Am I doing something wrong, i true my rear wheel 2 weeks ago and less then 150 miles i have to true my wheels again. When i first got my bike, the true lasted a really long time. it seems when i true it myself, it only lasts a little while. is there something i am missing? thanks for you help

I've not had to true or have my wheels trued in over a year. Unless you're doing big dirt jumps?

Sounds to me that they are too loose. Properly tightened wheel will stay true for years. Not sure of your capabilities or access to LBS but I would start there.

It sounds like you have no idea what tension your spokes are at, or whether they are consistent between the spokes. If they're too loose, especially on the non-drive side, they could be detensioning enough as they rotate through the contact patch portion of the arc that they're able to loosen up even more. It might pay to invest in a spoke tension meter so you can know where you're at.

Look for cracks around the spoke nipples. That will cause tension to relax. Additionally, remove the rim strip and look for cracks between the spoke holes on the inner wall. I’ve had several rims crack this way. They went out of true and just wouldn’t stay true.

What wheels are they? Are they handbuilt or machine built? Did a human double check the wheel if it was machine made? Are all the parts in good shape? Have you used a tensionometer? Are you riding hard or jumping curbs or big hits? Are you a heavier rider? High spoke count? Low spoke count?

I could go on asking questions but I hope you get the idea. Saying my wheel is out of true and was trued last week and not giving us info about you or the wheel leaves us with nothing to go with.

Is it possible that when the OP is truing his wheels that the spokes are winding up and then releasing in use?

Cheers

Some basic information. It is possible to have a wheel that is fully and completely true and straight and centered and still have wildly uneven spoke tension. It is possible to have a wheel that is fully and completely true and straight and centered and also have very low spoke tension. If the wheel has uneven tension only the some of the spokes, the tightest ones, are doing much work and they will be working very hard. If the wheel is too loose it is going to keep getting looser. Spoke nipples work just like any other threaded fastener. If you tighten them tight enough they won’t budge. Once loose they only get looser.

Before days of spoke tension meters wheelbuilding was an art. Any mechanic could do it but not all could build a wheel that stayed straight for years. Now most anyone can. There remain a lot of mechanics building poor wheels and refusing to acknowledge they need the meter. Occasionally a rim will have problems that prevent it from running straight at reasonably even tension. Happens with super cheap rims and happens to good rims in accidents. Any mechanic can tell you if the rim is past help.

I concur with two possibilities above. That there could be cracks around one or more of the nipple holes which the spoke/nip is slowly pulling through and preventing the proper tensioning. Nothing really can be done about that. Rim needs replaced.

Or, the spokes could be twisting, and then settling once the wheel is under pressure while riding. It this is the case, once you true...ride the bike down the block and back to let them settle. Sometimes you can hear them settling in the first several rotations as you roll away. The spokes with pop and ping. Then, go right back home and re-true. Sometime it may take two or three of those evolutions.

You can also prevent the spoke twisting by holding it in place with smooth pliers as you twist the nip. https://www.wheelfanatyk.com/blog/wh...spoke-wind-up/

Dan

I used to have the same problem on a Spez hybrid. Too loose likely. I no longer have store bought wheels or derailleurs, good riddance.
Getting locking nipples will help for sure. All my custom self built IGH wheels have them, all on heavy bikes. I also used 2.3/ 2.0 spokes on my SA hubs. NO problems now.
The spokes are way less likely to break with locking nipples too, IMO.
They do cost 3x as much of course and hardly any LBS will carry them.
Tightening a 1/8 turn more and backing off will help.

You probaby don't have enough tension in the spokes that are coming lose. Possibilities are
1. Their neighbors on the same side are tight so they're lose when the wheel is true. Make their neighbors loser so they can be tighter.
2. The whole wheel isn't tight enough for your weight. Download the app for that or use a Park tension meter. Shoot for 100 kgf average in the front, 110 kgf rear drive side, and whatever it takes to center the rear wheel on its non drive side.
3. You bent the rim and can't make it true with sufficient tension in that spoke. Loosen the spokes and bend it back or install a new rim.
4. You're not undoing the windup. Put a tape flag on the spoke or a sharpie dot and insure it ends up in the same position. With uniform tension you can use a representative spoke to see how far you have to back off - the first one after the valve hole, plus the next one in rear wheels.

You could also have cracked the rim and the lose spokes are slowly pulling out. Replace it.

You don't need any sort of locking goo or nipples given sufficient tension, even when you've lubricated the spoke threads and sockets which you should do so they're easier to turn later.

Properly tensioned your wheels will stay true until you bend a rim.

If you ran out of thread and are turning onto the non-threaded part of the spoke, adjustments can easily undo themselves.

i am heavier 170 lbs. 32 spoke count, i main do roads with a road bike. i don't have a tensionometer (although i did order one). it sounds like i just need to do tighten a bit more..

i will check my rim for any hair line cracks as well.