redishing wheel...

Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do at home with just a spoke
wrench?

 

You'd need a truing stand and a dishing tool in addition to your spoke wrench. A little knowledge of
what you're doing would help too but it's pretty intuitive if you know the general goal. "Chuck Liu"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do at home with just a spoke
> wrench?

 

"Chuck Liu" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do at home with just a spoke
> wrench?

You can certainly do this at home with just a wrench, using your bike frame to hold the wheel and
the brake pads as truing indicators. You can check the dishing is correct by flipping the wheel over
in the frame and seeing if the rim stays in the same position relative to the brake pads, although
this will not be as accurate as the using a dishing tool - a fairly inexpensive item. Since wheels
are generally undertensioned, as long as the problem you describe is not severe -
i.e. the wheel is off by only 2-3mm - then you are probably OK to re-center it by simply tightening
all the spokes on the side of the wheel towards which you want the rim to move. Try a quarter
turn on each spoke on that side to begin with and see how much that moves the rim to the side.

After centering the rim, you will need to stress relieve the spokes by grasping pairs of
nearly-parallel spokes on the same side of the wheel and squeezing them together HARD. After this
treatment, the wheel may need some minor re-truing, after which repeating the stress-relieving
should have little or no effect on lateral trueness. If the wheel goes severely out of true upon
stress-relieving, you may have over-tensioned it and will need to back off tension on both sides of
the wheel. To preserve centering of the rim while you do this (I am assuming this is a rear wheel),
loosen the left-hand spokes twice as much as the right hand ones.

Good luck.

Nigel Grinter

 

"Chuck Liu" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do at home with just a spoke
> wrench?

You can certainly do this at home with just a wrench, using your bike frame to hold the wheel and
the brake pads as truing indicators. You can check the dishing is correct by flipping the wheel over
in the frame and seeing if the rim stays in the same position relative to the brake pads, although
this will not be as accurate as the using a dishing tool - a fairly inexpensive item. Since wheels
are generally undertensioned, as long as the problem you describe is not severe -
i.e. the wheel is off by only 2-3mm - then you are probably OK to re-center it by simply tightening
all the spokes on the side of the wheel towards which you want the rim to move. Try a quarter
turn on each spoke on that side to begin with and see how much that moves the rim to the side.

After centering the rim, you will need to stress relieve the spokes by grasping pairs of
nearly-parallel spokes on the same side of the wheel and squeezing them together HARD. After this
treatment, the wheel may need some minor re-truing, after which repeating the stress-relieving
should have little or no effect on lateral trueness. If the wheel goes severely out of true upon
stress-relieving, you may have over-tensioned it and will need to back off tension on both sides of
the wheel. To preserve centering of the rim while you do this (I am assuming this is a rear wheel),
loosen the left-hand spokes twice as much as the right hand ones.

Good luck.

Nigel Grinter

 

Thanks for the input guys! ...really appreciate it. I have been wrestling with this SS project over
this weekend.

I managed to respaced the hub relative to the axle (moved a 4mm spacer over to the non-drive side).
The rim is not off center by too much. Do you think i can get away with this without redishing the
rim? Anyways, the chainline difference is now around 1.5-3mm. Do you think this is going to cause
trouble? I will be using a 1/2 by 1/8 BMX chain... The front chainring is a 42t 7speed campy victory
ring and the rear is a 16t Shimano freewheel....

"Nigel Grinter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Chuck Liu" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do
at
> > home with just a spoke wrench?
>
> You can certainly do this at home with just a wrench, using your bike frame to hold the wheel and
> the brake pads as truing indicators. You can check the dishing is correct by flipping the wheel
> over in the frame and seeing if the rim stays in the same position relative to the brake pads,
> although this will not be as accurate as the using a dishing tool - a fairly inexpensive item.
> Since wheels are generally undertensioned, as long as the problem you describe is not severe -
> i.e. the wheel is off by only 2-3mm - then you are probably OK to re-center it by simply
> tightening all the spokes on the side of the wheel towards which you want the rim to move.
> Try a quarter turn on each spoke on that side to begin with and see how much that moves the
> rim to the side.
>
> After centering the rim, you will need to stress relieve the spokes by grasping pairs of
> nearly-parallel spokes on the same side of the wheel and squeezing them together HARD. After this
> treatment, the wheel may need some minor re-truing, after which repeating the stress-relieving
> should have little or no effect on lateral trueness. If the wheel goes severely out of true upon
> stress-relieving, you may have over-tensioned it and will need to back off tension on both sides
> of the wheel. To preserve centering of the rim while you do this (I am assuming this is a rear
> wheel), loosen the left-hand spokes twice as much as the right hand ones.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Nigel Grinter

 

"Chuck Liu" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Should this be done by the shop? or is it a simple job that one can do at home with just a spoke
> wrench?

Let's just stop using that confusing term, "dish". There. That's better.

Now you can just center your rim over the locknuts like all bicycle wheels. Drop the wheel into
your bike or truing stand. Note where the rim is. Flip it over the other way. The rim should be in
the same place. If it is not, tighten spokes on one side and/or loosen on the other side until the
wheel: -centers when flipped over -has proper overall tension -is round as you can get it without
screaming -is all in one plane or as close as you can get without throwing your spoke wrench
across the room.

And then you're done! Lubricating nipples is a big help. And if you have not read "The Bicycle
Wheel" now is a good time before you begin this project.
--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971