39
votes
What is a taco?
To taco a wheel means you've bent it so badly its a write-off and cannot be salvaged through truing.
This is significantly worse than going out of true, because the rim will be creased or torn, ...
- 121k
26
votes
Accepted
What are the risks associated with truing wheels without the aid of a truing stand?
A truing stand is a tool to speed-up the process. Using one does not stop the operator from doing it wrong.
A good technique can work well enough using a finger pressing lightly on the rim and ...
- 121k
17
votes
Accepted
When is a bike rim beyond repair?
Imagine a theoretical new bare rim made to perfect tolerances with perfect uniformity of materials and construction. Without spokes, it is perfectly round and flat.
Add spokes and tension them all the ...
- 81.9k
16
votes
When is a bike rim beyond repair?
One general consensus is that if your wheel has suffered damage enough to break three spokes in the same event then the rim may have suffered enough damaged to write it off. You should clean the rim, ...
- 121k
14
votes
Accepted
Should an amateur attempt truing a wheel
If your question is, "Can an amateur successfully true a wheel on their first try?", the answer is "Yes".
A quick search on the internet reveals plenty of videos explaining the process.
Some things ...
- 358
11
votes
Accepted
Pinging sound on new radial front wheel
I think you have found the answer to your question, about the cause and meaning of the pinging.
I would suggest however that to assert the wheel invariable needs re-truing (at that answer does) is ...
- 5,044
11
votes
Accepted
Is there a difference between truing a bike wheel and balancing it?
balancing a wheel: making sure there's some weight symmetry
trueing a wheel: making sure that the geometry of the wheel described a (near) perfect circle. This includes the radial and lateral ...
- 17.6k
10
votes
Is this tire properly fitted on the rim?
It looks to me that your tire is not properly centered on the rim. Probably neither the rim nor the tire are faulty, but they require more effort to center the tire.
The first thing you should check ...
- 1,291
10
votes
Problems with spoke threads, and stressing the wheel
There is one major cause of this problem and it is putting a 1.8mm aka 15ga spoke in a 2.0mm/14ga nipple.
This mismatch will screw together and hold under some tension, but then slip.
It is easy to ...
- 81.9k
10
votes
Accepted
How can I keep from rounding my spoke nuts?
The main thing going wrong is the wheel keeps breaking spokes and needing repeat attention.
The life cycle of a wheel with a good initial build quality and good components is spokes virtually never ...
- 81.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Is this tire properly fitted on the rim?
I'll answer all your questions in order.
1) "Will this tire wobble wear down the bearings faster, or other components?"
-Nope, this wobble will do pretty much nothing to the rim. If anything, you ...
- 1,033
9
votes
Accepted
How dangerous is a very out-of-true disc brake wheel?
Another danger of riding an out-of-true wheel is cornering. When on the straight, the wheel may be "round" while wobbling from side to side.
But when leaning into a corner, the bike is no longer ...
- 121k
8
votes
New Park Tool truing stand doesn't seem to be calibrated, calibration seems off out of box
The 2.2 is not for directly measuring dish, a shop will use a proper dish measuring tool(for time and repeatability) and there are techniques for the home gamer that lacks a dish tool that involve ...
- 537
8
votes
Accepted
Danger of adjusting spokes on the road
Unfortunately there's not many aspects to truing wheels this question doesn't touch. Also unfortunately, figuring out what's going on with a given heavily used wheel with issues and then making it as ...
- 81.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Freeing stiff nipples?
I agree with Daniel’s comment, I’ve had success with using vice grips to hold spokes myself. Be careful not to use excessive force to prevent crushing the spoke. It may help to add a small “flag” made ...
- 15.5k
8
votes
Is it safe to ride on wheels with rusted spoke eyelets?
Yes, the rust is not a safety issue. It's fine.
They're not replaceable in any kind of practical sense. Double eyelets or sockets such as those pictured are formed to match a specific distance between ...
- 81.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Is a spoke tensiometer useful for determining that a wheel is on its way to becoming out-of-true?
There are several diagnostic uses I use a tensiometer for fairly regularly:
One is to get a sense of how good the tension balance and tension level on a wheel is as a way of evaluating if it needs ...
- 81.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Should I complain at the LBS about a new dead-on true wheel with unequal spoke tension?
You may well be worrying about nothing.
A spoked bicycle wheel is a fantastically strong structure. Modern box-section rims and modern steel/stainless spokes are astonishingly reliable when compared ...
- 13.6k
7
votes
Wheel gets stuck
Check to see where it's rubbing. It will probably be rubbing on the brake pads, or less likely on the chain stays. If it happens once per rotation it means your wheel is probably warped and needs to ...
- 21.7k
7
votes
Accepted
How do I true a trailer wheel?
I would skip using the truing stand and just true the wheel on the trailer. You can generally clamp a strip of something to the frame to act as an indicator (have it stick out and just brush the rim, ...
- 53.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Is a factory-made wheel being 3.5 mm out of dish a problem?
Taking what you've said: you've been using it for years, it's probably fine left unaltered.
How does it look in the fork? is that 3.5mm obvious? is the tyre closer to one side than the other? The ...
- 13.6k
6
votes
Accepted
How tell if spokes too tight without tensionometer
Roger Musson's book "Professional Guide to Wheel Building" simply states that: "The best place to start when judging the correct tension is to examine a similar wheel you know to be good and reliable ...
- 4,198
6
votes
Danger of adjusting spokes on the road
For a normal wheel with 32 or more spokes and a metal rim, I'd say you are pretty safe. Even if one or two spokes ended up breaking, there is enough redundancy to avoid catastrophic failure. Myself I'...
- 1,727
6
votes
Accepted
Correct spoke tension for DT Swiss EX 471 26" 32h rim paired with Wheelsmith DB 14 spokes
I believe DT has a blanket recommendation of 1200Nm for all their rims, or 122 kg-f. You could email them to corroborate but that number should be safe.
Use the tensiometer chart for the thin section ...
- 81.9k
6
votes
Does bicycle rim wear affect wheel truing?
Wear will only vary around the circumference in rather odd cases, e.g. a significantly out of true wheel with brakes that don't self centre, damage, or local contamination reducing friction.
The two ...
- 57.3k
6
votes
Should I complain at the LBS about a new dead-on true wheel with unequal spoke tension?
As mentioned by @JoeK, how much you spent, and what you told the shop the wheel will be used for will play a big factor in deciding if the wheel is fit for purpose. If you told them it was a to keep a ...
- 49.1k
5
votes
Accepted
What does the truing "release tension" step do?
This subject can be confusing to learn about because people use terminology to mean different things, and some of the physical techniques involved are working to help achieve a couple different goals ...
- 81.9k
5
votes
New Park Tool truing stand doesn't seem to be calibrated, calibration seems off out of box
The Park centering tool is just a symmetric piece of metal that fits into the truing stand. If you have a true wheel you can use that just as well. If you are concerned about the dish of the wheel, ...
- 364
5
votes
Back wheel is "wobbling"
There are a few things that could be described as a 'wobbly' wheel.
Hold the rear wheel off the ground, grab the tire at the 12 o'clock and 9 o'clock (from the chain side of the bike), try to move ...
- 75.5k
5
votes
When is a bike rim beyond repair?
First, make sure the rim doesn’t have any obvious damage. Check for cracks, especially along the brake surface, under the rim tape and around the spoke holes.
If there is no damage then I’d try to ...
- 26k
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