Trueing for beginners

[torqueless]

Re:

What gets to me is what LBS would like to charge you for a wheel's worth of spokes if/when you decide you can probably do the job as well as they do.

From their point of view I guess £15 per wheel makes sense- it is skilled work, and it takes time. Maybe a wheelbuilding/trueing specialist gets fast, but I doubt many bike shops these days employ a full-time dedicated wheelbuilder/truer?

I'm only a very occasional wheelbuilder, and such wheels as I've built have all been utilitarian 36-spoke affairs, so my 2cents ain't worth much... I reckon with a sound box-section rim and a decent hub, spokes are probably pretty forgiving and adaptable to various tensions, provided you don't take the piss too much either way- there's a 'tension window' somewhere between 'too loose' and 'too tight', just like with nuts and bolts. How big is the window? That's the question... You either trust your judgement, or get a tension-gauge..

Beyond that, there can be so many variables- spoke gauge, plain or butted, spoke count, cross-pattern, rim-weight...some people lubricate the threads and/or eyelets, some don't, some people lock the threads with some product...Lighter rims with lower spoke-counts are probably more sensitive to tension. Some novelty-section rims are unpredictable- Weinmann concave HP rims seem to have their fans, but I am down on them because I once watched one spontaneously pretzelise itself, presumably from too much spoke tension (my fault, but I don't think that would've happened with a box-section rim).

Important to get the spoke lengths right to start with so you can use all the thread, and to get the spokes well seated in the hub, which with new spokes means improving the 'bend' where the spoke emerges from the hub.

I 'stress-relieve' a newly-built wheel by getting a fist around four spokes where they cross and squeezing. Go all around the wheel like that, and the fairly true wheel you had before will now need trueing again- but doing that doesn't stop the wheel from going 'pling' for a week, once it's on the road.

Obviously you keep an eye and ear on a new wheel until it's settled in.... not literally, of course...

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Re: Re:

Being charged a tenner by mr lbs and being presented with a wheel with half a dozen loose spokes prompted me to start building my own.
I've built half a dozen or so now; it's a useful skill and not that difficult really.

Hope you took the wheel back and bollocked them, obviously the shop is waank at his job :twisted:

I can true' wheels good myself putting cable ties on the frame then cut off at an angle to serve as a good guide,
but the shop/s I use are brilliant at their job, one is a good friend and has been building wheels/frames since 1975 and knows his job.

 

[Nob]

I taught myself after the LBS charged £12 and left one spoke sans tension. I'm now in double figures and have not looked back. But I concede that being able to tell which spokes are tighter by ringing them is important (to me at lest) though the aim isn't for them all to be the same pitch.
Now I'm hankering after a stand, dial gauges, spoke thread rollers and cutters. I find the idea of wheel building more exciting than frame building... If so I guess I'll need a tension meter too.

Agree with teaching ones self as did this when I was very young & saved a packet on doing your own wheels

My rig really helps when you have DTI's on

 

[pigman]

Re:

f##k me Nob, whats all the gauges? It looks like the inside of one of those WWII submarine films with lots of dials and pressure gauges.

Back on topic, providing you dont go mad overtightening individual random spokes, you cant really make a costly mistake. Keep movements small and in unison and providing you have some (however slight) engineering intuition, you will learn to feel your way into what's happening. Like others have said, and for me, we had a go, learnt and never looked back. The more you do, the easier it becomes. Dont start off by thinking you need all the jigs etc, - a frame hung by the saddle or bars is all you need - if youre happy, then get the jigs.

 

[Nob]

Re: Re:

f##k me Nob, whats all the gauges? It looks like the inside of one of those WWII submarine films with lots of dials and pressure gauges.

quote]

DTI's for me make things so much easier than the wheel in the frame scenario I have used over the years. If you are used to DTI's when using them on machining techniques then they are real easy to use & really help on truing of a wheel especially the hardest part which is the up & down of the rim.