Took my newly built (by me) wheels out for a spin around Coed Y B the other day (Hope tech Enduro on pro 2) and annoyingly the rear lost some tension.

I tweaked it all up again on the trail and it seemed fine after that but, my question is, would you now go back to square one effectively?
Would you remove the tubeless tyre with gunk and stick it in the stand again or can it be done ok without having to lose the tyre etc?

As for why it came loose, I don’t know. Spokes all seemed even in ping and a good tension. Not had this happen on my previous builds.

So, back to square recommended or in frame tweak?

Can probably tweak in the frame, but 99% of the time the reason that spokes loosen up is they weren’t tight enough to start with. So I’d tighten them all up, then go an extra turn above what you had at least.

did you destress the spokes while building ?

are they ded thick heavy-duty spokes, rather than butted ? (I may have invented this as a problem)

if it’s now straight and the tensions are even again, I’d just destress and tension up to give it another chance (or loosen each one a turn or two and add in some nipple-lock (or whatever it’s really called) one at a time)

IANAprowheelbuilder

Yeah, they’re not double butted I don’t think.
I destress them quite often when building but it’s difficult to know how taught is taught enough when you have no gauge or comparison except memory.
I’ll try doing it in the frame and maybe get a higher initial tension.
The front one is spot on.

You’ll be able to tell if the spokes are DB just by looking at the ends of them; you can see the butting.

Spokes can lose tension when you fit a tyre and inflate it.

I would definitely remove the tyre, tubeless tyres squeeze the rim pretty hard

Sounds to me like they weren’t tight enough. I’d leave the tyre on, put it back in the sand, tighten them all up a little, check to make sure it’s still true 🙂

Odd ones lost tension or an even loss across the who wheel?

If it’s odd ones, tension wasn’t as even as you thought, whole wheel, it wasn’t as tight as you thought.

As mentioned above, tension is lost when a tyre is fitted and inflated and probably more than you think.

Last wheel I build has to be over 150kgf on the drive side naked to keep 80kgf on the disc side dressed.

It lost tension all over but more so in some than others if that makes sense.
Hmmm, maybe my ping-ometer needs calibrating…

agree with not tight enough, but CYB on a newly built set of wheels is a stern test.

Uneven tension is also a key player in wheels that seemingly lose tension when ridden

As is cheap shit spokes.

But most people who don’t build regular build to slack.

If it were me (and it was – this happened on my first wheel build), I’d have the wheel out, slacken all the spokes off, then do them up with a nipple driver so I know they’re all starting from the same place, then re-tension a bit tighter this time. Possibly overkill, but if a lot of spokes have loosened you could spend a lot of time mucking around trying to get it back to where it was.

A spoke tension gauge would be a wise investment in this case. It’ll let you track the tension and overall balance around the wheel. This does sound like a case of tension being too low or uneven to start with, very easily done if you’re not building regularly.

I’d wind off the whole lot and start afresh with a gauge. Build up the wheel properly (follow roger mussons guide) rather than correct a known build with faults.

I’m doing it the Roger way. Heard pros and cons to tension gauges but felt that the ping test works fairly well usually.
I’ll have to whip the tyre off and start again then.

CYB on a newly built set of wheels is a stern test

You’re not wrong 😀

+1 on uneven or too little spoke tension. I can get within 5% without a tension meter, but nice to get them more even, particularly with carbon rims.

Always use a tension gauge and always wind them on/off half a turn a couple of times as part of a final destress. More often than not you end up with a torsion load on the spokes that unwinds them if you don’t.

I don’t understand this

but nice to get them more even, particularly with carbon rims.

And it’s not my experience (which for wheel builds, isn’t massive). Please can you elaborate?

IME, the carbon rims I’ve built are so laterally stiff they hold their shape better, despite uneven spoke tensions.

Uneven tension . ESP if rim is rigid.

You add stress of riding to the spokes uneven tension and rim may just let go into a taco.

It would have to be very badly tensioned but the rim masks the bad tension more than a light alloy rim so less likely to get it badly wrong.

sq225917 – Member
Always use a tension gauge

So who uses a gauge and who doesn’t?
Roger Musson doesn’t seem to suggest it as a requirement and up until now I’ve built a few using tone and only had one go loose now.

Are they a much better route to consistency? Do they give you a reliable idea just how tight you should go or is that really just still experience?

There’s the Park one obviously but I’m usually trying to penny pinch so what about the cheaper ones? Wiggle have one about half the price of the Park.

I have and use the cheaper Park one which I bought secondhand.

It’s not essential really but does make life easier and quicker.

I had a freshly built wheel detension after several days in the Basque. What I did with it was to tighten the loose spokes then ping and very roughly true. I actually never needed to touch that wheel again. Taking it apart and starting again is probably the right advice though – but if going that far tbh I’d probably revisit the spoke calcs too – might be worth a second look at the rounding assumptions made.

I use the park one. It might not be perfect, but it’s affordable compared to the others and better than my non musical ear.

The absolute numbers might not be ideal but relative tensions seem okay. Of course, it doesn’t allow for manufacturing tolerance on the spoke diameter but then again, nether does pinging them!

I use the park one. I’m also useless at telling the difference in tone, so using the plucking/tone method is unreliable for me. A gauge has its issues, but it’s pretty consistently accurate if used in the same way each time.

The other issue is that without a lot of experience, how do you know what tone you’re aiming for? You could have a nice consistent tone all around the wheel, but the overall tension could be too high or too low. At least with a gauge, even a cheap one, you’ know you’re in the right area of tension.

I gave in and bought a park one for carbon and Stan’s rims.

I’m from the old school I was taught by the old guard and build a tight wheel.

You can’t do that with Stan’s due to lack of eyelets and soft alloy but I find if you don’t take them to their rated max they come loose under normal riding how ever even with experience I found it hard to stop my self just adding a bit more and a bit more because of what my normal wheels are built like.

Me and eastons/Reynolds like a tight tensioned wheel 🙂