Mickle's tip of the - Season to be Jolly: Wheel truing.

[Ajax Bay]

Plus one to Flying Dodo's sentiment.

On 'plucking' to detect tension, for those of us with old wheels (mine are the 'original' as supplied 36 year old Weinmann rims and hubs, but by no means the original spokes (probably only half)), it's worth a quick but systematic pluck check on a regular basis. This will detect a loose spoke, and possibly a very tight one, and in extremis a broken one that has gone un-noticed because the (normally rear) wheel did not go out of true enough to rub on the brake shoes on your last ride.

I've seen no reference to the need to give the trued wheel a good (across the diameter) squeeze - two hands and waist - to free up twisted spokes and crossing points.

 

[loveandpeace1]

Sorry guys haven't read the whole thread. Is a "spoke tension meter" a must ?.
All the best

 

[Ajax Bay]

Is a "spoke tension meter" a must ?

No

 

[Tom B]

So today I've tried to bunny hop a drain on my commuter and landed rather clumsily and smashed a sufficiently large flat spot into the wheel that I can feel it on every rotation.

Is this a blip? Is it repairable or am I looking aa new rim?

 

[Tin Pot]

So wheel truing and plucking - I've tuned my guitars by ear for nearly thirty years, does this mean I can reuse this skill to tune/true my wheels?

 

[Flying Dodo]

So today I've tried to bunny hop a drain on my commuter and landed rather clumsily and smashed a sufficiently large flat spot into the wheel that I can feel it on every rotation.

Is this a blip? Is it repairable or am I looking aa new rim?

Should be repairable. After all, you've got nothing to lose by having a go. Search out some YouTube videos.

 

[Flying Dodo]

So wheel truing and plucking - I've tuned my guitars by ear for nearly thirty years, does this mean I can reuse this skill to tune/true my wheels?

I've heard some nice tunes played on a bike wheel, so yes!

 

[Tom B]

Should be repairable. After all, you've got nothing to lose by having a go. Search out some YouTube videos.

View: https://youtu.be/cNxc9RvJ9SY


Decided to edge my bets... Ordered a new wheel and borrowing a truing stand. I am not sure the stand deals with the "bounce" of the wheel as it is a home made jobby.

 

[RichardB]

View: https://youtu.be/cNxc9RvJ9SY


Decided to edge my bets... Ordered a new wheel and borrowing a truing stand. I am not sure the stand deals with the "bounce" of the wheel as it is a home made jobby.

A decent stand should be able to measure out-of-round as well as side-to-side, likely just a case of moving the measuring stick thing. However, IME dealing with a flat spot is far harder than a sideways wobble (my experience is motorcycle wheels. not bicycle wheels, but same principles) as the rim will have taken a 'set' with the impact rather than just being vaguely out of line. I would be budgeting for a new rim. However, if the rim ends up being scrap, you can experiment to your heart's content and probably learn a lot about truing a wheel.

 

[Poacher]

So wheel truing and plucking - I've tuned my guitars by ear for nearly thirty years, does this mean I can reuse this skill to tune/true my wheels?

Yes! Prime demonstration here:

 

[Tin Pot]

Yes! Prime demonstration here:

Heheh. That's where I got the idea from!

In an earlier scene she uses a tuning fork on the table.

 

[GuyBoden]

I like it, wheel truing by ear seems to improve concentration, similar to a meditation exercise.........

 

[Cycleops]

So wheel truing and plucking - I've tuned my guitars by ear for nearly thirty years, does this mean I can reuse this skill to tune/true my wheels?

Only if you want to play 'Stairway to heaven' on your front wheel.

Be interesting to see someone play an 'air wheel' for a change.

 

[dbeattie]

I just got a hold of a truing stand last week. I made a base for it yesterday. So last night I had a go at getting a wobble out the front wheel. Quite pleased with the result. I was less confident about the back wheel because the bike shop man who replaced a spoke for me said he had done his best and there would always be a flat bit on the rim. Anyway I had a go at it and again I'm quite pleased with it. I took the bike for a short ride and it feels much smoother. I've got the brakes working better because the wheels don't wobble now. So I'm chuffed!

 

[overmind]

I went on a 2-day mini-tour with my son to the Isle of Wight last Saturday/Sunday. I had a great time. I may post details in the touring part of the forum.

edit: (as promised above) https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/isle-of-wight-tour-2019.255129/#post-5798192

On the final day, I was cycling from Wroxall to Newport on the A3020 when I heard a slight ping sound. I stopped fairly quickly as my gut instinct told me a spoke had broken. It had, on the rear non-drive side (right next to the hub in the most-common place).

I managed to get the East Cowes for the ferry return to Southampton with no further issues but I took it fairly gently.

The following day, it was a very straightforward task to replace the spoke and re-true the wheel. It only took about 20 minutes. Looking at the wheel there must be about 6 previous repairs done over the past 2-3 years (I commute to work so it takes a good hammering). It is very satisfying to be able to do a repair like that based on a skill I have acquired from watching YouTube videos and just having-a-go.

In the past, I would have replaced the spoke as best I could and for 2 or more spokes would have written off the wheel (and possibly even replaced the bike). Sometimes I adjusted the brakes to be a bit wider and just lived with the buckles and till it got sufficiently bad to be unrideable.

Well chuffed.

Bike (Triban 3)