never

Why are you giving advice when you recently posted this:

kenhill3

Ric0h-

You need to read and learn A LOT MORE before you give advice OR ask more silly questions.

Zan

I don't know 'bout you guys, but I find truing my wheels a piece of cake? I rode around on a mountain bike with v-brakes. It was old (hence the V-brakes). Since I wanted the huge stopping power v-brakes can potentially provide, I had my pads less than a mm off the rims.

As you can imagine with that tightness, I had to true my wheels often. They were cheap wheels - stock on my cheap bike. I'd regularly ride on the trails with my bike. I'd do small jumps and whatnot. I'd true my wheels once every couple of weeks (and it didn't need much work). You disc riders don't need the perfection in the wheel - if it's out of line by a mm or two, who cares, eh? If you're running with tight v's, you'd want a perfect wheel.

No stands or anything. Just a spoke key. What are you guys complaining about? I've never had any difficultly. Flip the bike over so it rests on the saddle + handle bars. Worried about scratches? Fine, put a towel out. Just keep the spokes at the right tightness (you can ask around for what "right" is - I just use the force, obi), and keep your wheel straight. I'd spend maybe five minutes truing each wheel every two weeks. 25 minutes a month for straight wheels? Who cares. Spent 5$ on a spoke key.

Skill comes in handy for my friends, too. My friends would ask me to do their wheels. I'd come over and spend 10 minutes (before the ride) working, and they'd get me lunch after. A good deal!

If you're just starting to true your wheels yourself, you may find it a bit tedious and spend more time at it. Once you get into it, it'll take no time to do it (sometimes it's just one or two spokes that are out of it).

kenhill3

One thing is 'true' here though, our buddy Ric0h is not quite ready for wheel work.

gattm99

In my experience stock wheels tend to come out of true because they aren't under enough tension from the factory, especially ifs not a specific wheelset but say like a Sun Ryno matched to XC hubs. They were probably built by machine and never properly strained.

After trueing your wheel lay it flat and bend it to the floor, some spokes should pop and creak then you'll have to reture it. A couple times doing this and your wheel will stay true for awhile.

kenhill3

I agree that machine made wheels have not received proper stress relieving. In my opinion this is a necessary/crucial step.

gattm99- 'Bend it to the floor' ? Sounds a bit heavy-handed at face value, but, whatever works for you, man.

enjoi

^^^ bend it to the floor thing has something to do about releaving spoke stress, there was a thread about it a while ago, in the C&V section i think. Another way to do it is to pinch spokes together as hard as possible.

I bought a spoke key and used the brakes on my road bike. I haven't figured out an easy way to true a wheel with disc brakes. The truing part is easy once you know which part of the wheel is out of true.

Find the part that is out of true. Then check the spoke tension in that area. If one is overly tight compared to the rest, and the wheel is out of true in that direction, then loosen that spoke alittle. If the spoke is properly tight and the wheel is out of true in the opposite direction looses one side alittle and tighten the other side.


Idealy, you want to stay within a safe range, dont over tighten or make them too loose, work with both side spokes. Balance is key.

oh and practice on a cheap wheel untill you get the hang of it.

never

Cable ties on the stays and the fork stanchions work well.