Wheel truing

In article <6e0224d9-22f4-44c7-a81b-2c82e4502722
@u69g2000hse.googlegroups.com>, Graham Ashton
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

On Mar 1, 12:45 pm, "Pete Biggs"

Quoted message said:

Get a Spokey (capital ess), or another spoke key at least as good.

I've got an old Carlton from the late 70s that needs some spokes
tightening. I went to the local bike shop for a spoke key but they
didn't have one the right size (it was too small for the nipples).

Anybody got any idea what size nipples I'm likely to have on those
wheels (I suspect they're the original ones as they have Raleigh
stickers on)? I'm not sure which spoke key I should be ordering...

Why not measure them? You can get a vernier caliper for under a fiver
delivered from eBay (and probably the tool stall in your local market
too).

Pete Biggs said:

GrahamAshtonwrote:

Quoted message said:

I've got an old Carlton from the late 70s that needs some spokes
tightening.

Try this one first:

www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=19098

Will get one of those, thanks. Coincidentally (Rob) I already had a
cheap vernier on order from eBay. I'm not sure that it's accurate
enough for this kind of thing (no matter how accurate it claims to
be), but we'll see. It thinks the nipples are a bit narrower than
3.25mm, but I don't believe it.

Graham

In article <b2235170-1fde-43a1-b571-6498e5083668
@p73g2000hsd.googlegroups.com>, Graham Ashton
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Pete Biggs said:

GrahamAshtonwrote:

Quoted message said:

I've got an old Carlton from the late 70s that needs some spokes
tightening.

Try this one first:

www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=19098

Will get one of those, thanks. Coincidentally (Rob) I already had a
cheap vernier on order from eBay. I'm not sure that it's accurate
enough for this kind of thing (no matter how accurate it claims to
be), but we'll see. It thinks the nipples are a bit narrower than
3.25mm, but I don't believe it.

If you have some feeler gauges (the sort of thing you use for setting
plug/points/valve clearances when servicing your car) you could probably
use them to get some idea of the accuracy of your vernier calipers,
especially if you can borrow a micrometer to check the feeler gauges,

Park tools range of spoke keys:

SW-0 (Black) 80 ga./.127? nipple/3.23mm
SW-1 (Green) 80 ga./.130? nipple/3.30mm
SW-2 (Red) 80 ga./.136? nipple/3.45mm
SW-3 (Blue) 105 ga./.156? nipple/3.96mm

The Buddy Spokey comes in

Red 3.25mm
Yellow 3.4mm
(also black, but I can't find any reference to that one one the web)

Other brands commonly come in 3.2/3.3/3.5mm so there's obviously quite a
wide variation in what people think are standard sizes.

With the Spokey design that grips on all four sides a small difference
probably isn't going to matter.