Old 01-13-05, 08:21 PM
  #17  
thechamp
loser
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: portland, or
Posts: 385

Bikes: steyr, lejeune, schwinn, sears, crescent, blah blah blah.

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
you should go ahead and move the rim yourself. you can do it on a frame without too much trouble so long as you can work on it comfortable and have a reasonable attention to detail. So long as the wheel is true already it's mostly a matter of (evenly) loostening the drive side spokes and tigtening the non drive side. hints;

hit the nipples with some sort of penetrating oil the day before.

relax, put on some music and don't answer the phone while you're doing this

remove chain and derailer hanger (if it's an old bike). mount the wheel all the way to the back of the dropouts. check if they're even by reversing the wheel and seeing if the wheel ends up in the same place with relation to the seatstays (or brake mount).

adjust all the spokes on one side, then all the spokes on the other side, repeat. do this in small increments that are easy to quantify (full turn, half turn, etc.) check spoke tensions to make sure your not tightening or loostening too much.

always start and finish each incremental adjustment at the valve hole for continuity.

make sure your adjusting the nipple the right direction - if you're using a spoke wrench you'll be turning the nip right to loosten and left to tension. reverse this if your adjusting from the rim side (much easier) with a screwdriver.

measure off the seat stays to check your progress center wheel on the frame.

spin the wheel (fast) and use a pencil steadied against the seat stay to mark wobbles in the rim.

if you end up with a big wow and can't figure out how to address it then you might have been right about taking it to the lbs and you can do so at this time. but remember, no one likes a quitter.

this isn't rocket science and you're not building a rocket. you're not even building a bike for the track. this is a beater! you can get it close enough.
thechamp is offline