True Wheelset

[Balooba]

Hi all

 

Cannot find a related topic to my question. My MTB back wheel is slightly out of kilter. Rubs slightly against my thumb when I spin the wheel.

 

How important is it to have your wheel run true???

 

Cheers

[David Marshall]

Your wheels must be absolutely true - and tension must be right - and dishing perfect! Without this I can't make a living.

 

In reality if you have disc brakes you can ride a wonky wheel as long as the tire does not hit the frame.  The bloke behind you may have a fit but you are unlikely to feel it.  That said it is best to know why the wheel is out.  If you put the bike in a stand (or upside down) and attach a cable tie to one seat stay at the same level as the rim and then cut it so that it touches the the rim but at a slight angle to the seat stay - so that you can adjust it by turning it on the stay.  With it just missing the rim spin the wheel and see where the rim bends the cable tie or leaves a larger gap.  Check for rim damage where this occurs.  If the rim is ok pluck the spokes guitar style on the side with a gap to see if any are loose.  If the tie is bent pluck the opposite side.  You can then true the wheel by tightening any loose spokes.

 

If the rim is bent you will find that spokes on the side with a gap are tighter than  those adjacent and on the opposite side they are looser.  You can still true the rim to some extent but it will not stay true for long.

 

As a rule spokes will loosen with riding so when truing tighten rather than loosen.  Also little by little otherwise you will pull the wheel out of round.

[LuckyLuke]

nice write up David, I have a new mk3 crest on a powertap at the back and it does not stay true, ridden it like that for while with no problems. Its an pain in the arse to strip and send a wheel in for truiing so just ride it if you dont feel the wobble. Just think of it rolling around the rocks and thorns...haha. The new crests mk3 rims are absolute shite, I have the second one cracking at the spoke holes on drive side though...sorry for the hijack.

[fanievb]

nice write up David, I have a new mk3 crest on a powertap at the back and it does not stay true, ridden it like that for while with no problems. Its an pain in the arse to strip and send a wheel in for truiing so just ride it if you dont feel the wobble. Just think of it rolling around the rocks and thorns...haha. The new crests mk3 rims are absolute shite, I have the second one cracking at the spoke holes on drive side though...sorry for the hijack.

 

sounds to me like whoever is building your wheels is not doing properly (or you are to heavy for the crest rims, 86kg max iirc)

[Quagga]

sounds to me like whoever is building your wheels is not doing properly (or you are to heavy for the crest rims, 86kg max iirc)

There has been a bad batch, Crest and Arch. They ALL crack around spokes on the rear wheel DRIVE side only. Nothing to do with building it. Google it, lots of reports. :-)

[droo]

nice write up David, I have a new mk3 crest on a powertap at the back and it does not stay true, ridden it like that for while with no problems. Its an pain in the arse to strip and send a wheel in for truiing so just ride it if you dont feel the wobble. Just think of it rolling around the rocks and thorns...haha. The new crests mk3 rims are absolute shite, I have the second one cracking at the spoke holes on drive side though...sorry for the hijack.

 

If it doesn't stay true, either it wasn't built properly or you're too heavy. Crests are light, but will bend if you look at them funny. Get Arch next time.

[Quagga]

If it doesn't stay true, either it wasn't built properly or you're too heavy. Crests are light, but will bend if you look at them funny. Get Arch next time.

I have the Arch and same problem. Cracking on drive side.

[LuckyLuke]

Thanks guys, was thinking dt swiss or carbon, I am on the edge weight wise at 83kg, the first crest was build by powertap themselves, my brother who is 78kg was using it for the first 3 months and that crest was binned, looked like the tension on spokes was too high, the spokes were pulling through the rim. Chucked on a new crest and it was my turn to abuse, lasted 6 months and same story. I don't think the centre part where the spoke holes are, are thick and strong enough. I have a first set of crests mk1 that still run true and lasted about 5-6 years. Maybe DT swiss with their asymmetrical rims would be stronger than the flat stans rim type with little weight penalty....dt swiss xr331 - 361 - 391. however they dont import them they are still bit cheaper\competitive than stans if you buy them from overseas......question, if you rebuild from crests to a asymmetrical rim do you need longer\shorter spokes on the one side....?

[droo]

I have the Arch and same problem. Cracking on drive side.

 

They've apparently fixed the issue with the newer batches. But we'll see, got a few out in the wild so will find out soon enough...