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A customer's comment about my wheel truing method stuck with me
About two years back, a regular, a guy who races cross, brought in a wheel I'd just trued. He said it felt stiff and 'dead' on the trail, that I'd probably over-tensioned the spokes chasing perfect lateral truth. He was right. I was so focused on getting that rim to run straight with no wobble that I was cranking spokes way past where they needed to be, making the whole wheel a tense, harsh ride. I started focusing more on getting a good, even 'ping' sound from each spoke and checking for roundness first, letting the lateral truth come last with lighter adjustments. The wheels feel livelier now and I haven't had a comeback for a broken spoke since. Has anyone else had a client point out a bad habit you didn't even know you had?
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richard_lee1mo ago
Man, that's wild. I never even thought about how the sound could tell you something. Makes total sense though, like tuning a guitar.
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dakota4791mo ago
Ever had a customer teach you your own job? That's a solid lesson right there. I used to crank spokes too tight on my own bike, just trying to get rid of that last tiny wiggle. Felt like riding a brick after. Now I go for the even sound first, like you said. A wheel that's a little bit alive is way better than one that's perfect and dead.
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ray64819d ago
Yeah, it's crazy how much you can learn from someone just watching them work on their own stuff. I get what @dakota479 is saying about that last tiny wiggle, you just want to kill it. But chasing perfect tightness makes everything too stiff. The sound check is the real trick, listening for that even ping all the way around. Lets the wheel flex a bit so it can actually roll over stuff instead of just smashing into it.
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