Wheel True-ness...

[Stwutter]

Hi all - newbie from the once great rooms that are now Bike Radar...

Last week my speedo sensor took a knock at high speed, and ended up in my wheel. The upshot of this was a slightly wonky front Zonda, that rubbed against the pad every revoultion - it was probably around 5-6mm out of true.

Being a have-a-go-Joe, I got my unused spoke key out, and set to work, with the help of the internet. To my surprise, it worked. The wheel is now almost perect, but is still ever so slightly out, I'd say by no more than 1mm - you really have to study it as it spins to see the slight variation. Is this OK? From what I can gather, a tiny 'wobble' like this is fine, but thought I'd check what you lot thought.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I wouldn't worry about 1mm.

 

[barq]

Hello and welcome.

I think a lot of people would be fairly happy with 1mm, but obviously the truer you can get it the better from a braking point of view. As far as wheel strength is concerned the other thing you've got to consider is the evenness of spoke tension - but you may already have done this. Which wheel truing guide did you follow as a matter of interest?

 

[Twenty Inch]

1 mm is nothing to worry about. What barq says about spoke tension is important though. When you pluck the spokes they should all sound roughly the same note. Spokes that are too tight will snap under pressure.

 

[Stwutter]

Cheers.

Park Tool, although I scooted thru a few different pages as a cross ref. Also flicked thru the Haynes book. I did try and balance the whole process out by small adjustments either side as opposed to just tightening one or two spokes to adjust. I did it last night and done 20 miles before work today with no problems, so looks like it's OK. I guess without true-ing stand it's all done by eye and feel. Zondas are tough old wheels for the weight tho'.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Nice one, very satisfying trueing up one's own wheel. Well done.

 

[Stwutter]

Cheers fella.

 

[barq]

Park Tool, although I scooted thru a few different pages as a cross ref. Also flicked thru the Haynes book. I did try and balance the whole process out by small adjustments either side as opposed to just tightening one or two spokes to adjust.

I like the Park book and the website. It'll probably be fine from what you've said, but keep an eye on it every so often. If it starts to drift out of true then spoke tension may be an issue.

Twenty Inch is right about wheel truing becoming quite satisfying, and if you ever get really stuck you can just back the nipples off a bit and start again. Well done for giving it a go, sounds like a good job.

 

[Stwutter]

I like the Park book and the website. It'll probably be fine from what you've said, but keep an eye on it every so often. If it starts to drift out of true then spoke tension may be an issue.

Twenty Inch is right about wheel truing becoming quite satisfying, and if you ever get really stuck you can just back the nipples off a bit and start again. Well done for giving it a go, sounds like a good job.

Yeah - pleased with it.

Through a combination of things going wrong, and upgrades, the only major thing I've not done myself now is taking the headset apart for a clean, grease and refit.

 

[barq]

I can relate to that. It is a great feeling when you can fix (pretty much) every aspect of your bike. And like you say it all comes step by step - when something goes wrong, you learn to fix it.

 

[hubgearfreak]

Spokes that are too tight will snap under pressure.

true, but you'd round the nipple off long before then....at least 270kgs of tension is the load required and a reasonably tense spoke is at 50kg

it's the loose / un-tensioned spokes that snap

 

[Twenty Inch]

I can relate to that. It is a great feeling when you can fix (pretty much) every aspect of your bike. And like you say it all comes step by step - when something goes wrong, you learn to fix it.

And then, once you've done your bike a few times, you buy a 15-year old MOT failure Citroen BX and start doing the same on that.

If you're anything like me, that is.

 

[barq]

Spokes that are too tight will snap under pressure.

Tight is good. You don't want spokes below the hub to unload as the wheel turns because they will fatigue and eventually break at the elbow.

It is virtually impossible to snap a spoke by over-tensioning because, as Hubgearfreak says, the nipples will round off. The only exception is if the spokes are already fatigued - which is why you should stay out the 'line of fire' if you've removed the rim tape! But since the spoke will fail any way that's no reason to under-tension.