Spoke tension: Did I do a dumb thing?

Kevin Cullen said:

I was wondering if I did something stupid to a wheel today...

I was riding my cyclocross bike to the local state park today, but had that loose-spoke pop/tick
noise coming from the back wheel. A quick inspection revealed that all of the spokes had more play
than normal, but the wheel was perfectly in true.

I used my spoke wrench to tighten each nipple a quarter turn, except for a couple that had very
little resistance. Those got tighted 3/4 of a turn. The wheel was still true, so I rode on. No
more noise after that.

Is there anything wrong with what I did? Did I risk doing some damage? Could this cause the wheel
to go out of true in the near future? What should I have done?

You should have done what you did, now you should follow up with a proper re-tensioning of the
spokes. All your spokes were probably too slack to begin with, and loosened over time as you rode
the bike. Do it right or get it done right.

Kevin Cullen said:

I was riding my cyclocross bike to the local state park today, but had that loose-spoke pop/tick
noise coming from the back wheel. A quick inspection revealed that all of the spokes had more play
than normal, but the wheel was perfectly in true.

I used my spoke wrench to tighten each nipple a quarter turn, except for a couple that had very
little resistance. Those got tighted 3/4 of a turn. The wheel was still true, so I rode on. No
more noise after that.

Something doesn't sound right. If the wheel was true, and then you tightened some spokes more than
others, how could it still be true?

Quoted message said:

Is there anything wrong with what I did? Did I risk doing some damage? Could this cause the wheel
to go out of true in the near future? What should I have done?

Well, it's never good to ride a wheel with loose spokes, but I doubt you did serious harm.

Left side spokes tend to loosen first because they are under less tension to begin with. It sounds
like your wheel was seriously undertensioned. You need to tighten all the spokes in 1/4 or 1/2 turn
increments while maintaining roundness, proper dish, and lateral trueness. To get the spokes
adequately tensioned, it helps to oil the spoke threads and the nipple/rim interface.

If you're not familiar with wheel truing, you might want to have a *good* LBS do it. The spokes
should also be stress relieved.

The book "The Bicycle Wheel" by Jobst Brandt is the definitive "how to" manual on wheelbuilding
and truing.

avocet.comwheelbook.htmlOpen ↗

Sheldon Brown's website also has an excellent tutorial:
sheldonbrown.comwheelbuild.htmlOpen ↗

Art Harris

Kevin-<< I was riding my cyclocross bike to the local state park today, but had

that loose-spoke pop/tick noise coming from the back wheel. A quick inspection revealed that all of
the spokes had more play than normal, but the wheel was perfectly in true. >><BR><BR>

Sometimes that noise is the sp[oke/nipple in the rim, not tension related.

kevin<< Those got tighted 3/4 of a turn. The wheel was still true, so I rode on. No more noise
after that.

Is there anything wrong with what I did? Did I risk doing some damage? Could this cause the wheel to
go out of true in the near future? What should I have done? >><BR><BR>

If the tension was low, riding a low tension wheel can damagem deform the rim, making the spoke
tension erratic, leading to problems in the future. I would take the wheel, retrue, dish, round and
tension it, checking tension with a tensionometer.

BUT, hand-type of tension checking can be misleading. Arbitrarily tightening spokes to take away
noise on the road was not a particularly good thing, IMO.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Quoted message said:

I used my spoke wrench to tighten each nipple a quarter turn, except for a couple that had very
little resistance. Those got tighted 3/4 of a turn. The wheel was still true, so I rode on. No
more noise after that.

Is there anything wrong with what I did? Did I risk doing some damage? Could this cause the wheel
to go out of true in the near future? What should I have done?

Sounds like you did exactly the right thing, except that, at some point, you'll get into trouble
using common sense to fix problems. People are paid great amounts of money to figure out minute
details and come up with processes and procedures that must be followed. Trying to emulate Robert de
Niro's character in Brazil could lead to big problems for everyone!

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

RE/

Quoted message said:

I was riding my cyclocross bike to the local state park today, but had that loose-spoke pop/tick
noise coming from the back wheel. A quick inspection revealed that all of the spokes had more play
than normal, but the wheel was perfectly in true.

For future reference, I heard a sound like that the other day. Checked my spokes and all seemed
well. Rode on and about three minutes later, attacking a hill, the fushlurggner chain broke.
--
PeteCresswell

[email hidden] (Qui si parla Campagnolo) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Sometimes that noise is the sp[oke/nipple in the rim, not tension related.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Peter Chisholm

Dear Peter,

Would this nipple-in-the-rim noise be what Jobst Brandt has mentioned elsewhere as a cracking noise
from rust under the nipple?

Or have you seen nipples in your shop that just creak or rock in the rim and make noises without any
rust involved?

I'm curious because this sounds like one of the usual what's-that-funny-noise threads that bike shop
mechanics like you are likely to know more about, given how many different bikes you see.

Thanks,

Carl Fogel