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Old 09-16-22, 08:33 PM
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byscott
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Location: Upstate NY
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I have a Park TM-1 and a Wheel Fanatyk tensiometer. I use the WF tool to check that spoke tensions are somewhat close to each other. I never got very consistent readings from the TM-1 and gave up on it pretty quickly.

FWIW, over the years I’ve become less concerned about building to specific spoke tension numbers than about building straight, round wheels. I have wheels that I built years ago and rode for multiple seasons and many miles. After I got the Wheel Fanatyk tool I tested a few of them and was surprised to see that none of the front wheels, or non drive side spokes on the rear wheels, were above 90 kgf or so. Maybe that was a good number back then and spoke tensions are higher now given that the rims are stronger. Beats me; all I know is that I rode some of those wheels all season and they never even got out of true.

And those wheels did not have an easy time of it. Back in the day I was a big strong guy; now I’m just a fat old man. Of course, those older wheels all had 36 spokes. I still believe in higher spoke counts than are currently fashionable, but that’s a rant for another day.

The tools that are really useful to me these days, as I have a fair amount of arthritis in my hands, are spoke driver bits that fit on a power screwdriver or drill. These are made to tighten each spoke nipple by approximately the same amount and will get a wheel to a reasonable starting point for tensioning and truing; they’re not perfect by any means, but tensioning and truing get a lot easier when you have a decent starting point. I find that these help me get to where I can tension a wheel pretty quickly and concentrate on getting it true and evening out the tension between spokes — which is typically less of a problem given a good starting point.
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