-1 is not expensive and works well. Because the single most important thing in building a good wheel is maintaining equal spoke tension on all spokes on one side, and at least I found it very difficult to ensure it without a tension meter (the only alternative is to "pluck" spokes and hear the difference - but I'm tone deaf). Absolute tension values are much less important but equality is of utmost importance for the wheel durability.

- The 2nd most important thing is to make sure you "stress-relieve" the spokes when you're done tensioning them (you might want to re-true a bit afterwards). Sheldon advises to use an old crank arm for that but if you have reasonably strong hands, I think it is better to do that just with your gloved hands. (I did use an old crank arm for one wheel; I had to take it apart later, for other reasons - and found out that spokes "stress-relieved" with the crank arm retained a rather sharp bend when de-tensioned - somehow I think that is not too good, hence the advice to just do it by hand.)

Hope this helps.

 

[jackthelad]

samid thanks for the info,I think I will come into this at a slow pace maybe picking up the spoke keys and the spoke tentioner,and doing the day course at edinburgh co-op before I spend big bucks on the truing stand,this way I can take the tools with me and use under supervision.I usually find most of these things is the thought of messing up.that puts the fear of not touching into the equation,but taking a cavalier approach if i mess up the shop can always fix it,allows you to go thru the learning curve.

jackthelad

 

[Red Light]

there's a great e-book here recommended to me by our very own John the Monkey iirc.

I recommend it to anyone. Wheelbuilding is a bit of a zen thing. you can lose yourself for hours doing it.

I check my wheels before the bike goes in the shed. takes seconds.

That's because you're using the wrong book. Get The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt and follow his instructions, especially for setting the tension and stress relieving. I never bother to check my wheels because they stay true all the time and have done for 10 years in some cases and they are wheels that get hard use including off-road tandems.

 

[Globalti]

You don't need to buy a dishing tool; you can make your own from a length of wooden batten about 29" long and thee bolts.

 

[Red Light]

- Get yourself a spoke tension meter. Park TM-1 is not expensive and works well. Because the single most important thing in building a good wheel is maintaining equal spoke tension on all spokes on one side, and at least I found it very difficult to ensure it without a tension meter (the only alternative is to "pluck" spokes and hear the difference - but I'm tone deaf). Absolute tension values are much less important but equality is of utmost importance for the wheel durability.

If you are not tone deaf, plucking the spokes is much quicker and much more accurate than a tension meter. I would disagree about absolute tension and its more important than absolute evenness IMO. You need to get a good high tension set either by one of the nipples becoming too hard to turn or on thinner rims by the wheel going pretzel shaped on stress relieving then backing off a turn on all spokes and re-truing (the Jobst Brandt test).

The other tip until you get the feel of the spoke key is to put little insulating tape flags on the spokes near the nipple end but with enough room for the spoke key. That allows you to check you are not getting spoke wind up when you tension. You should on each turn of the spoke key overturn and then back off to stop the spoke being twisted down its length. You can do it by feel with experience but initially the little flag pointers help get it right. If you don't do that, when you first ride the wheel you will hear lots of pinging as the spokes untwist themselves and potentially lose some of the true.

 

[Red Light]

You don't need to buy a dishing tool; you can make your own from a length of wooden batten about 29" long and thee bolts.

Or in a good truing stand just turning the wheel the other way round in the stand.