I'm about to embark on a wheel building project. The goal is to build a half dozen quality wheels sets from a variety of cool hubs and rims I've accumulated.

I have transferred hubs and spokes from one rim set to another before. Nothing more.

Question: In your experience how important is it to have a spoke tension meter to help in setting up a wheel before final final tune up/truing? Is the Park tension meter adequate for the task. Other recommendations for an affordable tension meter?

Thanks,

J

Experts who have built hundreds of wheels don't need one. After so many wheels they can tell by feel and sound. I'm not one of those people and I like to have the visible feedback of the tension meter, especially for NDS rear wheel spokes.

I use the Park TM-1. It's the only one I've ever used and I can't think of anything to complain about.

Plenty of people will tell you don't need one. Strictly speaking they're right, but those people may also tell you that an old fork is a perfectly adequate truing stand.

In my opinion, your wheels will be as good as the parts (rims, hubs, spokes and nipples), patience, knowledge and tools you have. I can recommend Brandt's The Bicycle Wheel and the Park SW-20 Master Spoke Wrench.

I have built about a dozen wheels and I pretty much rely on the tension meter. I have built on wheel without a meter, a Brompton wheel, and it took a lot more time and patience to figure finishing tension and to balance the spoke tension - so far that wheel is sturdy and true

I build a set of wheels in a pinch, just matched the tension with a set of old handbuilds that worked really well. So far, they held up good after six months of riding. Don't get impatient and trust your fingers, they're far more accurate than any of your other senses (best kept secret about the human body).

I've been building wheels over 40 years and never had, nor needed one. They didn't even exist back in the day.

I'd think properly seating the heads, reducing windup and stress relieving to be more important.

Not sure how you'd even true a wheel with one. But one probably won't hurt.

I think a tension meter is a very useful tool, and second the recommendation for Jobst Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel" as a good resource for theory and practical wheel building information. FWIW Gerd Shraner's book, "The Art of Wheel Building" is another good resource, if only for his easy to learn lacing method.
The Park is a great tool for the job, and is not too expensive. They apparently need to be re-calibrated once in a blue moon (after dozens of wheel sets).

A good stand/jig is also very helpful (Minoura Pro or Park TS-2.2), as is a nipple driver (not required).

since you are working with hubs that may have been previously laced, it is also worth having a bag of spoke head washers on hand if there's play between the spoke head (when seated in the hole) and the hub.

I've never used one. Went to buy one once and the shop (pretty big LBS) told me they don't even stock them... although their mechanic had one.

Car analogy:It is like not using a torque wrench on your head bolts.

If you want a trouble free wheel you will need to have even tension. If you have some sort of magic touch, you probably don't need tools of any kind.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

That's a good reminder, canyoneagle. You remind me also that I picked up a nice supply of nipple washers on the cheap awhile back. (Hee hee, he said nipple washer). I'll have to dig those out.

For those interested, I'll post wheels along the way. Also, here's a list of the frames in queue which will receive the wheels......maybe.

- 1998 Litespeed Tuscany
- 1992 RB-1
- 1995 Giordana (Excell tubing)
- 1996/97 Klein Stage
- 1992 Specialized Allez Epic
- 1985 Raleigh Professional

J

Even tension can easily be gotten by plucking the spokes and listening to their tone. OK, if you're tone-deaf maybe not; but it's really easier than using a tensiometer to even out the spoke tension. What a tensiometer is good for is to help you determine whether your spokes are close to the max rating of the rim, which is important if you want the strongest and most durable wheels.

And yes, I own a FSA tensiometer but only break it out to verify final tension (which I can usually get pretty close by ear).

I don't build many wheels, maybe a set or two a year. I use the tension meter (ParK) to get me in the ballpark. I pluck to fine tune.

+1, a tension meter is useful primarily for getting one into the ballpark, especially inexperienced builders. It's rare to get even tension in a finished wheel, so don't try to do final truing with a tension meter. Also, I find the calibration between meters to be poor, so don't build to a specific quoted tension. Use your tension meter to measure a number of known, well built wheels to find what the proper range is with your specific tension meter, then build to that range. My personal tension meter is a Hozan C-737.

There are many threads on wheel building, and many methods. There are a few certainties. You need some sort of lubrication, whether it be linseed oil or anti-seize or anything in between. You will need to stress release.

Tension should be close to even until final truing. I have a Park tensiometer and a TS-2 with the dial caliper kit. I get a counter pack of anti-seize from the auto parts store as needed.

It's better to do it right the first time. It's a fairly important part of the bike.

I have only built one set of wheels, so consider the source. I did it without a tension meter, but took great care in tightening the spokes slowly, evenly and systematically. Plucking and stretching and tightening and repeating seemed to work well. Years later, those wheels have held up nearly as well as the pair I had professionally built. Also note that my wheel building stand was the rear triangle of a gaspipe Peugeot screwed to a 2x4 with zip ties attached to the stays for indicators.

I just want to get them in the same narrow range, initially. My LBS owner buddy will tune and true them until I learn how to do that.

J

I have a TM-1. I rely on it to get me in the ballpark, but pluck-tuning is what I trust to finish the job. The TM-1 is one of my least favorite tools.

Big debate but few alternatives - If your going to build a heavy duty wheel for a heavy guy you really need one - Or if your going to put a heavy guy on a regular wheel you need one - But counting threads and going very slow as well as listening to tone will still get you there...

If I were going to build an expensive wheel I would get one...

Agree with your two points, with these clarifications:

1) "If you want a trouble free wheel you will need to have correct and even tension."
2) "If you have some sort of magic touch and ears, you probably don't need measuring tools of any kind"... like a tensiometer.

There has been a lot of discussion on BF about the need for tensiometers. Some folks claim they are unecessary for "expert" wheelwrights, who supposedly have this ability, gained from years of experience, to get spokes tightened to the correct tension by feel and the sound spokes give when plucked.


That may be so, but even expert wheelwrights, like Gerd Schraner, admit that they use tensiometers to build their best wheels (i.e., those tat are intended for competitive use). I don't think anyone would argue that it is necessary to get the correct tension for a specific rim/hub/spoke design, and how you achieve this is up to you. Tensioning spokes by feel/sound is one way, but it is subjective. Spokes of different materials and shapes and cross patterns can have different sounds when plucked, even when at similar tensions. Tensiometers rely on measurement of deflection to correlate to tension. All of them use some sort of reference table to translate deflection into tension for various spoke shapes (blade or round) and thicknesses. They are easy to use to get spoke tensions even throughout a wheel. Granted that the "absolute" (real) tension value may not be exactly what the deflection translates to as "tension," the fact is that spokes that read the same deflection will have the same tension. Another way of saying this is that a tensiometer is a highly precise, if not necessarily "accurate" tension measuring tool. Tensioning "by ear" is inherently no more "accurate" or "precise."

I have build about 10 wheels without tension meter and they are still fine.
Some I have used for about 7-8 years and 20000 kms.
I am using a truing stand, dishing gauge and Park spoke key.

I don't build many wheels. My first set was built on the bike, that was over 30 years ago I still ride the same bike no tension meter was used. I have the park tool now and have built many wheels since then. I cant see spending the bucks on it for one set of wheels. I agree with paulkal.

I will add another vote for Jobst Brandt's wheel building book, I just read it a few weeks ago, and I plan to buy and read the Gerd Schraner wheel building book this week. I built many wheels for extra money when I was a young man, I didn't have a truing stand or a tensiometer then, I had to use a "Feel" method, luckily the wheels turned out well and none ever failed to my knowledge, thankfully.

I want to build a few last sets now that I am getting older as a kind of swan song to this art, for me. I learned after an ill-fated three years in band as a teenager that I have no kind or ear for tone whatsoever, none. I am going to acquire, over the next few months, a nice truing stand, a wheel dish tool, a tensiometer, all Park branded, and some hubs, rims and DT Swiss spokes and nipples for some vintage type 32h and 36h wheelsets.

No grand illusions of being a wheel builder, I seriously doubt I have the talent or the time remaining to build the experience. Just a chance to build some nice wheels like I remember from my youth. It will be nice to ride them for a couple of years then, if they hold up, pass them along to someone that wants them. So add another vote for a tensiometer acquisition.

Bill

I have and use the park tool, when I (rarely) build up a wheel, I use the tool on an already built likewise wheel for correct tension range, then use it on my build. That and plucking spokes of the built wheel works well for me.

I've recently started building my own wheels and consider a tension meter essential. I wouldn't have known "which" ballpark I was in without it.

Many people will claim they've built wheels for years without one.
IMO, "years ago", they weren't as necessary. Rear wheels didn't have nearly as much dish as 8-10 speeds on 130MM OLD spacing. If you are building 120MM 5 speeds etc., things simply aren't as critical.

With the experience gained from the tension meter, I could probably now build a pretty decent wheel without one. I still use it, in search of the best wheel I can build.

As per calibration-
mrrabbit (in the mechanics forum) recommends using a "test wheel" when you first get your meter. Measure some spoke tensions and label them for future reference/meter calibration. Most any reasonable, junk wheel will suffice.

Unless you're building high-zoot, low spoke count wheels for paying customers, I consider a tension meter to be an unnecessary luxury for a home builder. I've built hundreds of wheels over the years, both with and without a tension meter and seldom find that the meter adds anything useful for wheels appropriate to a C&V bike.