Spoke tension meter
 

had a very untrue wheel and now have a broken spoke i need to replace. never done it before. can anyone recommend a spoke tension meter that works and won't break the bank? i see some on amazon that are decently priced then i see the presumed gold standard by park for over $100. the designs are all very similar.

I know you don't want to hear this, but a tension meter isn't the right tool, nor is it necessary.

Start by replacing the spoke, and aligning the wheel by degrees. Be sure to add spread the corrections among several spokes rather than overwork one or two.

Once it's reasonably true, spin the wheel pinging spokes with your thumb nail, listening for spokes that sound highest and lowest, and tweak the tensions accordingly.

Note, that badly untrue wheels rarely come back to true with even tension. Uneven tension is needed to force the rim true against it's warped condition.

All that said, I have a NOS unused Wheelsmith tensiometer, new in original box, and can sell it for $80.00 Inc postage within the USA.

IF this a one of repair, just take the wheel to your LBS, or maybe a bike Co-op if you have one near.

IF you have a good ear, you can tune by tone by twanging.
There are musical charts on the web that show what note a certain length spoke should sound like at a certain tension.
IF all the spokes have the same pitch when "twanged", the tension is even.
That absolutely doesn't work for me. Either my Asperger's or one of my attention disorders gets in the way. I tell that 2 spokes have a different tone, but I can't tell which is which unless one is a "thunk". Weird and frustrating!!!! "Thunks" are spokes that you can wiggle.

I have the PARK tension meter. I've never had it calibrated, but I found it very useful in my early years.
I simply didn't have the :connection/feel/oneness with the wheel.
Once you start doing wheels on a regular basis, you'll "need" it less & less.

If the similar to PARK meters are noticeably less money, I'd probably go that way.
It's more about having all the spokes one one side with EVEN tension then a specific number.
You can always compare the sound of your "twang" vs a professionally done "twang" and adjust.

First off replace the spoke. If its in the rear you may have to take the Freewheel/Cassette off. Then get as close as you can in tension comparing to the spokes next to it by just using the Squeeze and Ping technique.

A spoke tension meter is a good thing to have but not absolutely necessary. A ChiCom Park knock off tension meter can be had for about 18 USD on Amazon.

For me its really not about the numbers on my spoke tension meter. Are any of these meters really calibrated and accurate? Probably not. Whats more important is they give you a fair comparison of tension related to the other spokes. If ya have one or two spokes with drastically different tension its a good indicator of a problem.

Note that I am not sure how important spoke tension and trueness is to Carbon wheels.

I am old and fat and ride slow on Ravel roads. I take time trueing my wheel sets. Each kinda has its own personality of tension and trueness.

For the most part my wheel sets are much like me, that is, more beat up than they look...

I bought the Park on sale for $40, IIRC. Paid for itself within a year, at the rate I'd been paying $20 for each spoke replaced at my LBS with truing.

As [MENTION=194136]zandoval[/MENTION] notes, you can get a knock-off from Amazon for much less than the Park. If you get one, please do report back after a couple of years! Note, the geometry is different from the Park but the measurement process looks to be identical.

(Had an intense "ME WANT IT" response to FB's offer. Wrestling that down with "do I really need it?" and "where would I put it?" has been difficult!)

I was in this situation a couple of months ago. The best course of action depends on how good of a result you are looking for. Replacing the entire wheel is the most certain solution. If you choose not to go that far, understand that your rim (without spokes) may be bent laterally or it may be out of round. Checking that pretty much requires taking the whole wheel apart. If you try to true a bent rim with only a spoke wrench, you might be able to do it, but understand that your spoke tension will be wacky because certain spokes are pulling on those bends. If you take the wheel apart and manually straighten your rim, then the tension meter might come in handy as you bring the wheel back up to tension.

The quick and easy solution is to put a new spoke in, and tighten it until it isn't your highest or lowest sounding spoke when you pluck it. Then go ahead and true the wheel as normal.

The tension meter is only useful on a known good rim.

I'd buy a cheap truing stand before an expensive tension meter. You don't need either though.

Don't know, I don't use them. But I have fixed a lot of wheels, and I'd be concerned that your rim is deformed - there's no point trying to true a bent rim, you'll end up with very uneven spoke tension and a weak wheel. The way to fix that is identify the area that's distorted, slacken the spokes and bend the rim back into shape - a rubber mallet can help here.

Or maybe the spoke broke because it was under- or over-tensioned - a tensiometer may help there, but really the exact tension isn't as important as getting it somewhere close, and you should be able to judge that by comparing with a good wheel - just grab a pair of roughly parallel spokes and squeeze them together. The problem here, if the spokes have been slack and are fatigued, is that bringing them up to tension may break them - time for a rebuild or replacement.

Some people like to tune by ear - ping each spoke with something to check its pitch relative to its neighbours. I've never found that very useful, but it is satisfying when you finish a wheel and it pings fairly consistently.

i'm thinking i'm going to get a tension meter. since i have no base line to compare the twang of other spokes it would be nice to know what is correct (in an un-calibrated manner).

the wheel is only a 18 mos old and really had not seen much service until late last year when i crashed my other front wheel. that one is completely unrideable. this was a suitable substitute. "really untrue" is more the effect of the spoke now being out to lunch. it was untrue before but more so now.

i can't see replacing a wheel just because of a broken spoke, that seems silly unless the rim is toast and i don't believe this one is.

i'll try for a spoke and go from there.

thanks

Easiest thing to do is to replace the broken spoke and true the wheel. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you may de-tension the whole wheel, replace the broken spoke, and retention everything back - but many on this forum may feel that the juice is not worth the squeeze.

As for spoke tension meters, I've got a cheap Chinese version and I've been happy with it. If your rim isn't good to begin with then you'll get really inconsistent readings across spokes, but at least you'll know.

Ah, I interpreted "really untrue" as more than a spoke's worth, so ignore most of what I wrote. I wouldn't replace a wheel because of a few broken spokes, I'd prefer not to replace it if all the spokes were bad, if the rim and hub were worth saving; but that has to be balanced against the cost of a replacement - good spokes aren't cheap and cheap spokes are a gamble.

I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 back in 2021 for £20.
It's a Ztto TC-1 tension meter which works fine.

You can calibrate it yourself: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...on-meters.html
Basically I use it to check the tension is roughly even and to avoid over tensioning.

Several dozen wheel sets under my belt - The big stinky secret is that there is a wide range of tension that works for any wheel. I've found that about 70% to 100% of max rim allowable tension gives a wheel that rides well.

Also, it is more important that the tension be even on either side rather than set at any certian tension. If you're within 5% for spokes on a side, you're golden. 10% ain't gonna kill you either. So having a calibrated tesnion meter is far less imprtant than having one that reads consistently. My cheapo chineee thing works well, and I don't care if it is 10% off, as I don't wind spokes up to max anyway.

This ain't rocket surgery, only playing with spokes and hula hoops. :beer:

i ordered a cheap $20 unit. they almost all seem about the same to me. i have a metrology lab at work so i can get it calibrated.

also not looking for an exact number, just don't want to be putting so much tension on any one spoke that i either damage the spoke, the hub, or the rim. or put my eye out while tightening.

If you have a similar wheel (spoke gauge, pattern and length) that is a good one, ping its spokes and use that as a reference. (Another good reason to build wheels in the middle of "good spoke tension", not at the extremes. Nothing bad happens when you are a little higher or lower than "middle good".)

...whoosh..and there's goes $20 down the drain. Like many of us..probably isn't the first or last time.

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...on-meters.html

Just out of curiosity, how much does the scale cost that you used to check the calibration (since you apparently trust the results)? Not all of us work at a calibration lab or a shop where we can borrow a device like that.

Reminds me of the story in a "sister shop" that did calibrations in the shipyard I worked in.
"Someone" apparently calibrated small GRAM weights and then stuck the aluminum, adhesive backed calibration sticker on them with the calibration date vibra tooled on them. On the smallest weight, the label pretty much wrapped entirely around the cylindrical shaped weight.

This is the one I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At some point you have to trust something. I trusted the scale tolerance claims as I think it's close enough for my use. Accuracy typically suffers most when you're at the edge(as in use for calibrating a wheel tensiometer) of its max weight rating (600 lbs). But again..the accuracy should be fine for this use. I looked for a scale with a lower max weight(200 lbs would have been nice) and didn't find much. In a lab or to check a scale used to sell goods x weight NIST certified weights are a good path, and required in many industries(to obtain industry certifications).

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/te...t-certificate/

It's easy enough to very accurately calibrate a tension meter.

All you need is a tree, friend, rope, sample spoke (or a few), and some cheap hardware knickknacks.

Basically, you make a tree swing, with the spoke in the middle. Ideally, your friend should weigh close to the tension range you'll be measuring, ie. 100kg.

If you have the original conversion chart, the one calibration will serve. Otherwise, you'll need to make charts using 3 weights (high, low, middle) and various spokes.

Roughly my thoughts too.
I found a 150kg one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Was thinking the same thing. And myself having access to devices that can be used to cal the 20 dollar part didn't seem like a waste to me.
Apparently to some I wasted money.

No one's mentioned it, but one of the most important considerations for tensiometers is repeatability, ----- the consistency of readings over several measurements.

This isn't too important if only using it to check for average tension of a finished wheel. Here, you'd take 3 or 4 sample measurements of different spokes, and individual errors will average out giving you a true picture.

However, if measuring each spoke during the build (as so many seem to do) good repeatibility is critical, otherwise you'll find yourself reacting to reading variances as often as to actual tension differences.

I got one of the cheap Amazon tension meters a year or so ago, and I find it helpful. I am usually just doing used wheels. I like it for getting things a bit more consistent. Checking older wheels I have done by plucking, the meter shows the range of the spokes was off perhaps 3-5 units on the gauge. Using the gauge now, I can get around 2-3 units variation on these older wheels. I guess it makes me feel good. I don’t use it for absolute values, just an aid for consistency. Only once did I build wheels with NOS rims. That was pleasant.

Very true.

I've 'developed' the technique of putting the meter in place and then bouncing it against the spokes until the indicator stops moving.
Usually takes about 5 bounces and the needle moves about 1-2 divisions until it settles.