I had a little free time this afternoon, so I decided to give my Surly LHT a little TLC. I took it out on the back patio and used my Park Tool chain cleaner with 50/50 Simple Green to clean the chain, then gave the rest of the bike a good washing. Finished up with lubing the chain, and putting a drop of oil on all of the pivoting points of the derailleurs and on the jockey wheels.
While doing the chain cleaning, I noticed my rear wheel was out of true. It was bad enough that it was lightly contacting the right brake shoe when the wheel was spun. Initially I figured this was going to be a trip to the LBS. Actually, I'm going to be in Memphis all next week, and was thinking about dropping the Trucker off at the LBS for a tune-up anyway, but when I checked their web site for their Sunday hours I found that they were already closed. This meant that I wouldn't get the bike into the shop until next week, and then there would be another week to get it back. Two weeks without the bike!
Looking at the situation closely, however, I started examining the spokes. As I rotated the wheel I gave each spoke a tap, and I discovered that at the point where the wheel touched the brake shoe, one of the spokes made a "plunk" instead of a "plink". Hmmm.
I dug into my seat bag and got out the combo tool, and started tightening the end of that spoke until it felt about the same as the others. Lo and behold, the wheel no longer touches the brake shoe - as a matter of fact, it spins pretty true!
I guess I'm good to go. I'll find out next time I ride - in a week or so.
stapfam
06-08-08, 03:33 PM
I dug into my seat bag and got out the combo tool, and started tightening the end of that spoke until it felt about the same as the others. Lo and behold, the wheel no longer touches the brake shoe - as a matter of fact, it spins pretty true!
I guess I'm good to go. I'll find out next time I ride - in a week or so.
You have found one of the wonders of bike maintenabce and saved your self $10. I allow a couple of home trues on my wheels and when the 3rd comes along- I let the wheelbuilder sort the wheel. Just a tip in future- If those wheels have not been touched for a few years- The spokes could be corroded onto the nipples. Drop of wd40 or chain oil on the spokes a couple of minutes before you tweak could save a more serious rebuild at the LBS.----And spoke keys are better than multi tools. But there are several different sizes. They don't cost a fortune and when you start re-trueing your mates wheels- you will find they have a funny size nipple that does not fit the spoke tool used on your bike(s). Buy a red and a black Park tool and this should fit most bikes.
maddmaxx
06-08-08, 04:46 PM
Years ago, the LBS charged me $40 to true a wheel for me.
Within another year I was building my own (ond others) wheels. I buy very little from that shop these days, but I picked up a whole new hobby.
The Smokester
06-08-08, 10:31 PM
I just bought myself a wheel building set: Truing stand, spoke tension gauge, three different kinds of nipple wrenches. I've done my own tuning for years. 'Gonna learn me how to build a wheel now. After we get back from the Galapagos I will build a wheelset with Ultegra 36 hole hubs, aerohead rims and DT Swiss 3x lacing.
Bill Kapaun
06-09-08, 01:49 AM
I took a stab at minor truing/tensioning a few weeks back.
Since I'm senile and can't remember where I'm at 1/2 the time, I went to Radio Shack and got a couple 10 packs of the red/black alligator clips.
I used 9 of one color on one side and 9 of the other on the other side, alternating spokes. 18 clips for 36 spokes.
I started with the clip near the nipple, and after tightening that nipple, I slid the clip down toward the hub. I basically alternated across the wheel until 1/2 were done.
I then moved all the clips one spoke over and repeated the process.
It seemed to keep me on track.
Get a GOOD spoke wrench! The one wrench fits everything is marginal at best.
Do a lot less than you think you need. You can always go over it again if you need to tighten more!
It may be my imagination, but the wheel seems to roll better. My spokes seemed on the loose side. A lot of "thunks" instead of "twangs". Maybe they were "flexing" a lot more than I thought under my 230+ lbs?
maddmaxx
06-09-08, 01:55 AM
Both Park and Pedro's make spoke wrenches that have 4 sides with the notch in a corner. For higher tension jobs and the drive side of rear wheels, this can go a long way toward not rounding off the spoke nipples. They take longer to use but do a much better job.
Black wrench for DT and Wheelsmith spokes, Red for most Japaneese spokes and green for European. Many folks get along with only the black wrench.
The Smokester
06-09-08, 08:49 AM
Thanks for the info. Got many of the Park spoke wrenches over the years: Red, green, black and black-blue (the one that captures the nipple). In the last year I have standardized on DT Swiss spokes so black or black-blue is all I need now except when someone else needs a tuneup.
Still, I have never built a complete wheel from the ground up. I've always done the tuneups or spoke replacements with the wheel on the bike and let the LBS do the major rim replacements. I guess a complete build is just one of those things on my "bucket list".
Ranger63
06-21-08, 05:28 PM
Ahhh the dark side.
Once you master this, LBS truing and rounding will never be good enough.
You'll do a quick true of the wheels while waiting for the coffee to brew in the morning.
You'll find yourself riding someones wheel and thinking.."man,he needs to get that wheel trued"
You'll install dial indicators on the park Truing stand...
The Dark Side...lol