How do you true wheels with bladed spokes?

I'm not even going to attempt it myself, but I've put a buckle in my rear Mavic Ksyrium wheel and can't get me head around how my LBS is going to tighten / loosen the appropriate spokes, whilst at the same time keep the flat sides of the spokes facing the right way.

Of course, I could be being a bit thick… but can anyone explain please?

ta.

you have a mavic spoke tool to hold the blade of the spoke straight as you "work with the nipples" as it were

you should have got the mavic tool with your wheels

matt

You can get various little tools, like this Shimano Flat Blade Spoke tool-

http://www.jensonusa.com/product/tl/TL401F27CHR.jpg

These hold the spoke straight while you turn the spoke key normally. I find the Sapim tool to be rubbish and the Bontrager keyring one excellent.

aha – so that's what it's for! I'll go ferret in the garage.

I'm still not tempted to do it myself – it's just that I was at a framebuilder's a couple of months back who was extolling (sp?) the virtues of 'handbuilt wheels with normal spokes' – as opposed to those fancy dan factory ones – and that you stood a fighting chance of truing them instead of binning the factory ones. I thought it a little extreme at the time… 😕

They tend to be fine. I like bladed spokes (purely because they look cool), although it does make truing a £1500 pair of Zipp wheels even more unnerving…

make sure you don't strip the nipple, or break the spoke. I just paid 8 quid for a spoke and then 1.50 for a nipple.

Rip

off