I only recently learnt about how “true” wheels function. When I had my LBS look at my wheels, they were apparently spinning in a weird manner. My question is this - how do wheels become “untrue”? Is it a sign of poor make? Should I have them checked everytime I have my bike cleaned?
I only recently learnt about how “true” wheels function. When I had my LBS look at my wheels, they were apparently spinning in a weird manner. My question is this - how do wheels become “untrue”? Is it a sign of poor make? Should I have them checked everytime I have my bike cleaned?
Spokes have threaded nipples, and are tightened to a specific tension. Threads get loose, tension pulls the rim one way or the other. Can happen on almost any level of rim.
John
Hitting potholes doesn’t help either…
Not sure it’s necessary to have them checked and trued at every tuneup, but certainly something worth doing at the beginning of the season. I always hesitate to do it right before an important race as the altered tension could lead to an unexpected failure.
It’s also pretty easy to give the wheel a quick spin and note the runout in relation to the brake pad. When it’s noticeably wobbly, time to pay the money to get it trued.
I have a cheap set of wheels that never stays true, and an almost identical set that I can’t untrue so I’m not sure that’s the only cause. Certainly I would say final assembly plays an important part… and a higher cost rim should hopefully have more attention paid to that process. I’d still take a cheap but reliable rim well assembled by a local guru over a mass-produced mid-priced wheel.
You can quickly check your wheel true by spinning it an looking at the rim relative to a brake pad.
Some rims and some spoke geometries are tougher than others. In general, the fewer the spokes the more likely the wheel will go untrue. Good training rims are box shaped instead of ‘aero’ and have 28 or more spokes/wheel.
You say you ‘have your bike cleaned’. That’s part of the problem. Basic maintenance and cleaning is not very hard to learn and can keep you from having to pay for expensive repairs or a long walk home. You should be giving your bike a quick once over after most long rides including cleaning and basic lubing. This is the way to catch problems before you end up on the side of the road hitching a ride home or to the finish line. A lot of stores like REI or a local bike club give basic bike maintenance classes.
My question is this - how do wheels become “untrue”?
Is it a sign of poor make?
Should I have them checked everytime I have my bike cleaned?
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Any threaded fastener (technically a bolt and nut) will loosen if the preload is not sufficient and the nut (nipple in this case) has dynamic loading.
See: http://www.co-design.co.uk/dpg/bol/bol3.html -
If you are not crashing through potholes and abusing the wheels, it usually it means the spokes were not brought to high enough tension when the wheel was built.
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You should have the wheel tensioned correctly and then you won’t have to worry about it. I weigh 180lbs, put in 8000 miles last years and had to true very little wobbles out of my wheels maybe twice.
too many chicken wings.
It’s called entropy-the universe moving towards a state of disorganization. Or potholes.
Same way a woman becomes “untrue”…their nipples weren’t twisted tight enough.
Same way a woman becomes “untrue”…their nipples weren’t twisted tight enough.
HAHA…
Also, a side-affect of riding a bike, will happen eventually…
Thanks all for the help!
It usually starts with a little, innocent lie.