Spent 20 minutes truing a wheel yesterday and it ended up worse than when I started

I was so focused on the side-to-side that I forgot to check the tension, and my lazy spoke turns left it looking like a potato chip. Anyone else have to walk away and come back to a wheel the next day?

2 comments

2 Comments

samthompson3d ago

Did you try backing out ALL the tension first and starting over from scratch? That was the ONLY thing that finally clicked for me, I wasted three afternoons before someone told me to just reset everything.

wadebailey3d ago

Reset everything from scratch is good advice, but what really helped me was marking the rim and tire with a piece of tape at the worst wobble. Then I loosened that spoke and its neighbor a half turn, tightened the spokes opposite them a half turn, and checked again. Doing small adjustments like that kept me from chasing my tail all afternoon. You really gotta go slow and check the tension with your thumb every few turns or you'll just end up with a mess. Walking away for a few hours is smart too, sometimes you just need fresh eyes.