Too much trialsish riding on my poor old uni. Can anybody tell me how to replace broken spokes? Especially how to figure out what size I need? (I do have access to calipers)
Some more info… I don’t know what kind of unicycle or hub it is… had it for over 10 years. The wheel size is 20". There are two broken spokes (they have been creaking for a long time, and I don’t know when they broke. A friend noticed them for me). You can see on the “inside” of the hub flanges how the spokes are attached there on the good ones. The little angled piece is what broke off of the broken spokes.
A little more advanced, what is the technique behind making a wheel true? Is it simply tightening the right spokes? Or is it more complicated than a love-to-tinker kind of person can handle? I have standard tools beyond comprehension, but no specialized one for bikes or unicycles, though I may acquire them if needed.
Remove the wheel. Remove the tire and spoke nut strip (tape).
The spokes always break at the bend. Remove one, take it into a bike shop, and they will sell you one from stock or cut one to length and thread it for you. Put anti-seize compound (best) on the spoke thread or at least grease. Both materials (spoke and spoke nut) are stainless steel and they want to gall. Thread the spoke (probably three cross) like a spoke that is put in a similar way.
“tron” <tron.7wtpm@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:tron.7wtpm@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
> A little more advanced, what is the technique behind making a wheel
> true? Is it simply tightening the right spokes? Or is it more
> complicated than a love-to-tinker kind of person can handle? I have
> standard tools beyond comprehension, but no specialized one for bikes or
> unicycles, though I may acquire them if needed.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help on this.
>
Building wheels and or truing wheels isn’t that difficult, anyone can do it
from decent instructions.
Read this to find out about wheel building, and the bit at the end to find
out about wheel truing.
You don’t need a truing stand, just do it by eye, or hold something next to
the wheel so you can see where it isn’t straight.
there is an art to building a good wheel, you can build a wheel straight, but weak. I suggest you get a good wheel builder to show you how if you are going to do it!
But the theory is,
-wheel bent to the left, tighten right spokes.
-spokes too tight on right side to tighten, loosen spokes on left to bring wheel right.
Thats true for the left and right buckles. For up and down its a but more difficult. If you can get your hand on a wheel builders book it explains most things. A decently built wheel should last a long time.
Not that it matters much for a uni how millameter straight it is, unless you use brakes or have a really tight wheel clearance.
If your going to build a wheel without instructions make sure you copy another wheel so you get the crossing right, or take it to a mechanic to check it befor you tension the spokes!
As for snapped spokes, normally just replacing it and tensioning the new spoke brings your wheel back into true!
Thanks for all the help. I’ve had my mini-intro to wheelbuilding. Last night I dismantled my uni more than I ever had before. I think the only things I didn’t do were take the seat off the post, take the hub out, and take the pedals off the cranks.
It started out as replacing 3 spokes, which was the reason for dismantling. While at the bike shop I got a new tire to replace my mostly-bald one. Once I had all the parts laid out, I realized how incredibly dirty this not-cleaned-for-over-ten-years unicycle was. So I got out some metal cleaner and spent about an hour and a half cleaning.
Then I put the spokes in, put the frame back on, put it in a vise (truing stand for unicycles) and there was a slight lateral wobble to it. For the next hour I made it worse, then better, then worse, then better until there was less than 1/16" wobble and that was enough for me.
Put the whole thing back together, and it looks and feels like a new unicycle. Thanks again for the tips!
