A Speed Wobble, Could it be the Wheels?

Rich thinks he is having wheel problems, speed wobble can be caused by other things than the wheels, but the wheels are the best place to start looking. We suggest a few other reasons for this speed wobble and hope he can get to the bottom of it?

Question:
I’m running a set of Ritchey DeepV Pro wheels on my CF Moto.
The wheels are 20/24 bladed spoke and I’m finding a definite wheel wobble at speed.
The LBS has checked the wheels for trueness and found them fine.
I’m saying the lateral stiffness I need isn’t there. I can move the outside edge of the rims almost from brake pad to brake pad. Really wrenching the Q/Rs down on the dropouts seems to erase much of the ‘play’ but this definitely doesn’t seem (or feel) right.
Anyone else had this problem?
I’m thinking the wheelsets are simply too liteweight for my size (216 lbs).

Hi Rich,

The reason you are getting a speed wobble probably isn’t totally the fault of the wheels. Maybe they are a bit lightweight for you, the best thing to do is to try a different set of wheels, borrow a set from a friend. This could prove two things, first that your wheels are too light and you need to get some that are a bit more solid.

Secondly this could prove that there is nothing wrong will your wheels and the speed wobble is coming from somewhere else. It could be the frame or the head set or it could be your weight distribution on the bike. There are a few reasons for speed wobble, but the wheels are the best place to start.

Most wheels do flex, if you watch professionals when they start a climb they tend to let the brake off a little so that the brake blocks are further apart to allow for lateral play, so that the rim doesn’t touch the brakes and slow them down. So maybe your wheels are OK?

You don’t say when you get the wobble, is it when you descend? Or just riding in a straight line? Or on fast corners?

But first borrow some wheels and see if that makes any difference? If not then you know there is some other problem. As you say, you have had your wheels checked out and they were good, so unless they are too soft then you might need to look some where else for this problem.