taylorgeo

As a relatively new rider with limited repair skills (changing a tube/tire and adjusting v-brakes), any suggestions for learning how to true a wheel?

Gresp15C

The tutorial at Sheldon Brown's website is a good start. I've built about 8 wheels, so I'm far from being a seasoned expert, but can share a bit of advice. Mainly, if a wheel is seriously out of true, or has noticeable flat spots and wobbles, it might be beyond what a beginner can work with. If it's an imperfect wheel that's been on a bike and is otherwise worth keeping, then probably the most important thing is bringing it up to a good tension, and then worry about tiny departures from perfect truth, and maybe a mm of wobble is rideable. Tires aren't more true than that.

Also, "the good is the enemy of the good enough."

jay4usc

it looks complicated but pretty easy. I watched a few YouTube videos (without a truing stand). I practiced once with an older bike before trying my new bike and I felt like a pro the 2nd time. If your only going to true your own bikes, you don’t need a stand. Will be a waste of money.

heres the videos I found most helpful

https://youtu.be/DADzTXizEKI

https://youtu.be/f1SHmFBihKM

unterhausen

Righty tighty, lefty loosey.

Don't take huge swings at out of true locations. Sometimes only one spoke needs to be tightened/loosened, but it might make sense to loosen a couple of spokes and tighten the one in the middle.

fishboat

Some good videos
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...and-rim-truing

Also..it's helpful in the beginning to actively use your hand and the right hand rule. If you want to tighten a spoke, wrap your hand around the spoke with your thumb pointing toward the hub. The curl of your fingers is the direction to turn the spoke. If you want to loosen a spoke, rotate your hand 180 degrees with thumb pointing away from the hub.

veganbikes

I would get yourself a decent truing stand, a good spoke wrench/key that you are comfortable with and find an old wheel and take it apart and put it back together. Sheldon Brown of course is a great place to look. Also Gerd Schraners book "The Art of Wheelbuilding" is excellent. I have a copy on my cellular telephone that I got for free in the Apple Library thing. If you are looking for a copy off the internet they can get expensive.

Always get yourself the best tools you can. You don't have to buy the top end P&K Lie or Aivee truing stand but get a good quality one that is spoken of highly by mechanics. Park Tool is a great option in this case but there are others. And Spoke wrenches are pretty cheap, I went for Park's Master Spoke Wrench because it felt nice in the hand and that is the key to a good key. Though plenty of experienced wheel builders have spoke wrenches that are old and falling apart and probably could cause damage to nipples in the wrong hands but they love 'em. Gerd touches on that in his book as well and it is funny to think about but makes sense.

taylorgeo

Wow, some great info here. Would NOT feel comfortable truing my five-month-old Electra Townie 7D and "testing it" with my Clyde frame, so I definitely like the idea of getting an old wheel and practicing on it.

Will report back after I watch the videos and digest all this information.

You all rock.

Moisture

If the wheel is upright, meaning the drive side is on the right, you have to turn the nipples counter clockwise to tighten. Imagine you have the tire, tube and liner stripped off. You're tightening the nipple from the outside of the rim using a flathead screw driver. Turning the screwdriver clockwise to tighten means that the nipple is turning counter clockwise on the other side, inside the rim.

Start by squeezing each spoke together to check for any which are noticeably looser than the other. Keep in mind that the drive side on the rear wheel requires more tension than the non drive side.

Generally, I like to begin by applying an even amount of tension onto most of the spokes while looking for outliers which are particularly loose. Twist one of the spokes first to be doubly sure you are tightening or loosening as intended. Sometimes, when a rim is bent in a specific area, you will have to sacrifice spoke tension for rim trueness by loosening the spoke(s) in that area to keep the rim true. Try to find the right balance.

After an even amount of tension is applied, now, look for areas of the wheel which still appear to be bent. You want to tighten the spokes on the side you wish to move the rim towards - (ie. If the wheel is bent to the left, i wish to move it to the right to centre, meaning you tighten the spokes on the right side, and perhaps loosen a bit on the left side)

if any of the spokes are stiff, or pop back into place when you turn, you run the risk of snapping the thread if you try to keep twisting. Beware.

Lastly, once you are reasonably satisfied with your balance between spoke tension and rim true, place the rim onto the ground, and holding onto the opposite ends of the rim, gently press down into the ground. Go around the entire rim. You should hear the spokes gently clicking as they set in place. Go around the entire diameter and repeat on the other side. Don't press too hard. But don't be alarmed if you don't hear any clicking: the spokes are likely already set. You don't want this to happen once you put your entire weight onto the wheel once its mounted on the bike.

This process takes a lot of prsctise and patience to get right. Practice, and don't get frustrated if its not working. Watch another YouTube video, take a brea and try again. The rim doesn't need to be perfectly true if youre struggling.

guy153

Some great advice here. The only tip I would add is that when truing less is more. If you turn the nipples too much, especially since at the start you can sometimes get confused about which way to turn them, you can end up going backwards and it can all get confusing and frustrating. A 1/4 turn at a time is about what you want. If you didn't quite fix the error you were working on, you can always give it another 1/4 turn. In the final stages switch to 1/8 turns.

Moisture

Exactly. I can't stress the importance of checking first by twisting the spoke until you can feel that it is sure to be tightening or loosening before continuing with the rest of the wheel.

Again, don't stress if its not working at first. It took me a lot of prsctise to even become decent at it. Take breaks and don't over think it.

Moisture

Once you're good enough you can easily gauge optimal spoke tension based on just squeezing the spokes or noting the sounds they make when you tap on them. Keep in mind that different diameter and material spokes require different tension. Dont let this deter you. As long as the spoke doesn't bend or flop around somewhat, you're fine.

fishboat

OP..as long as you're researching.. this is a very good reference in the wheel building-truing world. It also contains plans for an easy to build truing stand.

https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

I've got about $15 in this stand..and a couple hours build time. A dishing jig is also an easy build. The ruler is from the sewing dept. at Walmart..$1.50.

cyccommute 

While most of the information above is good, they all seemed to have forgotten to lubricate the nipples before you start. A drop of oil at the top of each nipple will go a long way towards keeping the spoke from winding up during truing.