I spent my evenings last week rebuilding a set of wheels, replacing the rims, spokes, and nipples with all new. I even got myself a tension meter to make sure the spoke tension was right and balanced. Those wheels came out great!

So, armed with new tools and the desire to use
them I turned my attention to the wheels on my 1989 Schwinn Circuit. These have Shimano Sante hubs, Wolber Profil TX rims, and 32 un-butted spokes. Recommended tension for the front and drive side rear would be 100-120 kgf, and 66 kgf for the NDS. I checked. Tension on the front spokes was between 45 and 65. Way low. So I put a drop of TriFlow onto each spoke a the nipple, and set about increasing the tension. At least 4 of the nipples were rounded out, and I only made that worse. I got all the way around the wheel, trued it up again, and stopped. Didn't even measure the tension, because what could I do? Round out more nipples?

So, my question to the C&V folks is - what do you do about the wheels that come on bikes you acquire? True them up, of course! But do you bother with the spoke tension? At this point, I'm considering going back and replacing ALL the nipples with new ones so I can re-tension the wheels, but am I crazy? The spokes are all fine, as far as I can tell, so I wouldn't replace those, and the anodized rims show only light brake track wear, so they're fine. Should I just leave well enough alone?