Dishing a wheel

[Eugene]

In principle, dishing a wheel sounds quite easy, but how difficult is in in practise?

If I tighten/loosen each spoke half a turn, will it have the desired effect or will it destroy the trueness of the wheel? 

 

I want to try it myself before it gets sent off to a professional. 

[NotSoBigBen]

I've done it a few times myself and it does work but in my experience ...

Make sure you are careful where you start, do not get distracted and ever lose where you are on the rim at any time ... I speak from experience

Also because you are meticulous about the half a turn at each spoke doesn't mean the wheel will be 100% true after ... I have had that a wheel was very slightly out after the exercise, not sure if it has something to do with the tension or something. That was the exception for me though

Hope that helps

[Captain Random]

Parktool has some great videos on YouTube.

Just bare in mind how many mm it need to move. 

If eg. You're converting a rear wheel from non-boost to boost there is a chance that you may need longer spokes. 

And also don't over tension your drive side spokes. Can lead to cracked rims. 

[Eugene]

Thanks..... I'm still 2minded if I should give it a try. 

I suppose if it doesn't work I'll have to cough up a few hundred bucks for someone to fix my mistakes. 

If I take it to a bike shop, I'll have to cough up a few hundred bucks anyway. But, I don't want a cracked rim

[droo]

On 10/5/2024 at 9:35 AM, Eugene said:

In principle, dishing a wheel sounds quite easy, but how difficult is in in practise?

If I tighten/loosen each spoke half a turn, will it have the desired effect or will it destroy the trueness of the wheel? 

 

I want to try it myself before it gets sent off to a professional. 

Depends. If the spoke tension is even all the way around, you should be fine.

If you don't have a truing stand, a zip tie round the seatstay will give you a decent idea of how true the wheel is when you're done.

And as you say if you get it wrong there's always the LBS as a backup. As long as you don't over tension any of the spokes it's reasonably difficult to break it properly.

And a last point - take the tyre off before you start.