Bicycle Mechanics - Wheel trueing advice: Fulcrum 5 rear w/ 2 to 1 spokes

My Fulcrum 5 rear wheel is slightly off true. It has the 2 to 1 spoke design: non-drive side is laced radially and the drive side has paired spokes.

Here's my dilemma: I've trued wheels in the past. I've got a trueing stand and the spoke wrenches. I don't have a tensiometer. In the past I worked by ear. With these new design wheels and the higher tensions I'm fearful of making things worse rather than better.

Should I just leave it alone? Right now it's just out of true enough that I can see it when I spin my wheel but there is no brake rub or other ride-ability issue.

I don't really want to take it around to an LBS. I feel like I would insult them by doing an interview on their qualifications to true a wheel. But I'm open to suggestions from you shop guys on this.

OR should I just swallow my fear and have at like it's just a wheel - how bad could I mess it up anyway?

Thanks.

If you are not sure what to do yes bring it to the shop,and it does just hurt to ask when you are there for help. It what we are here for.

On a rear wheel I don't use the drive side to do lateral truing. It works well using the non-drive side spokes. I have done this for friends with the silly paired spokes wheels, but I don't know for sure about yours.

The wheel works just like a regular one truing laterally. What i recommend you to have is a center gauge thing, w/o that you are basically dead. Follow davidad advice then use the gauge and put the wheel back to the center if aint center already.

The other thing i noticed with these wheels with high tension spokes is that no matter what you do the tension is almost even all the time in all the spokes. If you know how to true a wheel you should not have a single problem with this one at all. At leat is not a super few spokes bontranger or a campagnolo g3 because those ones not even a shop will take them :D

Truing radially is the hard part because the rims in low count spoke wheels are so stiff that push the rim to take a hop out sometimes is not enough, in those cases u have to lose the spokes at the hop, then tight the opposite hop side spokes to pull the rim/hub to the opposite side so the hop has more rim to pull. Carbon wheels have this problem usually.

Good luck

I guess I should clarify:

The rims are still perfectly round as far as I can tell. It's just the slight out of center that's bugging me.

As far as a dishing tool (ultraman6970 is this what you call a center gauge?) I've just always flipped the wheel over in the truing stand to find the center while truing a finished wheel.

My main concern here is the higher tensions of these lower spoke wheels. I don't want to make things worse.

Flipping the wheel over to center the rim works as well as any other technique. It just takes some horse sense and patience.
Go ahead and true the wheel but make the changes in very small increments. The principles are the same for all wheels.
If the spokes are bladed be sure to hold them straight to avoid twisting. Actually twisting should be avoided for all spokes.