mainstreetexile 

I have one of the 'wheel' / universal spoke wrenches, it has 8 slots on it that are the following sizes:

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15e

I have two questions that hopefully someone can shed some light on:

1) What do these arbitrary numbers mean? Are they 'gauge' size? How do they translate to mm / in?

2) Most of the wheels I've worked on have used the smallest size (15/15e, which both seem to be the same size, not sure what the 'e' is about). Now, I have a wheel I'm trying to true where even the smallest size here is too large. Is there an extra small spoke wrench that I should be getting thats smaller than the smallest on these universal wrenches?

Al1943

Buy a spoke wrench or wrenches that hold all four corners of the nipples. Use only those sizes that fit closely the nipples you are turning. There is no substitute for a properly fitting spoke wrench.

mainstreetexile 

Thanks, I understand that and I'd like to get one or two of the newer park 4 sided ones. I'm trying to figure out which size(s) to get though. Do you know which size park wrench the '15' on the universal tools would correspond to?

Al1943

No but you could probably take a nipple or wheel to a local bike shop and figure it out.
I use the Spokey red wrench on most road wheels. It holds all four corners.

DannoXYZ 

1. Get one of these $1.59 calipers from Harbour Freight. It's really handy if you want to work on your bike. You can measure:

- seatpost diameter
- handlebar diameters
- stem diameters
- dropout widths
- hub widths
- hub flange spacing
- hub flange diameter,
- etc.

2. with the caliper, measure an existing nipple on your bike

3. get the appropriate Park 4-sided spoke-wrench. Black=3.23mm. Red=3.45mm

AEO

is there such a size as 3.42mm?
that's what I get for some of the nipples I have. Small enough to squash with the 3.45mm wrench, but large enough that the 3.23mm wrench doesn't fit.

Jed19

The 3.45mm wrench is the one to use.

DannoXYZ 

I don't think so. A 3.42mm nipple in a 3.45mm wrench is perfect fit really. The nipple may have gotten weakened from corrosion or previous abuse. The other sizes for Park are:

green = 3.30mm
blue = 3.96mm