When to use Tensiometer?
06-23-08, 07:11 AM
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When to use Tensiometer?
I'm thinking of making a big (for me) purchase. I am looking at a wheel set, Ultegra/open pros; a truing stand, and I was thinking about getting the park TM-1. My question is do you use the tensiometer when truing a wheel, or only during a build? I've bought a wheelset online before, and they needed a little tweaking before I felt comfortable using them. I would like to learn to build wheels at some point, but do you think I would need the tensiometer now? Also, how well does this work with bladed spokes? I have another wheelset with them. Thanks for the help.
06-23-08, 08:12 AM
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It's nice to check the tension while truing a wheel, but it's not necessary. Just remember to loosen a spoke every time you tighten one to avoid raising the tension. If you want the wheel to stay true longer, get the tensionmeter.
06-23-08, 08:34 AM
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I use my TM-1 quite a bit both during the build and while truing, and I think it helps, though you can do without it if you have experience and can judge relative tension by feel. Those of us without a lot of wheelbuilding experience can really mess up a wheel when the tension is uneven. Like you get into situations where you correct the true in one place, and it throws the rim out of whack someplace else, and on and on. So you spend hours chasing your tail around the rim and never fix the problem. A tensiometer really helps you figure out what's going on with the wheel without having to loosen all the spokes and start over.
06-23-08, 08:46 AM
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It's also really nice to use during a build to determine when to stop tensioning.
Quite well. With the tensiometer you also get a conversion chart and a spoke thickness gauge. The thickness gauge tells you which column in the conversion chart you should be looking at to find the applicable values for your spokes.
It's a really neat tool unless you have the feel of right spoke tension ingrained in your bone marrow through experience.
