Correct Spoke Tension?
Ivo Motycka in the Czech Republic and he has a very interesting question about the correct spoke tension on his Roval Fusee wheels. This is the same for all wheels and is not an easy answer, read on:
Question:
Hi,
I need to know the tenseness for a new spokes Roval Fusee Star E5 (front and rear).
Thank you very much.
Hi Ivo,
The best answer I can give you is “the correct tension” let me explain why:
If you buy a pair of cheap factory machine built wheels normally they need to be trued after you buy them, this is because the machine puts the same tension on all the spokes. This method gives you a fairly round and a fairly straight wheel, but it’s not a great wheel and will need looking at after a few rides.
Now the case with a hand-made set of wheels is that the wheel builder feels the tension on each spoke and looks at the shape of the rim as he is truing the wheel, each spoke is probably at a slightly different tension. This you could say is an art, its learnt over many years of wheel building and you can find that wheels built by different people eel and ride differently because they have been built with a high tension or with a softer feel with less tension, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
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A tight wheel feels responsive when climbing, cornering and sprinting, but if you break a spoke the wheel will be unrideable, leaving you at the side of the road and also the rim will be under greater pressures which could pull it out of shape easily if it is a soft rim.
A softer (less tension) built wheel will feel softer, which is great on bad roads, but it will not feel like it has a crisp performance, a little bit sluggish. You do find with a wheel with less tension that it keeps its shape better even with a broken spoke and this could get you home.
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Complete wheel sets like the Roval, Mavic, Fulcrum, Campagnolo, Shimano etc. are probably manufactured by someone at a machine lacing the spokes and them being tensioned to the same stress, then there will be a technician checking each wheel for roundness, side to side and centrality of the rim to the hub and putting more or less tension on certain spokes until the wheels are perfect and will pass a quality control.
So, the answer to your question is that unless you know what you are doing then leave wheel building to the experts or learn how to do it by practicing on some cheap and unimportant wheels, this could take you a few years to learn!
TOP TIP: Don’t mess with your spokes if you don’t know what you are doing!
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Question:
Hi,
I need to know the tenseness for a new spokes Roval Fusee Star E5 (front and rear).
Thank you very much.
Hi Ivo,
The best answer I can give you is “the correct tension” let me explain why:
If you buy a pair of cheap factory machine built wheels normally they need to be trued after you buy them, this is because the machine puts the same tension on all the spokes. This method gives you a fairly round and a fairly straight wheel, but it’s not a great wheel and will need looking at after a few rides.
Now the case with a hand-made set of wheels is that the wheel builder feels the tension on each spoke and looks at the shape of the rim as he is truing the wheel, each spoke is probably at a slightly different tension. This you could say is an art, its learnt over many years of wheel building and you can find that wheels built by different people eel and ride differently because they have been built with a high tension or with a softer feel with less tension, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
 |
A tight wheel feels responsive when climbing, cornering and sprinting, but if you break a spoke the wheel will be unrideable, leaving you at the side of the road and also the rim will be under greater pressures which could pull it out of shape easily if it is a soft rim.
A softer (less tension) built wheel will feel softer, which is great on bad roads, but it will not feel like it has a crisp performance, a little bit sluggish. You do find with a wheel with less tension that it keeps its shape better even with a broken spoke and this could get you home.
 |
Complete wheel sets like the Roval, Mavic, Fulcrum, Campagnolo, Shimano etc. are probably manufactured by someone at a machine lacing the spokes and them being tensioned to the same stress, then there will be a technician checking each wheel for roundness, side to side and centrality of the rim to the hub and putting more or less tension on certain spokes until the wheels are perfect and will pass a quality control.
So, the answer to your question is that unless you know what you are doing then leave wheel building to the experts or learn how to do it by practicing on some cheap and unimportant wheels, this could take you a few years to learn!
TOP TIP: Don’t mess with your spokes if you don’t know what you are doing!
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