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TIL: A crusty old wheel builder in Portland said my spoke tension was 'all over the map' and it stuck with me
I was building up a rear wheel for a customer's commuter and thought it felt fine, but he grabbed my tensiometer, checked a few spokes, and pointed out I had some at 80 kgf and others near 140. He said to chase tension balance before I ever touch the truing stand, and now I tap and meter every spoke twice before I even look at lateral runout. How do you all balance tension on heavily dished rear wheels without driving yourself nuts on the drive side?
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west.casey26d ago
My buddy ran into this exact thing on a touring bike build, drive side spokes were all over the place, some crazy high and some so loose you could wiggle them. He chased the dish first, kept cranking the drive side to pull it over, and ended up with half the spokes at like 150 and the rest loafing at 70. The wheel was straight as an arrow and rode like garbage, kept loosening up on him every couple hundred miles. What finally worked was getting the tension even first, even if the wheel was still a little off, then nudging the dish with tiny quarter turns. He said it felt backwards but the wheel finally stopped falling apart. Also helps to lube the nipples so they do not bind up and lie to you on the meter.
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