How often do you true your wheels?
04-18-12, 10:10 AM
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How often do you true your wheels?
Just wondering how often I should check my wheels. I do all bike maintenance myself, except for truing the wheels. I do not have a proper stand and hence the wheels could have been a bit neglected compared to the rest of the bike. With my current wheels I have been riding something like 500 miles (bought them new). They seem to be true when I just spin them and check the distance from brake pads. Should I still take them to LBS to check out?
04-18-12, 10:21 AM
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If they are true, and the spokes are still tight, then you are ok.
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04-18-12, 10:27 AM
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Haven't trued my wheels since I got them about a year ago ~10,000 miles. Neuvation built/trued them good I guess. I've run over some crazy stuff, and done some off roading, and wrecked twice.
04-18-12, 10:36 AM
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If it's not broken, don't fix it.
04-18-12, 10:41 AM
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I built my own velocity wheels, 3000 miles and have not trued them yet. My other factory wheels it is rare. I go over them to check tension and true, adjust if needed. If you take the wheels off for tire change I might put them in my truing stand to see how they do but if it is not broke do not fix.
04-18-12, 12:17 PM
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When I bend them in a crash or wear out the brake surface and replace the rim. I got 12-13 years out of the rim on my favorite front wheel before that happened and I haven't managed to bend a rear for six years.
You don't need to true them . If they're machine built it would have been prudent to stress relieve and achieve uniform high tension before you rode them at all especially if you're a heavier rider.
Just wondering how often I should check my wheels. I do all bike maintenance myself, except for truing the wheels. I do not have a proper stand and hence the wheels could have been a bit neglected compared to the rest of the bike. With my current wheels I have been riding something like 500 miles (bought them new). They seem to be true when I just spin them and check the distance from brake pads. Should I still take them to LBS to check out?
04-18-12, 12:19 PM
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I make mine take an oath to be true, nothing but true so help them every time I ride.
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04-18-12, 02:23 PM
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Not often although I will check the spokes before a race or particularly technical ride. Or when I get tired of watching my front wheel carve a figure eight.
04-18-12, 02:28 PM
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I never once trued my Ksyriums. I killed them by going through the brake track.
I haven't trued my RS80s yet...hopefully I never need to.
I haven't trued my RS80s yet...hopefully I never need to.
04-18-12, 04:03 PM
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Once in an extremely blue moon. Or after a crash.
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04-18-12, 04:13 PM
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So how important is owning a spoke wrench? I bought one and it's the wrong size. I'm planning on returning it but thinking I might not need one if I'm not going to true my own wheels.
04-18-12, 04:18 PM
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It costs, like, $3 and can be the difference between fixing a broken spoke and continuing your ride and being stranded. When spokes break, they most often break while you are riding. I carry a spoke wrench the same way I carry a spare tube and pump.
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Cat 2 Track, Cat 3 Road.
"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --the tiniest sprinter
Cat 2 Track, Cat 3 Road.
"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --the tiniest sprinter
04-18-12, 11:25 PM
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Very. If you bend a wheel on an obstacle or when crashing it might let you ride home instead of walking. A chain cutter (I've broken a couple of chains, and you need to remove the failed link to rejoin the ends), master link (to mate the ends) and appropriate sized hex keys are important too (if you break a rear derailleur cable you can attach it to a bottle cage screw and ride home in something other than your smallest cog).
