Originally Posted by
onetwentyeight
truing is one of those issues where the longer you ignore it, the worse its going to get and may cause problems down the line. half a centimeter out is the worst Ill let it get on my own wheels before I take care of it.
Yeah, wheels don't true themselves.
Regarding truing yourself. Yes, get a book and/or get someone with experience to show you. Wheel truing happens in 2 dimensions: up/down & left/right. 3 dimensions if you consider turning the wheel 90 degrees and up/down becomes in/out.
There's an old joke around bike shops:
Q: How do you drum up business for your service department?
A: Give out free spoke wrenches!