spgny

Please indicate approximate miles, time of year, etc that you tend to true your road bike wheels....

I am trying to determine if I should invest in a Park TS-2 as opposed to paying LBS...thanks in advance for input.

supcom

I true wheels when they need it - usually about once or twice a year.

TallRider

This varies a lot. Road/mountain, condition of roads or trails, weight of rider, how good one is at wheelbuilding/truing, etc.
Now that I'm very good at truing wheels, I expect to do it once and never again, almost, unless I crash. Especially for front wheels. At least 5,000 miles per wheel, 10,000 for front wheels.
And I've got the truing stand that Performance sells, and I paid $50 for it. Totally worth it for me, and I sorta wish I'd bought the Park just because I have a number of bikes and work on bikes for lots of friends.

San Rensho 

I got a pair of fairly cheap wheels about 15? years ago. When I first got them, I stressed them (people were asking me "why are you standing on brand new wheels?"), trued them and repeated until I could stand on them and they wouldn't go out of true. I think I trued them once or twice in the ensuing years when I hit something really hard. I also jumped curbs, bunny hopped railroad tracks, etc., when I weighed well over 200 pounds. Broke a spoke a couple of weeks ago, thats it.

My point, if you build a strong wheel that properly tensioned and stressed, it will last a long time without having to true.

Al1943

+1

capwater

Get yourself a spoke wrench and a truing stand. It's not all that hard, just takes time and patience. At the bare minimum you should have a wrench in case you need to tweak a wheel out on a ride.

spinerguy

I have a bike stand but not a truing stand, my question to you guys is how good can you get it when truing wheels on the bike?

dbg

More than just trueing, you need to get them properly tensioned or they may not hold true for very long. There is a big difference. Once properly tensioned and trued they may last for a long time or until a traumatic event occurs.

Avalanche325

You can get them just as true by using the on the bike method. The stand just makes it faster and more comfortable.

spgny

I have an old MTB with bad wheels. I have the spoke renches, and trued it laterally to a decent degree. However, I noticed that the main issue is that the wheels are not round, or radial. So I think that to correct radialness, it is easier and more precise with truing stand...correct?

Since it would cost me $40 at a LBS for this job and I just paid $20 for an annual true on the back wheel of my road bike , I figured that I might as well invest $180 in a Park TS-2 and do this and future jobs on my road bikes...just wondering if the "# truings/TS-2 cost" will be high enough to justify purchase.

Charles Swartz

I would say you only need to true them when they noticeably come out of alignment. I would leave it up to a trained professional to do the work though. The local shop in my area does it nicely for 15 dollars, much better than paying money for a wrench, stand, and alignment tool.

phantomcow2

I built up my wheels 14 or 15 months ago for my XC bike. Put a lot of offroad and road miles, it hasnot yet needed truing. I think there is about a 1mm laterial spot where it is not true, but I dont even notice it while riding. Every couple of months I check them though, just on the bike.

ppc

I true a wheel exactly once for quality wheels, or twice for cheap wheels. It goes like this:

- Buy quality wheel
- Ride 100 to 200 miles
- True/retension the wheel perfectly
- Wheel is good for the rest of its life

or

- Buy cheap wheel
- Ride 20 to 50 miles (stop whenever the spokes start to ping)
- True/retension the wheel perfectly
- If necessary, touch up trueness 1000 miles later if the wheel is really cheap
- Wheel is good for the rest of its life

This has worked well for me on all my bikes, regardless of wheel sizes and brands, and despite my above average relationship with gravity. I only use 36 spoke wheels though, apart on my Brompton.

TallRider

I love it. That's a great line. And your method is good (and sounds as if your skills are, too).

Some wheelbuilding gurus would argue that you shouldn't need the 50-200 mile break-in or set-in period, if you've pre-stressed the spokes properly. I'd tend to agree with you, specifically because pre-stressing seats the spokes as they'll be, but doesn't create the spoke's imprint in the hub flange nearly as much as riding does. Which is to say, pre-stressing can preclude changes over time in the spokes more than in the hub flange (most of which will come in the first 50-100 miles).
But anyway, I suspect you'd get similar results if you trued/tensioned/prestressed the wheel perfectly before riding it, same as riding 100 miles and then trueing/tensioning it.

Having to hit stuff up a second time around for cheap wheels makes sense intuitively, but it's interesting - I'm trying to figure out exactly which components tend to settle in more on cheap wheels. What do y'all think on this?

bigskymacadam

my front rolf vigor went ever so slightly out of true after a crash. took it to lbs and he trued for nothing. else, i hear that this wheelset shouldn't go out of true for a long time. bombproof he said.

time will tell.

ppc

I think cheap wheels have cheap metal steel spokes that tend to let themselves go a bit more easily, and perhaps also cheap alu for hubs that deforms around the spoke holes and loosen the spokes a bit. I've yet to buy a wheel so cheap that a second round of truing doesn't fix for good though. The last I bought was a $10 superstore wheel for my commuter so cheesy I had to retrue it after my first commute with it, and it gave me quite a lot of trouble to get right. I could never get even spoke tension after riding it only 10 miles, but it's on the bike and it's been working fine since last september with all the abuse I inflict on it.

Avalanche325

Again. Easier.....yes. More accurate....No.

Radial truing on the bike, as far as getting your referances goes, is easier than lateral. You don't have to adjust the brakes.

Here is how to do it on the bike. Take the tire off. Put the wheel back on (with the same tightness as when you ride). I have a trainer, so I use that as a work stand. You can also just flip the bike upside down on the floor. I'll assume you are flipping the bike. All you are using the truing stand for is holding the wheel, the bike is now doing that, and a referance point. For the referance point you will be using the chainstays and a straightedge. The straightedge can be just about anything, like a plastic ruler a small wrench, or a popsicle stick. Just place the straightedge across the stays in contact with the rim. Rotate the rim slowly (don't spin it) and see where the highest or lowest spot is. Then true away.

A truing stand would be a nice convenience, but not a requirement for maintaining one or two bikes. But then again, I am a tool guy so I understand the purchase if you just have to have one.

FarHorizon

Never unless I see or feel wobble or out-of-round. My wheels are MUCH sturdier than "normal" though.

San Rensho 

A trainer, of course! I've had a very good quality truing stand laying around the house for years and I didn't even know it! That the best thing I've heard in a long time. One of those "why didn't I think of that" moments.

Peek the Geek

I wouldn't think the quality of the parts matters all that much. I think the build method plays a much larger part in whether one would need to go back and true wheels repeatedly. A machine built wheel with low, uneven tension will need to be retrued often, while a handbuilt wheel with high, even tension may not need additional truing at all.

I just had a set of mtb wheels trued and tensioned by my LBS. They were stock and the tension was all over the place. After the LBS got done with them, they're true, but the tension is uneven, so I know I'll have to re-true them in the not-so-distant future.

On the other hand, the wheels on my Gunnar Sport were built by Quality Wheel House. After a year of riding, they're still perfectly trued, dished and tensioned.

geo8rge

I have a crappy rear wheel. I usually have to adjust it with a spoke wrench one a week. As you ride pull on the brake until it just catches. If you feel a pulsating sensation it is the wheel a bit out of true.

DannoXYZ 

You're halfway there already! You can use your bike as the truing stand as mentioned by taking the tyres off. Then I just lay as strip of masking tape across the seatstays or forkblades and true the wheel radially. Set the tape so that only the highest point of the rim hits. Tighten pairs of left&right spoke in that area, I usually go by four of them and do the outer ones just 1/2 as much. Loosen the lowest spots on the rim to keep tension even. Although most wheels, especially the cheapo ones are way, way under-tensioned, so I just tighten the high-spots. Then lower the tape down another fraction of a millimeter when no part of the rim is touching to find the next high-spot. Repeat. About 15-minutes later, your wheel is ROUND! Might want to do one last pass at lateral true and you've got a perfect wheel.

motorhommmer

I bought a Spin Doctor one for $45 does the job perfectly