Bicycle Mechanics - Suggestions for amount of spoke tension

My wife bought me a truing stand for my birthday last year and I've done quite a bit of experimenting with it. I thought I was getting pretty good at building, truing, tensioning, etc. Today I got a Park tension meter for our anniversary. She's such a cool wife! Anyway, I had been checking tension by ear and thought I had the tension pretty close on the wheels that I have been playing with. According to the tension meter, my tensions are nice and even, but way too low. I'm not even on the tables yet. What can I say, I must be tone deaf.

To get to my question, finally, the wheels that I am experimenting with are Araya RM 20 and RM 17s. They are off of our commuter bikes. What would optimal spoke tension be for these wheels? They are both non-eyeletted rims. The instructions for the tension meter say MOST rims are between 90kgf and 130kgf, but to check with the rim manufacturers. I've searched all over and have come up empty. Does anyone have any figures for me? Any figures for a rim that is close to the RM 20/17? Or do I just stick fairly close to the lower end (90 kgf). Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

It depends on how you ride and, IMHO, how long you want the rim to last. If you are racing and want a stiff wheel, crank those spokes up to the top of the table.

If you want to have a solid wheel that might flex a little, the go for the lower end of the range.

I've found that with high tension, the spokes will more quickly cause little horizontal stress fractures in the rim near the nipples, thus ruining the rim unless you don't mind riding on a non-round wheel.

Also, be sure not to overtighten your drive side spokes since they usually require 20-30 more kgf.

What a great gift. I loved using a tensiometer when I worked in a shop. Now I have to use the ol' tone method. I'll usually tighten the spokes about as tight as possible...TIIINNNG

It would be best to start with the lower end of general tension recommendations, such as 90 kgf. Without eyelets, the nipples tend to concentrate the load at the hole. Be sure to also lubricate where the nipple exits the rim, as there can be more friction with non-eyelet rims as well.

Rider weight can be a factor as well. A wire spoked wheel is a tension structure; for optimal longevity it's members (the spokes) should never lose all of their tension during the loading and unloading cycle (the wheel rolling along bearing the rider's weight). A heavier rider with relatively low spoke tension wheels can cause the spokes to relax completely during this cycle and this complete loss of tension will greatly shorten the fatigue life of the spokes. It will also cause the wheel to lose true and round more quickly. The same thing happens when you hit a sharp bump like a pothole or something, the area receiving the impact gets abnormally unloaded, the adjoining spokes keep pulling with the same force taking the rim out of true and changing the forces at that region of the rim. When the spoke that took the hit recovers from the impact, it won't go back to it's original position because of those changes.

So anyway, I'm an advocate of the higher tension the better. I haven't yet encountered any manufacturer's parameters for a rim. At Barnett's they suggested a tension range of 80-120 kgf with heavier riders or higher abuse wheels built toward the high (100-120) end of the range. I hope this was of some help.