Wheel won't stay true

[Guaps]

I have a new set of wheels, and the rear wheel won't stay true. I have about 400 miles on the wheels (in about 2 months) and have had to true them 4 times now. They are Ksyrium Elite wheels. I'm not riding on rough roads, and I haven't hit any potholes or anything that would damage the wheel.

Each time they were trued, I took it to a different shop in an attempt to find someone that knew what they were doing. I'm starting to think it's not the person, but the wheel. Is this common? Why is this happening? Can I fix it or should I try to get Mavic to replace my wheel?

 

[Tim Lamkin]

What type of riding are you doing, road surface..all that kind of info.

 

[Guaps]

What type of riding are you doing, road surface..all that kind of info.

I ride for fun to stay in shape. (century rides, etc) I'm on paved roads all the time, a lot of hills.

Any other info that would help?

My last set of wheels I bought used and rode on for about a year. I had them trued once, and they didn't really need it. They were also Mavics, but the bottom of the totum pole. So I'm surprised that these wheels are giving me such problems, suposedly being much nicer wheels.

 

[skammer]

check the spoke tension. if the spoke tension is drastically uneven this can make the wheel prone to lateral runout issues. pluck the spokes. do the notes sound similar on the drive side spokes vs non-drive?

also are you a bit klumsy on curbs cobbles anything where there is any impact?

Bigger riders have true issues in general.

Also if you are torquing your wheels instantaneously a lot that can tweak the spokes over time and cause tension issues.

and finally...define out of true. if it's just a mm or 2 and it doesn't cause brake interference, then no worries. When we raced downhill, unless the wheel was seriously jacked up we generally let it go till the next maintenance session.

 

[capwater]

It's all about spoke tension. getting a wheel true and keeping a wheel true are different things. If the tension is off it will eventually go back out of true. Many new wheels (especially machine built) need to be tweaked initially. I've put tons of miles on the Elites weighing anywhere from 190 to 170. Low spoke count wheels such as those are very unforgiving. Once you get a spoke loose they'll unwind pretty quickly because the load isn't distributed over a larger number of spokes. But, when they are dialed in right, they'll be fine even for bigger riders.

Now this is all assuming there is no damage to the rim due to hitting a hole or a wreck. I have one front Race Lite that is a bit beat up, used mostly as a trainer wheel. I can get it perfectly true, but the spoke tension is off thus it unwinds. Now I run it slightly out of lateral true, but the tension is more uniform and it holds.

 

[JaysonM]

I also think that the matter is in spoke tension! [email protected]

 

[garage sale GT]

Maybe the builder had some lube on his fingers, leading to the nipples graudally loosening.