trueing wheels

Oh, the dark art of wheel-building whose secrets are only to be talked about behind sheds after having given the secret handshake!

I can usually get a minro wobble out of my wheel (invariably the rear) by turning the bike upside down and noting where the rim 'approaches' the brake pad. If you set it a bit tighter or another object near the rim you can highlight the problem area of the rim better (i dont have one of those fangled 'trueing' machines!)

tightening/loosening the spokes (go slow; often doesnt take much) accordingly.
IE if the rim goes to 'A' side, note which spoke near the area goes to the other side and tighten a tad.

Its all a fine balance nad all relative and something Im sure my rudimentary knowledge could be elaborated on and someone else will know some genius link to reveal the dark arts
(sheldonbrown.com is a great source for anything 2-wheeled)

Andy B said:

I read that if your wheel gets a wobble in it, you can fix
it by going around and tightening all the spokes a 1/4
turn at a time till it's sorted out.

Urk!. It is slightly more involved than that. I can
recommend The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt if you want
expert HOWTO.

Basically you need to balance lateral(side to side) with
radial (in and out) trueing. Over tighten on right side and
wheel bulges on left side. Over tighen on one one quarter
and hub is no longer in centre of wheel.

Usually, you would loosen off the opposeing spokes first,
then tighten.

But yes, If you have a new bicycle that you have ridden for
a while and a few of the spokes are now loose, then taking
out the slack can be as simple as you suggest.

However, I would mark your starting spoke, then work on
every 5th spoke. Now, whenever you go around the wheel once,
stop and then "set" the spoke groups. Wrap your hand around
two spokes (at the outmost crossover) and two spokes
opposite and squeeze gently. Then just keep repeating the
loosening and tightening and "settting" of the spokes.

Towards the end, you will find that 1/8 of a turn is more
appropriate.

Try

sheldonbrown.comwheelbuild.htmlOpen ↗

"Terry Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Andy B said:

I read that if your wheel gets a wobble in it, you can
fix it by going around and tightening all the spokes a
1/4 turn at a time till it's sorted out.

Urk!. It is slightly more involved than that. I can
recommend The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt if you want
expert HOWTO.

Basically you need to balance lateral(side to side) with
radial (in and out) trueing. Over tighten on right side
and wheel bulges on left side. Over tighen on one one
quarter and hub is no longer in centre of wheel.

Usually, you would loosen off the opposeing spokes first,
then tighten.

But yes, If you have a new bicycle that you have ridden
for a while and a few of the spokes are now loose, then
taking out the slack can be as simple as you suggest.

However, I would mark your starting spoke, then work on
every 5th spoke. Now, whenever you go around the wheel
once, stop and then "set" the spoke groups. Wrap your hand
around two spokes (at the outmost crossover) and two
spokes opposite and squeeze gently. Then just keep
repeating the loosening and tightening and "settting" of
the spokes.

Towards the end, you will find that 1/8 of a turn is more
appropriate.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Andy B
I read that if your wheel gets a wobble in it, you can fix
it by going around and tightening all the spokes a 1/4 turn
at a time till it's sorted out. While I can see this
working, what happens after a year and several operations.
Wouldn't the spokes get too tight, or run out of travel? Do
you have to periodicaly loosen them?

Interested in your technique.

Andy

In the absence of crashes, the need for several truing operations on a wheel in a year indicates that something is wrong with it. Try to find out what that is. Many wheels are built without the spokes being bent correctly where they cross the hub flange. Those coming from the outside of the flange need a tighter bend at the elbow than those coming from the inside of the flange. It may also be that the spoke tension is too low to give the wheel its proper strength. In that case, the tension of all spokes needs to be increased before dealing with wobbles.

Terry Collins gives good advice, but his "gentle squeeze" of spoke pairs should be a really strong squeeze - I wear welder's gloves to protect my hands. The aim is to get local areas of high residual stress to yield and this requires a fair force.

Others have identified Sheldon Brown's web site and Jobst Brandt's book "The Bicycle Wheel" as good references.

Properly built and stress relieved wheels should, barring mishap, need little or no attention in a very long time.

John Retchford

Thanks all for your replies. After responses here, I re-read
the article I was quoting, and... well, I got it a bit wong.
Thanks a lot.

Andy