Wheel Building/Truing Thread

oneisenough · June 19, 2008, 7:23pm

OK…So there has been a lot of talk about wheel builds and truing with in threads, so I figured I’d come out and make it its own thread.

I have been working on truing my trails and Muni rims, and get them to a respectable level, but then they come right back out of true. skilewis74 has been helping me a lot in the Muni discussion thread(thanks again) but I have a few more questions. With multiple wobbles and a bit of an “egg” effect going on, I was wondering if i should loosen up all the spoke very loose and tension the wheel from scratch. I don’t mean un-lace it, just un-tension everything and start out from a clean slate. I have the day off tomorrow so i would like to do it then so I can ride and film by Sunday, so quick help is appreciated, but any help at any time is good.

Don’t limit this to my wheel problems either, if you have problems or questions post them in here too!

Pseudonym · June 19, 2008, 8:01pm

Have you seen this video, it’s pretty good at explaining the whole process.

I believe, you generally need to ride for a little while to allow the spokes to settle and then true again, or that could just be if you are using funky lacing patterns.

skilewis74 · June 20, 2008, 2:02pm

I posted this the other day:

skilewis74:

If your wheel is tweeked enough for the tire to rub the rim, just adjusting the spokes may not be enough. A rubber mallet may need to be taken to it. I’d take it to a bigger shop, who has a lot of good MTB’s.

Remove your tire and tube, then bolt the wheel back in the frame w/o them.

Put something on the frame leg so it sticks out and just barely touches the rim when its at its closest point. You could use a zip-tie w/ a bit of the excess cord left on, a taped on piece of cardboard, or just your finger and a ruler/tape measure.

Take your spoke wrench and loosen 2 or 3 of the spokes on the close side and tighten an equal # of spokes on the other side (both at 12:00, not 12 & 6:00). Only tighten each spoke 1/2 turn, then go to step 4.

Since the opposite end of the wheel is prob having the same problem w/ the other side, rotate the wheel a half turn and repeat step 3 on the other side of the frame.

You may have to repeat this several times. Now you may have the wheel wobbling in and out several times in one revolution. this is where it gets a bit difficult. Rotate the wheel until it gets to the point where, say the right side is the closest to the right side and do steps 3 & 4. Repeat 3-5 until your wheel runs straight.

Make sure all the spokes are relatively at the same tension, if not loosen the tight ones, while making sure the rim stays straight w/ steps 3-5.

Now your rim may not wobble side to side but it may be off center or out of round, acting like an egg rolling end over end.

7 a. To check if the rim is off center, measure how far it is from the rim to the fork leg, it should be the same dist on each side. If the rim is more to the right loosen all of the right spokes 1/2 turn, then tighten all the left spokes the same amount. If more to the left, do the opposite.

7 b. If your rim is out of round, loosen a few ~4 spokes (2 L, 2 R) on the side closest to the hub and loosen an equal # of spokes on the opposite side, while maintaining equal tightness on all spokes. Also make sure the rim doesn’t get square, if you maintain equal tension on the spokes, this shouldn’t happen.

Now your rim is true But you still need to make sure all spokes are tight. So start at one part of the wheel (I start at the stem) & tighten all the left and then the right spokes 1/2 rotation each until they are all tight. You can get them pretty tight, but be careful to not strip the nipples, as this will make it hard to true later or remove them if you replace the rim.

Your rim is now tight and true!!!:D:D
Whew!

When you get better you can tighten/loosen the nipples more at a time, but if you do this regularly, you should never need to do more than 1/2 turn and your rim will likely last a VERY long time, if not forever.

I recomend a Parktool spoke wrench.

oneisenough · June 20, 2008, 6:57pm

great tutorial…its pretty much a video of what skilewis74 said!!!

thanks guys