I recently had a spoke nipple snap at the base and consequently had a fairly wobbly wheel. I’ve since replaced the nipple and trued the wheel by tightening the spokes on the side opposite the buckle. The wheel spins true but the spoke tension is certainly not even. Some are really quite tight and others are the complete opposite. This being the case I imagine the wheel won’t stay true for long when I start riding it.

If I just nip up the loose spokes will that be sufficient to fix it or do I need to take a more considered approach and adjust everything to exactly even tension somehow? Thanks for the help!

i’m not a professional cycle engineer but what I would do iiwy is tighten the loose ones so that they’re just tight. Then ride it and see what happens. If it goes out of true take it to the lbs, my lbs charges £12 for a true up and will replace any spokes for pennies, yours might be similar and would likely make a better job of it than you. 😉

Yeah that’s what I was thinking of doing. Going to give it a test tomorrow so will see what happens. I’d definitely like to get good at it and the basic principles appear to be straightforward but I just can’t find the time to sit down and make a proper job of it.

Front or rear?

depends where on the wheels your loose spokes are, and when you say loose, what are talking, not as tight as others, or so loose you could strum them..?

It’s the front wheel. The ones that I’ve tightened are really quite tight I think. I wouldn’t want to tighten them any further for fear of breaking something. The loose ones are only comparatively loose really rather than seeming generally too loose if that makes sense.

I’ve got a wheel truing jig and spoke tension meter if you want to pop over with the wheel sometime?

You should have been able to get it back by tightening only the replacement, no harm in playing around with it, just do so a little at a time.

I might do that thanks househusband. I’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Have got a trip to Fort William planned in a couple of weeks and have visions of my front wheel exploding halfway down the dh 🙁