hrt4me

How often do wheels need to be trued?

Is it often enough to justify purchasing all the tools (a truing stand, spoke wrench, etc.) and doing it myself, or should I just pay the LBS to do it each time? I've never tried this before, but I'm mechanically inclined and sure I could learn.
https://bicycletutor.com/wheel-truing/

sac02

"It depends" is the only accurate answer you're really going to get. If you're buying them, it depends on if they're quality or junk wheels. If you're having them custom made, it depends on who's building them. It depends on the roads you ride. It depends on how rough you are on wheels.

In my opinion, my truing stand was a great investment. I pretty much do all my own work with the exception of something like chasing/facing a BB, and have built a few wheelsets.

Mac

rruff

Wheels need to be trued basically *never* if they were well built to start with and strong enough for you.

But if they do need truing then just do it yourself. Get a good spoke wrench... it is all you need. Just leave the wheel in the frame and eyeball at the brake blocks, and *tighten* the appropriate spokes until it looks good.

zacster

My wheels only need to be trued if I crash them. I've been riding 35 years and I still use the spoke wrench I bought as a teenager. It seems pointless to buy a replacement when I hardly ever used the one I have. I had to replace 3 spokes on a wheel I crashed hard and then true it up about 3 years ago. That was the last time I needed it. Even that wheel has stayed perfectly true from that point and I thought it was toast at first.

mx_599

just get a cheap stand and the correct tools. it is not that hard

mx

derrickhackman

I have a Park pro truing stand and I can tell you that I have become super-anal with true wheels... both round and laterally. I-2 mm out of true is all i can handle at this point. The more you keep your wheels in true the stronger the wheel will be. Also, simply tightening the spoke is not always the answer ... you need to loose some times as well. A wheel that is too tight will be a weak wheel.

Last but not least... all wheels ... even custom wheels will come out of true therefore consider getting a spoke wrench a stand and a spoke tension gauge.

Sixty Fiver

I would disagree with the "it's not that hard" sentiment... it's doable by most but takes much practice to get really good.

A well built wheel that has been properly trued, tensioned and de-stressed should need almost zero service through it's working life.

If it needs to be serviced after being used under normal riding conditions then something was wrong with the build.

I usually build wheels that get subjected to extreme use and build my own wheels well beyond what my riding needs are.

I have built wheels to a tolerance of half a thousand of an inch (.025mm) and am rigorous when it comes to de-stressing and making sure there has been no spoke wind up, and that the spokes are properly seated.

My friend has been riding on a set of mtb wheels we built for him this spring to very high standards (and with exceptional parts) and after a few thousand km of extremely hard off road riding these wheels have not needed any service whatsoever.

He hits the curb at 235 - 240 and usually carries another 15-20 pounds of gear and destroys normal wheels and bikes as not only is he big, he is freakishly strong.

I also built up his ss road bike and his wheels have stayed true (36 by 3x) despite the fact he's been able to put enough torque into the bike to pop wheelies and bend a few rear axles.

He's my unofficial wheel tester and should putting some new touring wheels to the test and my expectation is that he won't be able to exceed their build limitations either as they are even stronger than the wheels I did up for his ss.

operator

Stop cloaking someting simple in an aura of mystique. The difficulty of truing a wheel depends on the current shape, how well it was originally built and the type of components used in said build. A standard say open pro with brass nippples, straight gauge spokes 32/36h on a shimano 105+ front hub built by someone who knows what they're doing is going to be ridiculously easy to true.

If, it even goes out of true that is.

operator

You are misleading people with incomplete information. The trueness of a wheel once it's < 2mm has nothing to do with it's durability. It has much more to do with proper absolute spoke tension and even spoke tension.

A wheel can be extremely true and be extremely shyte because the person truing it didn't know a thing about building proper, durable wheels.

operator

That's a good way to teach someone the wrong way of truing wheels. Especially for the OP, since he has stated has has zero relevant experience with wheels.

Sixty Fiver

I do not believe I said anything about this being mystical but rather... it's something that does require some knowledge, patience, and practice to get right.

As a teacher of such things I try to dispel the mystique of wheel building / trueing to people so that they can be confident that they too can do what I have been doing for so very long.

Eventually... I will teach myself right out of business.

You can build a wheel that is dead true but is still shyte because that true-ness is an illusion... the spokes may be under or over tensioned and the wheel may have not been properly de-stressed and as soon as you subject it to working loads it goes to hell.

I have seen many off the shelf wheels come undone as soon as they are subjected to use because they were improperly built and always advise that those wheels get properly serviced to ensure they work as they should.

TromboneAl

I got a truing stand for $3 at a rummage sale, and it worked great for truing one of my wife's tires. I'd call the job "somewhat difficult," and you have to be rather meticulous, mark which spokes you are adjusting, follow directions carefully, only make one-quarter turn adjustments, deal with rounded nipples, spokes with turn with the nipples, etc.

The wheels on my bike have never needed truing, and I've had it for 17 years.

mr handy

I picked up a spoke wrench a few weeks ago to true a front wheel I have that got banged out of true a bit. I followed the instructions from Bicycle Tutor and had no problem getting it trued up.

After I had the wheel true and round I did a spoke pluck tension test, and the tone is better now (spoke to spoke) than it was new.

I have been keeping my eye open for a cheep truing stand. I eventually want to try my hand at building a wheel-set or two.