Originally Posted by
HillRider
Technically correct but not in common parlance. "Dish" is usually implies asymetric rim location over the hub flanges. A wheel with an OLD great enough and an driveside off-set small enough that the rim can be completely or nearly centered over the hub flanges (or a front wheel for that matter) is not thought of as having "dish".
"Dish"
Two part definition - covered in depth by none other than Sheldon Brown himself:
A. As an adjective - the appearance of "dish".
Flip a front wheel in the horizontal plane - the shape formed by the hub - spokes - and rim can be loosely described as a "dish". Location of flanges determine how deep or shallow the "dish" is. Most fronts are symmetrical - the same "dish" appears either way you flip the wheel.
Flip a rear multi-geared wheel. The appearance of "dish" will be asymmetrical. One side will be deep - the other side shallow. In some cases, the asymmetry will be so extreme - there is no need to flip the wheel - just one view as a whole can be described as a "dish" - and a very deep one.
[This is the non-technical description of dish - which most people talk about...]
B. As a verb - the act of "dishing" or determining the "dish" of a wheel.
Whether a wheel is a front symmetrical wheel, a multi-geared rear wheel, a disc front wheel, or a single speed symmetrical rear wheel - all wheels properly built and used in the typical bicycle frame must be dished.
-- The rim must be CENTERED between the axle lock nuts or axle end caps. --
That is exactly what a dishing tool tests for, and what flipping a wheel in a truing stand tests for. They test for whether or not the wheel is "dished" - rim centered between the lock nuts or end caps of the axle.
Important points:
1. While most people will casually use the terms "more dished" or "less dished", is it actually better to say, "off-dish", "dished", "more symmetrically dished" or "more asymmetrically dished" or "need improvement."
2. All properly built single-flange wheels (Aerospoke for example) must be "dished" even though they don't have the appearance of "dish".
3. All properly built dual-flange wheels must be "dished" and will have the appearance of "dish".
4. There is no such thing as a "zero dish" or "no dish" wheel for our typical and traditional symmetrically aligned bicycle frames that we commonly use.
(There has been a manufacturer in the past though that has made asymmetrical frames...in the UK if I remember correctly.)
=8-)