Finally got my rear wheel to stay true

[ledslinger]

I've been having trouble keeping my rear wheel true, I would true it and during the first ride it would develop a wobble. I thought my spoke tension was pretty good, but it appears it wasn't. I've been want to buy a spoke tension gage, but always seem to spend money on something else.

This week I was doing a quicky retrue on the bike before rides and yesterday the wheel went real wobbly when I was climbing a hill. I had to release the brake like doing a tire change to get home.

I was thinking of changing the high tension spokes on the freewheel side to straight gage, thinking those spokes might be fatigued from decades of use and me possibly being too heavy for the wheel.

I decided to release the tension on all the spokes and see what the wheel looked like to see if I needed to replace the rim too. After everything was loose, I looked at the wheel and it had a minor wobble, so I decided to retrue and see what happened.

Rode about 12 miles today and the wheel stayed true. I think the spokes were overtensioned previously.

 

[IndyIan]

I usually just tune spoke tension by ear, if I have one high pitched spoke I loosen it and tighten its neighbors a bit. Go flick a new bikes spokes to get a feel for what tension they are at.
Do you have a steel rimmed road bike? I guess all my rims are allow and double wall so a broken spoke will make them drag the brakes hard, but even then I bring my spoke key and just do some quick adjustments to get me home.

 

[ledslinger]

Araya alloy wheel with double butted stainless spokes.

Good idea to calibrate my ear at a bike shop.

 

[IndyIan]

All my spokes are straight gauge so they always break at the hub, and I don't think they ever really stretch that much.
I was doing some drifting a couple days ago on my Kona Stuff and "plink!", another spoke broke, but I'm getting pretty good at replacing them pretty quickly.
Maybe you should just get straight gauge replacements? Even those I find do a bit of a twist when tightening, so maybe the butted ones get fatigued from extra twisting as well?

 

[cchase]

I wouldn't go by the spokes in a bike shop unless it's a really high end place that caters to the racing/high end crowd and specializes in wheelbuilding.

 

[ledslinger]

I suppose you won't learn much by looking at a machine built wheel.

 

[rpn453]

I'm not a fan of butted spokes. You can really feel how much more flexible they are when you release any binding by putting your weight on the side of the wheel after a build or true.

I like straight 14 gauge with lots of spoke tension. Before working on a rim I give the inside of the rim a shot of WD-40 while spinning it to lube the threads and nipple flanges, allowing them to turn easy enough to get the tension up.

Either way, the tension needs to be consistent to stay true.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: ledslinger
I suppose you won't learn much by looking at a machine built wheel.

I'd think the tensions should be half decent with a machine built wheel. At least initially, all mine have needed some tightening/truing after a few weeks. My only two hand built ones went for years before I needed to tweak them so I guess there is a difference, not that you could see though.
Garak's suggestion with the WD40 is a good one, I'm guilty of not lubing them before adjustments.

 

[meep]

so much of truing a wheel is a by feel and some folks get it, some don't. the rim materials also make repairs different. I rode for years and worked in shops for fun (ie., shop cost) without pay, just to support the hobby/addiction.

Alloy wheels can require a bunch of cross-tension to cure wobble, or three swift whacks with a large wooden weight. You can stand on an alloy rim and it will flex and spring back, or you can use a high-speed strike with some small weight and it will bend. alloy is funny.

cross-tension needs to be balanced on the front, stiffer on the drive-side of the rear. you never tweak one spoke. If the center of a problem spot involves a spoke at say, 12:00, then you will be feathering out easily to 10:30 and 1:30. Possibly having to mirror on the opposite side and compensating at 3 and 9.... just depending on the kind of defect (roundness, wobble) you have to look at the whole wheel as a system, and take as much time as you need.

A speed wrench is a great help if you need to loosen them all, bend the rim, and then relace. a spoke tool preserves the nips on the spokes far better than using a wrench or pliers.

For longevity, I never cared for double-butted spokes. On a performance wheel I was "ok" with them, but frankly would suggest staying away from them as they can require more frequent retensioning.

Do get in the habit of checking tension monthly or so, just squeezing by hand. you'll catch things loosening up and make adjustments before a loose spoke allows the rim to get tweaked.

I think any avid cyclist should try to learn the "feel" of adjusting spokes, and if they are handy, build their own wheels. don't be afraid to dink with it! A competent wheel builder can assemble a wheel that lasts years of abuse without failure. After I got decent at it, my most common wheel failure was the grinding away of the braking surfaces on the sides of the rim. never a wobble or flat spot.

just reminiscing...

m