Originally Posted by
john423
It seems I throw my back tire out of true by looking at it funny - is this something:
1. That's bound to happen with the bad roads and railroad tracks?
2. That would be preventable if I had a better bike/frame/suspension? It could absorb some of that shock and keep the wheels from screwing up so much.
3. Or would better wheels than the stock wheels be necessary, even with 36 spokes?
And yes, I'm gonna learn how to true wheels myself if it's the death of me - got my copy of "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance" ready to go next time I have trouble with it.
1. No - although bad roads and whatnot will take their toll on your wheels, and occasional truing is in order, it shouldn't be happening routinely.
2. Maybe/no/definitely not. A better bike would have higher-end wheels, which might stay true better - or maybe not. More expensive wheels don't always stay true as they should, at least not right out of the box. It's not a frame problem, and suspension won't help make up for an inadequate wheel, so don't spend your time looking at another bike to solve the wheel issue, unless you're just looking for a reason to upgrade. One thing that will help is getting out of the saddle when you're going to hit something like a pothole or railroad tracks - it'll save a lot of wear and tear on your rims (and your bike in general).
3. They might help, but they're probably not necessary. I've done tons of mountain biking with a 28 spoke front, 32 spoke rear, neither of which was particularly high-end - and I'm a rather big guy.
I'm a big fan of high spoke tension - it's got its downsides (it's harder to true a high-tension wheel because it's easy to strip spoke nipples, and it puts you at increased risk for pulling an eyelet through the rim or cracking it around an eyelet or spoke hole, and it's possible that, depending on the spokes you have, you'll end up breaking more spokes than you were before), but I enjoy the fact that, once I've got spoke tension up where I like it, I rarely have to touch my wheels.
Try this: Once you've got your wheel true, raise the tension by turning each spoke nipple 1/4 turn. See how the wheel feels. If it was easy to turn the nipples, give each one another quarter turn (you might have to touch up the truing after this, but it shouldn't be too bad). Try the wheel; if it goes out of true again easily, true it again and give the nipples another quarter turn. Repeat as necessary. If you start to round off nipples, you've reached the limit of the tension you can get with your particular wheel (you are using a good spoke wrench, right?) - replace the rounded ones (they're available cheaply at your LBS), true the wheel, and ride it. If you take it nice and slow, you'll sneak up on just enough tension to keep the wheels true without getting more than you need. Just enough is great, but too much doesn't make things better!
This is a procedure that's worked for me, but YMMV. If you're not comfortable doing this, take your wheels to a bike shop and have them do it with a spoke tensiometer, which will let them get the tension set much more accurately than you or I can.