Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

I have the greatest respect for both your knowledge about bicycles and also the orderly and understandable way that you impart it to novices. Time and again I am amazed that something I thought was obvious and absolutely correct is debunked by your deeper knowledge set. Nevertheless I am shocked at the advice you provided above. Wheel true may be the number one characteristic in importance, but you cannot reasonably call a wheel well built with widely divergent spoke tensions. True only relates to how well the wheel rides, while evenness of tension relates to the equally important characteristic of both short and long term durability, i.e. short term maintenance of true and long term spoke life, respectively.

I understand advising a novice that a tension meter isn't required to get even spoke tensions. Some people, but not all, can accomplish this by an alternate method. I for one can't do it to my own personal standards without the meter. But putting that aside, I simply cannot understand telling someone that even tension is nice, but not necessary. Of course the wheel has to be true in the short run to be rideable, but it also has to be evenly tensioned for the true to last more than a ride or two and for the wheel to last for the long haul. You cannot focus on just one and not the other. If you cock up a wheel on a ride and just need to get back home, sure true is all you have to worry about while wrenching it on the road. But that doesn't mean that wheel is fixed for continued use. Even tension is required for that to be the case.