Radial Truing

[bad boy]

Hi All,

Merry Xmas

With all my rear wheel problems over the past few months my front wheel had somewhat been neglected, in that I dont regularly check it like I do the back.

I have noticed that its slightly out of true nothing major and thought I would have another go myself. I must say without a truing stand doing the front wheel is a pain in the neck (literally). I managed to get it sorted to less than 1mm which to be honest is not (perfect) but very close and the best I can bending on my hands and knees like that.

In the process I noticed thats its slightly out of round very minimal but I can see it. I just cant get my head around whether its a low points or high points I'm looking at. I understand the process but not sure how I can have ago on the front wheel without a truing stand.

Does anyone have any tips for radial truing, I dont want to completely mess the lateral true up in the process and how do you fix low points without messing up spoke tension by loosening them off too much ?.

Thanks all.

 

[normgow]

You can get by without a truing stand.
Hang your bike up from two hooks or fixing points in the ceiling. Then with the tyres removed replace the wheels in the frame . The brake blocks can be used to test for lateral movement and a pencil or round bar placed across the blocks can be used to check for concentricity.
High points (when the rim rubs on the pencil or bar) mean the spokes here should be tightened and where there are gaps betweem rim and pencil the spokes should be loosened. It`s advisable to do the loosening first.
This may leave the wheel out of true laterally but the concentricity is the harder part to get right. Once you are satisfied with this you can then move on to the lateral truing but only make very small adjustments , a quarter turn is normally enough, and if you are a beginner be prepared to spend a fair amount of time . Try not to start truing on Saturday evening a wheel you need for the following morning.
Also look at the various posting on this forum concerning wheel building and truing.
Good luck

 

[andrew_s]

Either way, you can avoid affecting the lateral truth too much by working on pairs od adjacent spokes at the high/low points.

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

...Does anyone have any tips for radial truing, I dont want to completely mess the lateral true up in the process and how do you fix low points without messing up spoke tension by loosening them off too much ?.

Thanks all.

Radial are no more difficult than crossed, if by low is as a result of the spokes being too tight then of course no harm to loosen, if low as a result of an impact then of course loosening may cause a problem

Paul_Smith
www.corridori.co.uk