Originally Posted by
spelger
had a very untrue wheel and now have a broken spoke i need to replace. never done it before. can anyone recommend a spoke tension meter that works and won't break the bank? i see some on amazon that are decently priced then i see the presumed gold standard by park for over $100. the designs are all very similar.
I was in this situation a couple of months ago. The best course of action depends on how good of a result you are looking for. Replacing the entire wheel is the most certain solution. If you choose not to go that far, understand that your rim (without spokes) may be bent laterally or it may be out of round. Checking that pretty much requires taking the whole wheel apart. If you try to true a bent rim with only a spoke wrench, you might be able to do it, but understand that your spoke tension will be wacky because certain spokes are pulling on those bends. If you take the wheel apart and manually straighten your rim, then the tension meter might come in handy as you bring the wheel back up to tension.
The quick and easy solution is to put a new spoke in, and tighten it until it isn't your highest or lowest sounding spoke when you pluck it. Then go ahead and true the wheel as normal.
The tension meter is only useful on a known good rim.