I gave up ...

[Elyob]

Thanks for all the advice about rebuilding my back wheel. I
gave up after ages (and pulling my back due to no
exercise), and bought a new one. I am now the proud owner
of a practice wheel.

At least I will be back on my 10 mile each way commute from
tomorrow (3 weeks late because I thought my skills were
better than they are).

Did discover that Evans in Wandsworth are crap, and the old
shop up the road could have fixed it by the weekend. By then
I have managed to bend every spoke, making and remaking the
wheel. I didn't trust it any more. One nipple had half a
thread showing.

It's a difficult skill, truing. Not so much the left/right
play, but the up/down play. Overtensioning somewhere, I
guess. Can I practice truing a wheel without it on a bike,
without a tyre and innertube etc??

Thanks

Nick

[Garryb59]

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 23:23:26 GMT, "elyob" <newsprofile@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Thanks for all the advice about rebuilding my back wheel. I
>gave up after ages (and pulling my back due to no
>exercise), and bought a new one. I am now the proud owner
>of a practice wheel.
>
>At least I will be back on my 10 mile each way commute from
>tomorrow (3 weeks late because I thought my skills were
>better than they are).
>
>Did discover that Evans in Wandsworth are crap, and the old
>shop up the road could have fixed it by the weekend. By
>then I have managed to bend every spoke, making and
>remaking the wheel. I didn't trust it any more. One nipple
>had half a thread showing.

Ah, rememininces of childhood....those long summer days
borrowing dads spoke wrench and pouring loads of 3 in 1 oil
into the lubrication holes of the wheel hubs...

>It's a difficult skill, truing. Not so much the left/right
>play, but the up/down play. Overtensioning somewhere, I
>guess. Can I practice truing a wheel without it on a bike,
>without a tyre and innertube etc??

It's one of those classic subjects that looks and is
difficult from the 'outsdide', but in fact when you have
the basics and concepts grasped it's so much easier. It's
so easy to get lost without really knowing what you're
doing. I did a one day course in Cambridge a couple of
years ago [run by Michael Green, who sometimes posts
here], which proved to be immensely helpful. Truthfully, I
don't really understand the science behind it all [haven't
read Mr Brant's epic], but do I know how to build a pretty
good wheel [if you can follow that kind of logic!], thanks
to that course [I still refer to the notes that we took
away with us]. And then practice comes into play - 10 odd
wheels later.... I found it very difficult to learn from a
book/web-site......everything just fell into place with a
little tuition.

The condition of your rim might be a factor here too.

But like you say....you have a practice wheel now....get
fiddling some more!

garryb

[Anonymous]

"elyob" <newsprofile@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OHkHc.1645$9w7.15025189@news-text.cableinet.net...
> Thanks for all the advice about rebuilding my back wheel.
> I gave up after ages (and pulling my back due to no
> exercise), and bought a new one. I am now the proud owner
> of a practice wheel.
>
> At least I will be back on my 10 mile each way commute
> from tomorrow (3 weeks late because I thought my skills
> were better than they are).
>
> Did discover that Evans in Wandsworth are crap, and the
> old shop up the
road
> could have fixed it by the weekend. By then I have managed
> to bend every spoke, making and remaking the wheel. I
> didn't trust it any more. One
nipple
> had half a thread showing.
>
> It's a difficult skill, truing. Not so much the left/right
> play, but the up/down play. Overtensioning somewhere, I
> guess. Can I practice truing a wheel without it on a bike,
> without a tyre and innertube etc??

I'd do it on a frame, but otherwise yes.

Given an existing slightly buckled wheel, I wouldn't do
anything about the up/down wobbles. Instead do the
left/right ones, making sure to make the left and right
changes the same so the up/down doesn't change. (eg a little
pull to the right - 1/4 turn loosen on right, 1/2 tighten
left, 1/4 loosen on right on the three spokes.)

If it's all loose, I'd take a turn tighter on all the
spokes, then maybe another. In between fix left/right
roughly.

cheers, clive