truing new wheels

bicyclette said:

I got a couple of new Open Pros with Ultegra, Wheelsmith spokes from Supergo.com. They arrived a
bit out of true ~2mm, probably machine built. I have a spin doctor truing stand and a spoke
wrench, no tensiometer, no dishing tool. Anybody able to point me to a website or provide some
simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the adjustment should be
minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the wheel. thanks! ~ed

Get Jobst Brandt's book and have at it. This is actually a great way to get a good set of wheels at
a good price. Prebuilt wheels can offer a great discount on the parts. But they must be retensioned
and stress relieved if they're going to last. You can do that yourself, or have it done by a local
wheelbuilder. Once that's done, you'll have a great set of wheels at a great price. I've done this
with my last few new wheels -- gotten prebuilts on sale, and retensioned and stress relieved them
myself. So far, so good.

Matt O.

bicyclette <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I got a couple of new Open Pros with Ultegra, Wheelsmith spokes from Supergo.com. They arrived a
bit out of true ~2mm, probably machine built. I have a spin doctor truing stand and a spoke
wrench, no tensiometer, no dishing tool. Anybody able to point me to a website or provide some
simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the adjustment should be
minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the wheel. thanks! ~ed

You could buy Jobst's book ... or the following sites can give your a start:

sheldonbrown.comwheelbuild.htmlOpen ↗
parktool.comhowfix truing.shtmlOpen ↗

- rick

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

Quoted message said:

I got a couple of new Open Pros with Ultegra, Wheelsmith spokes from Supergo.com. They arrived a
bit out of true ~2mm, probably machine built. I have a spin doctor truing stand and a spoke
wrench, no tensiometer, no dishing tool. Anybody able to point me to a website or provide some
simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the adjustment should be
minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the wheel. thanks! ~ed

Machine-built wheels are generally under-tensioned. You can get a pretty good idea of tension from
the tone of a struck/plucked spoke on a similar wheel. The wheels will also not have been stress
relieved. After you do this (see FAQ &/or sheldonbrown.com) the wheels will likely need more truing.
If you get the tension high, & the spoke line straight (spoke into nipple, & flat against hub
flange), and you take out any spoke windup, the wheels should be strong and stay true. You don't
need a tensiometer, dishing tool or truing stand.

bicyclette said:

I got a couple of new Open Pros with Ultegra, Wheelsmith spokes from Supergo.com. They arrived a
bit out of true ~2mm, probably machine built. I have a spin doctor truing stand and a spoke
wrench, no tensiometer, no dishing tool. Anybody able to point me to a website or provide some
simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the adjustment should be
minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the wheel.

The main thing is to get the spokes good and tight, and have all the spokes on a side at the same
tension. You can check even tension by plucking spokes, and comparing the musical pitch. It's not so
easy to determine proper tension.

In order to get the spokes tight enough without rounding off the nipples, the spoke threads and the
nipple/rim interface should be lubed.

A dishing tool isn't an absolute necessity. You can check the dish by flipping the wheel around in
the truing stand. When its lateral position relative to the truing gauge stays the same after
flipping, it's properly dished.

The spokes should also be stress relieved. See:

draco.acs.uci.edu8c.1.htmlOpen ↗

This is all covered in Jobst Brandt's book "The Bicycle Wheel."

Art Harris

bicyclette said:

provide some simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the
adjustment should be minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the
wheel. thanks! ~ed

For some reason, which I don't understand, stock wheels usually come with inadequate tension. I've
had great luck with retensioning. You'll be truing and stress releiving while doing that.

Chances are, it the wheel doesn't have enough tension, you'll need to true it frequently.

Paul Kopit said:

Quoted message said:

provide some simple steps to get them true. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the adjustment
should be minor, although it is easy to mess it up. Yet I don't need to build the wheel. thanks!

Quoted message said:

For some reason, which I don't understand, stock wheels usually come with inadequate tension. I've
had great luck with re-tensioning. You'll be truing and stress relieving while doing that.

Quoted message said:

Chances are, it the wheel doesn't have enough tension, you'll need to true it frequently.

The reason for lower tension than ideal is that rims are generally true from manufacture so that low
spoke tension will not alter that by by small tension variations. However, spoke twist increases as
tension increases so that even though measuring runout accurately, the machine goes to the location
where misalignment was greatest and turns the appropriate nipple a quarter turn while the thread may
not advance at all. This causes the machine to got into correction iterations that achieve less and
less as the spokes become tighter. This cost machine time.

Solution = don't tighten spokes as much. Besides, having talked to the two principal manufacturers
of these machines, I found them closed to discussing ways of resolving the two main problems of
spoke twist and stress relieving for which I have proposed solutions. Until these problems are
directly addressed in their machines, machine built wheels will bear the burden of a bad reputation.
Fortunately a good hand on a spoke wrench can improve that situation fairly easily.

Jobst Brandt [email hidden]

Paul-<< For some reason, which I don't understand, stock wheels usually come with inadequate
tension. >><BR><BR>

It's all about saving money, either thru less time or by using lesser paid people to slap these
things togehter.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"