Wheel Trueing

Eddie is trying to true his wheels, but he is having problems and needs advice and help. There are a few suggestions we have passed on and one very important one and that it to not attempt it if you don’t know what to do, or get some practice in.

Question:
I’m trying to true my wheels and need any kind of help/advice/suggestions?

Hi Eddie,

My best advice to you if you don’t know what you are doing would be to take the wheel to a bike shop and get a wheel specialist to do the job. If you have never trued a wheel before and don’t know what you are doing it could all end in tears and maybe a new wheel as you could make a real mess of the rim.

If you are still keen to true your own wheels then you need to practice, so get your hands on an old wheel to learn with. You can work on the wheels in the bike with it up-side down, but a trueing jig is much easier to use, you will also need a dishing tool to check that the rim is in the middle of the axle and a nipple key to tighten or loosen the tension on the spokes.

With the wheel in the jig spin the wheel, if the rim goes out of line to the left you need to loosen the spokes on the left and tighten on the right and the other way if it is out of line to the right. If the rim is out of line out the way you need to tighten both spokes left and right to pull it in. If there is a flat spot where the rim dips in towards the hub then this is very difficult to sort as you can not push the rim out with the spokes. There are some tools to push the rim back out, but these tended not to work well and if there is a flat spot on the rim it should be replaced.

Practice on an old wheel until you know what you are doing, don’t mess about with your best wheels as you could ruin them quite easily. Make all adjustment by small amounts at a time, if you tighten or loosen the nipples by many turns this will pull the rim out of shape will probably need replacing. Remember if in doubt take the wheel to the bike shop for a professional job.