Wheel Truing????

Tarckives Bikes
1

I recently tore down a set of Velocity Escape Tubular Wheels that were built up on track hubs. I Laced them to a set of Ultegra road hubs. I used the spoke length calculator on Sheldon’s site and got the wrong length spokes. I ended up taking the hubs and rims to the LBS and they got me fitted for the correct spokes. I laced them up pretty quick and began following the tensioning and truing tutorial on Sheldons site.
I cant get them true. I keep tweeking and spinning and tweeking… still not true. I ended up dropping the wheels at the LBS to have them finish the job. I went back to the LBS with the tires figuring that they could mount them up and I could use them to race this weekend… They quoted me $25 per tire to mount tubulars and informed me that the truing would cost at least $30… Total $80 minimum!!! I grabbed the wheels and did my best “fuck you im outa here walk”…

So what do I do now? I know it is just me! there is nothing wrong with the rims! what is the best way to get decent at truing these wheels? Now that I bought a truing stand it seams stupid not to learn how to do it! what are the best resources?

2

practice. remember that if you’re using a spoke wrench righty isn’t tighty. Use small corrections (1turn max). is the wheel radially untrue or just laterally(side to side)?

3

The tires are not mounted yet… so I am still using a screw driver… The wheel is both Radially and Laterally untrue, but neither is that far off…

4

Even tension is more important that perfectly true. For minor irregularities in trueness, you’d be surprised how much a slight turn of only a single nipple will do. If you plan on making wheelbuilding into a habit, investing $50-60 in a tensiometer is worth it.

Do you even have any idea how much tension you currently have on your spokes? If your still turning the nipples with a screwdriver, the overall tension is probably still too low.

5

I’d say back up a few steps and make sure you’ve brought the wheel up to tension slowly

Loosen until there is 1 thread showing on each spoke. Using the valve hole as your reference do a full turn all the way around, then another full turn max, and quarter turns or less after that. It takes a long time to bring up the tension slowly but it’s worth it.

If you have to loosen spokes, make sure you loosen, then tighten. For example, if you want to loosen 1/4 turn, loosen 1/2 turn, then tighten 1/4 turn.

Keep a built wheel laced in the same way handy to reference for proper spoke tension.

As the wheel starts to get tight, add a small drop of oil at each nipple/rim junction.

Make sure you release tension on the wheel once you start getting it close to final tension. Place it flat on the floor and with one edge of the rim and the hub touching the floor, work your way around the wheel, GENTLY pressing down. You should hear a little pinging. Flip the wheel over and repeat.

Get your wheel true, then work on rounding, then true again.

If your wheel is basically round and close to final tension and you still have a spot on the braking surface that’s scraping, use a combination of tightening and loosening to accomplish your goal. Crank down too much on one spoke at this point and you will only create lot more work for yourself chasing the problem around the wheel.

Get or borrow a dishing tool and use it frequently to check your work. Really.

Don’t get super anal retentive about truing a wheel before riding it. Installing a tire alone will change things, to say nothing of your first ride. Ride it for a few days, then throw it back up the stand.

Rims are not perfect. A properly tensioned, dished, and rounded wheel is the goal. Don’t worry if it scrapes a little bit on the stand after all your work. A millimeter give or take really doesn’t matter in the real world.

6

[quote=“mihlbach”]Even tension is more important that perfectly true. For minor irregularities in trueness, you’d be surprised how much a slight turn of only a single nipple will do. If you plan on making wheelbuilding into a habit, investing $50-60 in a tensiometer is worth it.

Do you even have any idea how much tension you currently have on your spokes? If your still turning the nipples with a screwdriver, the overall tension is probably still too low.[/quote]

I totally agree.

I do think that a dishing tool is a more valuable 2nd investment than a spoke tension meter though.

A 4 cornered spoke wrench is also a must-have. Rounding out a nipple on an almost-done wheel sucks ass.

7

First off, thanks for the responses!

[quote=“mihlbach”]
Do you even have any idea how much tension you currently have on your spokes? If your still turning the nipples with a screwdriver, the overall tension is probably still too low.[/quote]

I basically have no Idea how much tension I have. I did start with all the spokes with the threads just concealed by the nipple, and then went around with one full turn. then I followed with 1/4 turns. But now I have been spinning the wheel trying to source out problem areas and I am starting to doubt my work.

I do have a dish gauge, but i dont know how to use it.

I attempted to get a tension gauge, but performance was back ordered… I will get one

8
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=82

Park Tools’ website has :bear: how-tos for most bike tools.

A dishing tool is pretty basic though. Get it so that it’s touching both sides of the rim and also touching your locknut on one side of the hub. Now see if, on that setting, it can also touch all three of the counterpart points on the other side of the wheel at once. If it can, your dish is good. If not, your dish is off.

Wheel truing is not that hard but it’s really frustrating when you don’t know how to do it. You might want to see if someone at your local bike co-op can show you the ropes. Once you have the basics it’s easy to get better at it yourself.

9

The technique I’ve used is tighten the same amount that you loosen the other side. That way you never get out of round. Right? I’ve never been taught how to true but I manage to do a pretty decent job.

10

Be patient. If your feeling frustrated walk away for a while.

+1 on getting an experienced person to show you the basics.

The Bicycle wheel by Jobst Brandt is a great book for all bike geeks. The owner of the first shop I worked in gave me a copy along with spokes, rims and hubs and sent me home with them.

I’ve been building my own since.

Thank you Steven Dodge.

11

Your joking, right? A dishing tool is totally uneccesary. Most builders I have talked to don’t even use one, and neither do I. Flipping your wheel around in the truing stand will tell you if the dish (or lack of it) is correct.

12

[quote=“mihlbach”][quote=“tarckeemoon”]
I do think that a dishing tool is a more valuable 2nd investment than a spoke tension meter though.
[/quote]

Your joking, right? A dishing tool is totally uneccesary. Most builders I have talked to don’t even use one, and neither do I. Flipping your wheel around in the truing stand will tell you if the dish (or lack of it) is correct.[/quote]

I find them helpful, and as tools go they are pretty cheap.

13

At this point I am thinking of going to the Bicycle Kitchen here in LA to get a little help. I am still pissed at my LBS and I dont really know who else to have show me… I am ready to ride these wheels!

14

[quote=“tarckeemoon”][quote=“mihlbach”]Even tension is more important that perfectly true. For minor irregularities in trueness, you’d be surprised how much a slight turn of only a single nipple will do. If you plan on making wheelbuilding into a habit, investing $50-60 in a tensiometer is worth it.

Do you even have any idea how much tension you currently have on your spokes? If your still turning the nipples with a screwdriver, the overall tension is probably still too low.[/quote]

I totally agree.

I do think that a dishing tool is a more valuable 2nd investment than a spoke tension meter though.

A 4 cornered spoke wrench is also a must-have. Rounding out a nipple on an almost-done wheel sucks ass.[/quote]

+2. Trying to build wheels w/o a tensiometer’s tough. First thing I do is bring the spokes up to even tension, then I true/round. You can try the ‘by ear method’ but I suck at that. Basically, you’re looking for the spokes to harmonize, but here’s a chart.

http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/tension.htm#pitchtable

And mihlbach already replied, but +1 to that too -> you don’t need a dishing tool, just keep flipping it over w/o moving at least one of the guides.

edit: To the actual OP’s question, take your time. My first wheel took 3 hours until I was satisfied.I used this as a guide

http://www.gsportbmx.com/tech/guide_wheelbuilding.php
15

1 turn max, try to operate in quarter turns.

16

[quote=“mihlbach”][quote=“tarckeemoon”]
I do think that a dishing tool is a more valuable 2nd investment than a spoke tension meter though.
[/quote]

Your joking, right? A dishing tool is totally uneccesary. Most builders I have talked to don’t even use one, and neither do I. Flipping your wheel around in the truing stand will tell you if the dish (or lack of it) is correct.[/quote]

Park’s website claims that flipping is not 100% accurate because little irregularities at the hub (in the axle and the locknut) get magnified over the distance between the hub and the rim. Is this wrong then?

17

they’re right, they will get magnified. but they stand to make money but selling dish tools… so try the flip method and see if it’s good enough for what you’re doing before you drop the money on a dishing tool.

18

Theoretically, that could be true, but in practice it doesn’t happen. I’ve never used a dishing tool to build a wheel and they all ended up perfectly centered in the frame. Even if it turns out the dish is off, its not as if its difficult to correct.