Originally Posted by
treadtread
This thread will now be used not just for the wheel truing, but to ask any other questions related to the same bike as I work on it to learn wrenching, and hopefully improve the bike! I don't want to create a new thread each time. I can't update the title of the thread to reflect this though.
I know that may be convenient for you, but both those who wish to learn and those who provide help may have particular specialties or interests that determine which threads they read. Your approach makes it impossible to filter accordingly, which may deprive you of the best help, as well as being a less constructive use of time for others.
Also something not mentioned above is that a proper true job consists of not only true, round and dish, but also a sufficient and consistent tention level so as to keep the wheel in that condition. If one gets a wheel very true but with insufficient or uneven tension it will not stay that way for long.
Finally, when learning any new procedure you are ill-served merely following directions. You need to think as you are doing things about the why, not just the how of what you are doing, or do enough studying that you find sources that explain the why. For example:
If you tighten a spoke it moves the rim toward the side the spoke is on - but why? The answer of course is that it effectively shortens the spoke, and because the other end of the spoke is offset to one side from the rim the rim moves in that direction. But because it shortens the spoke, and the spoke is effectively inside the rim, it also moves the rim toward the center. That is why you tighten and loosen in pairs, and that knowledge is much more helpful than "always tighten and loosen in pairs."
The same thought process applies to your problem getting the rear wheel true and rounding off of the spoke. The fact that you rounded off a spoke trying to get a spot true indicates the rim may be physically bent, and you may well have uneven tension because you used the spokes to try to pull it into shape. If you have to crank down on one spoke there has to be something resisting movement. If the spokes on the other side are looser then the rim must be bent away from the spoke. The spokes are there to align the rim to the bike, rather than to align the rim itself. If the rim itself is not true (flat) and round then it either needs to be replaced or physically bent back.