Sunlova wheel needs truing - question

[John L]

Hi guys

Some of the spokes on the wheel that came with the kit are a bit loose. I also notice that the wheel "crackles" a bit when I start to pedal -it seems to settle down after a while. Also I'm finding it very hard to set the brakes pads (apart from the issue of the brake levers) in the right position as there is a slight lateral movement in the wheel - 1mm to 2mm.

I'm tempted to take out my spoke wrench to see if I can tighten up the spokes and sort out the alignment. What do you think? Is this something that can be done relatively easily or should I forget it and bring it to a bicycle shop?

If it is something that can be done have you any good tips?

Should I slacken off all spokes first or work from whats there now. I'm a little nervous of over tightening the spokes so my inclination is to slacken off the spokes first - but then I might never get it back into a usable form

Any advice would be appreciated.

John

 

[Vikki]

Youtube has several videos about wheel building and the like. If you feel confident enough go and take a look and see what is involved. See what is involved anyway even if you don't feel confident since you may feel confident enough to give it a go after viewing.

I rebuilt a wheel after watching videos on how to do it. It took me two goes and bags of patience and careful spoke tweaking but I managed it and had a good wheel afterwards.

Vikki.

 

[eddieo]

Have you a decent LBS? it is not an expensive job......

 

[John L]

Youtube has several videos about wheel building and the like. If you feel confident enough go and take a look and see what is involved. See what is involved anyway even if you don't feel confident since you may feel confident enough to give it a go after viewing.

I rebuilt a wheel after watching videos on how to do it. It took me two goes and bags of patience and careful spoke tweaking but I managed it and had a good wheel afterwards.

Vikki.

Hi Vikki

I normally do head for youtube but it didn't cross my mind this time! I'll check out some of the videos.

Its great to hear that you managed to rebuild a wheel with the help of the videos. Its one of those skills that seem magical!

I read on pedelecforum.de (google translate ) that the DX3000 wheel that comes with the sunlova kit has some problems with cracked nipples and loose spokes so a rebuild might be in order at some point. I'm hoping to avoid that for the moment but I still need to work out what I'm doing when I tighten or loosen spokes. I'm sure I'll pick something up from youtube

John

 

[John L]

Have you a decent LBS? it is not an expensive job......

Hi eddieo - a decent LBS??? It took me a while to work it out! - thought it was some special tool

Yeah there is a decent shop nearby and if I find my tweaking is making things much worse or not improving the wheel I'll trot along to it.

Cheers

John

 

[Fordulike]

Definitely give it a go yourself before going to a LBS.
My front wheel started creaking a few weeks ago. Plenty of loose spokes and the wheel was out of true (is that the correct saying???)
Once i had studied the concept of how the spokes relate to the rim then i gave it a go.
I tweaked the nipples very small amounts and eventually the spokes were tight and the slight wobble had gone.
The biggest tip for me was to understand that you don't just adjust the nipples directly at the point where it is out of true, but also 2 or 3 spokes to the left and right of that point.
Hope that makes sense to you

 

[John L]

Definitely give it a go yourself before going to a LBS.
My front wheel started creaking a few weeks ago. Plenty of loose spokes and the wheel was out of true (is that the correct saying???)
Once i had studied the concept of how the spokes relate to the rim then i gave it a go.
I tweaked the nipples very small amounts and eventually the spokes were tight and the slight wobble had gone.
The biggest tip for me was to understand that you don't just adjust the nipples directly at the point where it is out of true, but also 2 or 3 spokes to the left and right of that point.
Hope that makes sense to you

After having a look on youtube - particularly "how to true your wheel while still on your bike" what you did makes total sense. And I'm glad to report that the wheel is no longer crackling and the brakes are clearing

Unfortunately the brake lever is close to bottoming out - I think I need to replace the actual lever with a proper v brake lever. But thats another days work.

Thanks guys.

John