I've followed t'internet instructions and 1/4 turn by 1/4 turn loosened off one side and tightened the other to bring my new second hand road wheel wheel to the centre of the frame. So, now that I've finished with a nicely centred wheel:
a) All the non drive spokes seem looser than the drive side
b) Doing the "ping" test confirms a) although the spokes on each side sound consistently like its neighbor
c) I rode the bike up & down the garden path and recieved a few "pings" just like when you first ride new wheels
Bearing in mind the above, is all safe? Will it explode? Is their anything else I should do/check?
always a worry after messing with a wheel but I haven't had a self built wheel fail yet...
Rear wheel is dished, so drive side spokes will be under more tension.
[url= http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html ]http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html[/url]
[url= http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html ]http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html[/url]
Death is still a certainty, however. 😐
Thanks for the links, it seems I just have to have faith in myself.
Ignore that, your wheel will explode so violently that a black hole will be created which will consume the entire planet.
I'd be more worried about the quality of the original build myself. I suspect it was shit!
It's inevitable that spokes on one side will have slightly different tension to the other, but if they're all close to the same tone on a side that's great. The pings aren't a great sign though.That's twisted spokes untwisting; unlikely to come apart but I'd definitely recheck it for trueness. Use tape flags and de-stress the wheel, as shown halfway down this post:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1467270
The Musson book is a really great guide, building wheels isn't that much harder than truing them:
http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php
Something else to do/check is to recheck it is true. The tings are release of tension built up where the spokes cross each other, so it could be slightly undoing something you think is done, if you see what I mean!
I was using the brake blokes as a guide to "true". After I'd ridden it about it was still true - although appreciate that 20ft of garden path isnt enough to put it under much more pressure than carrying my weight.
A couple of the drivenside spokes were very tight to the point I got nervous of tightening them, as it turns out luckily I didnt need to.
I'm going for an hours spin tomorrow hoping not up be stranded...
Take a spoke key 🙂
I intend to, it's more like I look down and there's none there I'm worried about.