Rideperfect

I bought a set of DT Swiss Mon Chasseral wheels last year which I am very happy with. Light, speedy and good feelin'. My LBS suggested that I should have the spokes retensioned after a year because they would 'need' it. They have not given me trouble & are true despite the pounding I've given them. However, I may not notice that they are soft and in need of tension. These wheels have some forgiveness to them as they are a light climbing wheel- so sprinting is not really their bag though I have no complaints. I weigh in at 175lbs and are 6'2" so they experience some torque obviously. Is retensioning common?

DannoXYZ 

Torque at the hub is simply miniscule and minor compared to the weight-loading on the wheel. Typically wheels do not need to be re-tensioned except for maybe once after a week of riding after building them. However, without knowing their initial and current tension, it's impossible to determine if they need to be re-tensioned. Take them to a shop with a tensionometer and have them check the tension first.

wmodavis

+1 to what Dannon said except that in my experience prebuilt wheels are likely to be under tensioned when new so the time to retension them is when they are new out of the box to assure durability. Doing so will likely even eliminate the need to retrue/retension them after use.

daveornee

+1 to what DannoXYZ said. As long as you trust the shop.
I might test the shop by asking them what the specified tension is for the wheels.

HillRider

If the wheels were properly tensioned and stress-relieved when first built they should not need any attention afterward if they aren't mechanically damaged.

I had a set of Wheelsmith prebuilt wheels with Mavix CXP-33 rims, Dura Ace hubs and Wheelsmith XL-14 spokes and in 30,000 miles they never needed any truing or retensioning.

Panthers007

I have a pair of Peter White wheels. They stay put right on the mark. It can take a budding builder a bit before he/she finds that 'sweet-spot' when building wheels.

Rideperfect

Thank you for your input. I might ask them(LBS) to simply check the tension and ask if it's reasonable. I hate the idea of handing over things for the ambiguous 'TUNE UP'. My head tells me, if they are true and aren't scrubbing the brake pads out of the saddle they are probably fine aka 'don't fix what ain't broke'.
Sound Good?

percywheeler

Most of the so called re tensioning is only needed because the spoke heads may not have been set to begin with.
If your wheel was built by a WHEEL BUILDER it should be all set.
Do any spokes feel noticeably looser than others??

TallRider

If you want to know whether tension is consistent between the spokes, just pluck them (like a guitar string) all the way around. If their tone is pretty consistent, then so is the tension.
Two notes on this:
1. on a rear wheel, the drive-side spokes are higher-tension than the non-drive-side
2. consistent tension doesn't necessarily mean optimum tension. but consistent tension is a good thing.

DannoXYZ 

What I've typically noticed is that with double-wall rims with eyelets, that the nipple-heads tend to deform the eyelet slightly and squeeze it tightly to the inner rim-edge after the first week or so of riding. This ends up loosening the tension slightly. This effect doesn't occur with single-section rims without eyelets. I suppose that there could be some elongation from the spoke-head seating into the hole, but I'm not sure how much that contributes.

daveornee

I have measured a total of ~1/2 turn of the nipple on front and right rear and ~3/4 turn left rear for wheels where the spokes/nipples where not bedded in (to the point of reaching the Asymptotic limit).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/17085834@N08/2443679416/
is a photo of what happens at the hub hole when the spoke j-bend is bedded in (to the Asymptotic limit).
If the bedding is accomplished at build time, along with other pre-stress elements (like the eyelet deformation you mentioned),,, and it is done to the level of the Asymptotic limit, then the wheel will not loose tension due to further movement in the spokes relative to the hub and rim.
If not, as you mentioned, the first week or so of riding will cause the bedding in process to occur and the spokes will loose some tension.