Originally Posted by
79pmooney
You actually need very little after a good spoke wrench. A stand is nice, but you can hang the bike by its seat and use the brake blocks just as well. I raced on wheels I built that way. Many advocate getting very expensive Park and the like stands. They pay their way IF your time is worth money and you build a lot of wheels. I've been using a $30 stand and an $8 dishing tool for 30 years and have ridden virtually every mile on wheels off that stand.
To use the bike itself as a truing stand. loosen the brake bolt a little and rotate the caliper so that the shoe is almost touching the rim. Stand right in front or back of the bike so you can see that gap, then adjust the spokes to make that gap constant, gradually moving the rim until it just touches as you spin the wheel a full circle. For roundness, tape or rubber band a pencil to the forks or seatstays in similar manner. These principal are exactly what the best stands do. They just make the setting up faster.
Ben
While this, in essence, will help to obtain a true wheel, it will not, in all probability, help you obtain proper, UNIFORM spoke tension which is necessary for the long-term good health of the wheel. If you have the ear for it and can achieve a true and round wheel and have all spokes at the same and proper musical pitch, then have at it. Otherwise, it is a job best left to the shop. However, as your bike is new, I question whether the selling shop had properly tensioned the wheels to begin with. They may not posses the skill set required to do that now. You may have to seek out a qualified LBS.