how can I true bike wheel without taking it to a bike shop?

Thanks

This is the method I used before getting a truing stand. All you need are zip ties and a spoke wrench, although you could just use the brake pads as your guide if you really had to.

Be careful you don't get the spoke tensions out of balance just to get the wheel trued. A wheel won't keep true if the spokes are at all different tensions. On a wheel with different tensions on the two sides (dished), just try to keep all the spokes on each side matching each other. Use the tone made by plucking the spoke to approximately match it to the other spokes on that side of the wheel. If just adjusting one spoke until the wheel is true in that spot throws its tension out of balance with the others on that side, then you have to spread the adjustment out over several spokes on both sides of the area that is out of true.

Robert is right. While truing the wheel, I also pluck the strings to maintain the same pitch. Otherwise, some spokes will be doing more work than others and the wheel will not stay true for long.

Watch a video on how to true a wheel

Buy a truing stand... or

Use the brakes as your truing stand instead of buying a dedicated stand.


Adjust the brakes to as close as the wheel as you can get.


Be prepared to take it to the shop to retrue after you mess it up... but at least you will be getting your money's worth!

I will never forget what the previous owner of the shop I bought would say. He LOVED selling spoke wrenches. "It means I'll get paid twice. Once when I sell the wrench and once when the guy comes in with the wheel after he's completely messed it up."

Have fun.

True, the guys buying them on-line probably never needed to go into his shop at all, so he'd never see them. He should have been giving spoke wrenches away.

Good point Rob and WP. It has always seemed to me that there is no in-between in wheel building skill. Either you can build a proper wheel, or you shouldn't ever touch one with a spoke wrench.

Even among mechanics. You are either good at it or you're not. The only thing you can be taught is good process and technique but the final product always comes down to the builder's personal skill.

Thank you folks for all the good information about truing a bike wheel.
I can see that I definitely should take it to a bike shop.
I had no idea it was so complicated.

Actually it isn't complicated at all. You just have to know how.