Just passed 200 wheel truings and it changed my mind about spoke tension

I always thought tighter spokes meant a stronger wheel. But after truing number 200 on a beat up old Trek last Tuesday, I finally got why the pro guys go for even tension instead of just cranking it down. A customer brought in a wheel that was rock solid but kept breaking spokes. I loosened everything up, balanced the tension, and it's been fine for two months now. That number really made me stop and think about how i'd been doing things wrong for years. Has anyone else had a specific milestone like that change how they work?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_holly13d ago

Hold up, let me get this straight. You loosened everything up after having it tightened to the max? That sounds like the opposite of everything I've ever been taught. Did you actually measure the tension with a meter or did you just go by feel when you did that? I'm curious because I've got a wheel that keeps going out of true no matter how tight I get it, and this has me wondering if I'm just making it worse.

kim19112d ago

I read somewhere that overtightening can actually cause more problems because the spokes get stressed unevenly, so maybe your wheel going out of true is from hitting that limit too hard. Idk if feel is good enough for this stuff, I'd probably try a tension meter just to be safe, it's not that expensive.