MyRedTrek

What are potential negative consequences of *not* staying on top of truing of wheels and tensioning of spokes for a lighter rider, say under 150 lbs?

Andrew R Stewart 

more easily bent wheels, greater chance for out of true conditions to become a bother (brake rub as one example), more chance of broken spokes.

The rider's weight has nearly nothing to do with possible consequences, but a lot to do with the pace those consequences will grow to become problems.

I take issue with the black and white view so many riders seem to have when looking at how well bikes work and wear down. Weight limits are about liability more than actual pending failures. So, when a company places a limit of, say for this discussion, of 185 lbs a ride that weighs 5 lbs more isn't a guaranty of problems. Just a s a 180 lbs rider is now free from consequences (because the company published a number)

I work for a big guy, over 240 lbs on some days. But he has had zero wheel issues in the 10 years I have helped maintain his stable of bikes. And I've seen way too many light weight riders get dented rims and broken spokes because they haven't learned to ride with respect to their bike and/or let small issues grow in to major ones through miles and/or neglect (be that intentional or ignorance).

Don't believe because you are a lighter weight rider that you are off the hook of what can happen. Andy

Iride01 

Quite a few years ago my son bought a new bike. He'd been riding it a while and had not taken it back for the free tune up and inspection that they told him to do. So 300 miles and a month or two later his front wheel tacoed on him while going down a twisty trail at probably 20 mph or better. Luckily no head injury or concussion as his helmet showed no signs of impact. However his body was sore for a week or more. He is a little squeamish now to go real fast down hill on twisty trails too.

I feel quite bad about it because a week before I'd felt his spokes with my fingers and knew they needed attention. I'd told him, but I didn't emphasize it enough to get him to take it to the shop before something happened. Maybe because the wheels themselves were still pretty true he felt it a non-issue.

So yeah, I'd say spoke tension is fairly important. And don't put anything to the wheels being true as an indicator of having adequate spoke tension.

Steve B.

Broken spokes, more stress on remainder of spokes, stress on rim. Eventually expensive as all the wheel components start to fail (except maybe the hub) and you end up with a new wheel.

KCT1986

Yes, quite important. Especially for the rear since the L/R tension usually has a large imbalance.

Other factors, spoke count, spoke pattern, rim size & strength, disc brakes, etc..., and of course the amount of stress subjected to (potholes, curb-jumping, rough rattly roads).

Rolla

Agree with the previous posts, but the good news is that it's not something that requires constant attention. Once trued and tensioned, they should be good to go for awhile, barring mishap or abuse.

3alarmer 

.
...on the bikes we had as kids, with middleweight tyres and coaster brakes, I can't recall anyone ever truing a wheel. And none of us had the slightest idea about what tension our spokes held. The beach cruiser crowd is happily unaware of this field of knowledge, for the most part. So the answer to your question varies with wheel type, usage, and maybe some other stuff like tyre size.