What is the proper way to true a spoke bike wheel?

Question

Loosen or tighten where the warp is?

Answer 1

Imagine you have your bike upside down and you are standing looking at the rear wheel, which is the one that is untrue. Rotate the wheel so that the bend is at the top. Let's say the rim is bent outward to the right. In order to bring the rim back in true, you tighten the spokes on the left side of the rim at the location of the bend and may need to loosen the spokes on the right side. By "side," I mean where the nipple is situated on the rim. By tightening on the left side, you are "pulling" the rim back in that direction. Loosening relieves pulling pressure on the opposite side.

You must be careful and conservative with this process. Make adjustments in 1/8 or 1/4 turns at a time. You can quickly make the rim worse by tightening or loosening too much. Then its a downward spiral from there. So be patient and finely tune them one small adjustment at a time.

You also want to make sure that spokes aren't too loose or too tight once you've started adjusting them. Sometimes a wheel just isn't salvageable. There's only so far you can adjust spokes before you loosen them to the point they won't provide strength and support to the rim; too tight and they will break under pressure.

Good luck!

Answer 2

It really takes practice. I don't know how else to explain, but if you loosen spokes too much or tighten others too much you will not only make the problem worse you could also take the wheel out of round.

I suggest taking the wheel to a shop and asking to watch the process.

Answer 3

Squeeze two spokes (from the same side of the hub) with your thumb and forefinger, watch what happens to the rim when you do this, the rim moves to one side. This squeezing pressure your putting on the spokes is the same as when you tighten those spokes.

Read the article on the link, it tells you how to true/straighten a wheel:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto...