Dej said:ok after getting to kew crit on wednesday, unpacking the bike from the car
and realizing i'd left my helmet at work..i also discovered the rear wheel
is yet again not true🙁
so ive had it with these wheels..this is the 5th time ive fixed the back
wheel and 3rd for the front, so i want to try something else..
(these rims were also hand built btw, they are 36 hole FIR sc170 rims, 105
hubs)
suggestions for wheels under $500 ? (700c road wheels btw)
im about 87kgs at the moment so i aint a lightweight..wheels will be used
for crits (when i remember my helmet) and hill rides..
i'll probably keep the existing ones for riding to work etc
Don't spend your money just yet. Try these ideas first!
1. Front wheel is going out of true? It is not subjected to as many forces as the rear wheel, so you expect less problems. My first guess is that the spokes are not tight enough, so the nipples unscrew themselves when the tension is released each time the wheel goes around or you hit a bump. Try tightening the spokes yourself and retrue the wheel.
How tight? If you don't have a tensiometer, the next best answer is "tight enough so it is hard to turn the spoke wrench, but not so hard that the rim cracks around the eyelets". This is quite tight...[1]
As the spoke gets tighter, you might have spoke wind-up problems - the threads stick in the nipple and you end up just twisting the spoke, which will untwist and slacken as soon as you go for a ride. An easy work-around is to tighten further and back-off. e.g., to tighten 1/8th, initially turn 1/4 and back-off 1/8. Spoke wind-up is a problem if the threads are not lubed.
2. Rear wheels are a little trickier, but the spokes are probably not tight enough either, so try tightening them as well. The right side is really tight, the left side is not very tight at all. [url]www.sheldonbrown.com[\url] even recommends _not_ lubing the left side of a rear wheel's spoke nipples because they are usually at such low tension that they unscrew more easily. I tightened the right side first and then tightened the left side to get the dishing correct.
Try tightening, stress relieve and see if it helps! Cost = spoke wrench <<$500
Ritch.
[1] I also found a reference that suggested the pitch of the spoke when plucked should be around an F (440Hz). I don't know how important that is, but I used it as a good 'ball-park' guess of tension. A primary-school tenor recorder has an F.
