Slippery Nipples

kim said:

Hi guys,

Third big ride in a row I've had to true my rear wheel!
After taking the tyre off again last night I found that the spoke nipples 'unwind' themselves.
So that the spoke is under no tention at all!

Am I going nuts here? This shouldn't happen right?

The nipples were 'wet', but its not been wet here in a week or so.
I unscrewed the nipples, pulled them out and cleaned all the gunk off them and cleaned the threads up.

Hopefully this mornings ride will be less eventful! =)

cheers,

Kim

You may be experiencing spoke wind-up. As you tighten, the spoke twists instead of moving up the thread of the nipple. The spokes will loosen themselves by untwisting.

You can reduce the incidence of spoke wind-up by overshooting and backing off as you tighten. That is, to tighten by a quarter-turn, you should first tighten by a half and then back off a quarter.

Try this next time and see if this improves the situation...

Ritch