Wheel trueness

first, you are going to need a spoke wrench. Aquire at bike shop- $5.
Then, take 2 zip ties and snap them aroundeither side of the framw, so
thre extra stick toward your rim. measure each one so they are the same
length. then find the most true part of yur wheel and cut the ties so
the extra plastic *almost* touches the rim. Then turn the rim until it
rubs against on side of the rim. Use your wrench and *tighten, not
loosen* the spoke. try a 1/4 turn, then 1/2, etc. keep doing this and
you have a decent truing job for less than $7

--
DK - Team YAMS Member

-Hunter-
Im a Yamsta.
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DK said:

Use your wrench and *tighten, not
loosen* the spoke. try a 1/4 turn, then 1/2, etc. keep doing this and
you have a decent truing job for less than $7

This advice is messed up.

To get a wheel properly trued, you have to 1) make it round, 2) "dish"
(center) the wheel, 3) remove side-to-side wobble, and 4) evenly
tension the spokes. And that's assuming the wheel has been "stress
relieved" already. In theory, it might be possible to achieve this
combination by just tightening spokes, but it doesn't work that way in
practice.

Good truing technique requires that you work on one problem at a time.
For example, to correct a high spot on an out of round wheel, you
tighten nearby spokes maintaining the same number of turns on each
side of the wheel (after de-tensioning the wheel if needed). That can
mean turning one pair of adjacent spokes 1/2 turn each, or a series of
five spokes 1/4, 1/2, 1/2, 1/2, 1/4. There are lots of choices, even
maintaining the lateral (side-to-side) true invariant. When
correcting lateral true, you will tighten and loosen adjacent spokes,
thereby maintaining roundness.

Properly fixing an out of true wheel takes some skill. It is possible
to do it yourself, and can be very rewarding, but care and patience
are necessary. Watch the tension in your spokes by plucking then and
listening for the tone. If you can't keep the tension even, it may be
best to loosen all the nipples to the top of the threads and start
fresh. You can always go to a wheelbiulder of you can't make a go of
it.

Check out Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding web site (via your favorite
search engine) of Jobst Brandt's book The Bicycle Wheel for detailed
information.

Finally, be warned that aluminum spoke nipples are easily damaged by
ill fitted spoke wrenches, gunked up threads, or attempts to
overtension the wheel. Brass nipples are much hardier.

Ken

As in my case, it may just be your tire.
My Gazz is bent and even turns the wheel and changes height.
I am currently trying different methods to fix it (like bending the
bead, different air pressures, abuse).

Anyway, verify that it's the rim/spokes before adjusting them.

--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
http://www.ChangingLINKS.com
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I was in your position- had a nimbus wheel with a bad wobble and no
experience of truing.

Here's my thoughts-

Be careful with the spoke key, make sure that you get the right size
because any slackness in the fit will strip the corners of the spoke
nipples and make them un-adjustable when they get to a certain
tightness.

My first key was a circular one with multiple slots for diff size
nipples- after basically stripping many of the nipples I discovered that
the key had two slots marked '15', yet, on closer examination, they were
not the same size!

Check: -

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

probably the finest resourse for any bike/wheel related issue; has a
good section on truing/wheel building.

Get into your head which way you need to turn the key to tighten/loosen-
if you're working the nipples on the lower part of the wheel, looking
down on the inner part of the rim- it's anti-clockwise to tighten, which
is a little counter intuitive.

Do a search for other tips.

Good news is that it's a unicycle so perfect trueness isn't necessary
(no brakes etc).

My Nimbus 29-er had a serious 'jump'- early attempts at truing it were
scary, I made mistakes (mainly forgetting which way to turn and ending
up tightening when I was supposed to be loosening).

Do check your tyres mounted properly (I once started truing a wheel then
discovered the tyre wasn't on properly- the rim was actually fine).

Initially I did things the 'proper way' ie took off the tyre; when I
realised my 29-er had serious issues and that, since the main problem
was the tyre rubbing against the frame- I chose to true it with the tyre
on.

I never did get that 29-er perfectly true, but I did get it true enough
that the tyre didn't rub. I believe that the rim was possibly damaged in
such a way that perfect truing was impossible.

Since then I've actually built from scratch a 26" uni wheel, usning a
fairly expensive rim and hub, which was a scary prospect. My experiences
messing around with truing the 29-er were a big help. It's well known
that, it many ways, it easier to true a wheel you've built than true an
old one; nevertheless, I'm quite pround of my hand built 26-er, which
IMO is, to this day, still very true indeed.

In your position, if you want your wheel perfectly true, the you'll have
to get an expert to do it. However, if you work on it yourself, it may
not be perfect, but you'll learn a lot (just make sure you do some
research, and take things slowly).

good luck,

Dave.

--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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