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.
Don't know, I don't use them. But I have fixed a lot of wheels, and I'd be concerned that your rim is deformed - there's no point trying to true a bent rim, you'll end up with very uneven spoke tension and a weak wheel. The way to fix that is identify the area that's distorted, slacken the spokes and bend the rim back into shape - a rubber mallet can help here.
Or maybe the spoke broke because it was under- or over-tensioned - a tensiometer may help there, but really the exact tension isn't as important as getting it somewhere close, and you should be able to judge that by comparing with a good wheel - just grab a pair of roughly parallel spokes and squeeze them together. The problem here, if the spokes have been slack and are fatigued, is that bringing them up to tension may break them - time for a rebuild or replacement.
Some people like to tune by ear - ping each spoke with something to check its pitch relative to its neighbours. I've never found that very useful, but it is satisfying when you finish a wheel and it pings fairly consistently.