13. How To True a Wheel
Aspects of wheel truing covered include radial, lateral, centering (or dishing) and spoke tension.
IMPORTANT: Nuts and bolts on your bike should always be tightened to the manufacturer's specifications.
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Wheel truing is a delicate procedure that requires time and patience. In this tutorial I’ll try and demonstrate the many aspects as clearly as possible. Ideally you’ll want to have a wheel truing stand, good lighting and a comfortable workspace.
Wheel Truing Tips
If you don’t have a truing stand, lateral, or side to side adjustments can be done using your brake pads as a guide. If truing the wheel on your bike, be sure to deflate the tire before you begin. For radial, or up and down adjustments, you can use an L-square as a guide by attaching it to your fork or frame.
It is very important to use the correct size spoke wrench to avoid stripping the spoke nipples.
Before you begin, carefully inspect your wheel for any bent or broken spokes. Make sure your hub bearings don’t have any play and then carefully squeeze a drop of light oil into all of your spoke holes.
Spoke nipples have a regular right-hand thread, but that while you’re truing a wheel, you will be looking at the nipple upside-down, so you have to turn the spoke wrench clockwise to loosen and counter-clockwise to tighten.
Make sure the spoke doesn’t turn with the nipple, which will cause it to twist and break. If it does turn, apply some light oil to the nipple threads and try again.
If a spoke does break while you’re truing, it’ll shoot out the spoke hole with great force, so be careful not to place your face in line with the rim. Safety glasses are highly recommended.
Radial (Vertical) Adjustments
To check radial alignment, place the guide near the highest point on the outer edge of your rim. Find the high spots in your rim by spinning the wheel and correct them by tightening both left and right side spokes evenly. Correct any low spots by equally loosening the spokes in the effected area.
Tighten or loosen spokes in 1/4 turn increments. For example, if the effected area spans the length of four spokes, tighten all four spokes 1/4 turn, and then tighten the middle two spokes another 1/4 turn. Then re-check the radial alignment and repeat the process as needed.
Lateral (Side to Side) Adjustments
To check lateral adjustment, place the guide close to the rim sidewall and look for high spots on either side. To correct a left or right high spot, tighten the spoke that leads to the opposing hub flange and equally loosen the spoke that leads to the hub flange on the same side as the high spot.
Just like radial adjustments, tighten or loosen the spokes in 1/4 increments. Again if the effected area spans four spokes, loosen and tighten all four spokes 1/4 turn, and then loosen and tighten the middle two spokes another 1/4 turn.
Re-check the lateral alignment and re-adjust as needed. Remember that on the rear wheel, the right side spokes have a lesser angle and effect lateral movement less than the left. The left side spokes have greater angle and effect radial alignment less than right. To compensate for this difference, the right side spokes should be adjusted two turns for every turn on left.
Centering (Dishing)
Rims should be exactly centered between the axle nuts. To check this you can use either a dishing tool, or your frame to check the measurement on each side.
If the rim is off-center, pull it in either direction by equally tightening all of the spokes on one side 1/4 turn, and loosening all of the spokes on the other. Then check the alignment again and repeat the process until the rim is centered.
Spoke Tension
To check spoke tension, pluck each spoke in the middle and listen to the sound. On the front wheel, all of the spokes should sound the same on both sides. On the rear wheel, each side should sound slightly different, but the spokes on each side should sound the same as each other.
Most people don’t have a spoke tensiometer, so it’s a good idea to compare the sound of your spokes to the sound of a wheel that you already know has proper tension. Remember that spoke changes effect the whole wheel, so you might have to repeat these steps several times before it is true.
Stress-Relieving Spokes
After the wheel is true you should always pre-stress the spokes and re-adjust before riding. Failure to do this could cause broken spokes later. There are two ways to do this. The first way is to squeeze together the parellel spokes on both sides of the wheel. The second method involves resting the wheel sideways on the floor and gently pushing down on both sides of the rim, all the way around the wheel in 1/8 increments.
After pre-stressing the spokes you will usually have to re-check and make some minor adjustments. If after stressing the wheel you notice that your rim is severly warped, it means that your spoke tension is too high. Loosen all of the spokes 1/2 turn and re-true the wheel.
Recommended Books:
- Zinn & MTB
Mountain Bikes: Maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting. - Zinn & Road
Road Bikes: Maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting. - Sutherland's Manual
Sutherland's handbook for bicycle mechanics on CD-ROM. - Park Blue Book
Hundreds of photos and hundreds of procedures.
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28 Responses to “How To True a Wheel”
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and oh, if you have a maintenance/repair question, please ask in the help forums.
Recommended Tools:
- Park Spoke Wrench
Precision-sized spoke wrenches, hardened and nickel plated. - Triple Spoke Wrench
The SW-7 fits the three most popular spoke nipple sizes. - Park SBC-1
Ideal for sizing spokes, ball bearings and crank cotters. - Spoke Tension Meter
Measures the absolute tension of each of the spokes in a wheel. - Park TS-8
The TS-8 allows accurate wheel truing at an economical price. - Park TS-2.2
The world's most popular wheel truing stand.
Hi,
I just want to say this information you are giving is excellent being a keen mounting biker my self one this that has me puzzled is how would you use the Park Tool HHP3 Home Mechanic Bearing Cup Press Cycling.
I hope you can find the time to do one on this bit of kit as it helps fix parts to your bike better.
Regards Anthony Dacko
United Kingdom.
Status of this Request
Good tutorial; clear and lucid explanation covering all the major points of wheel truing.
Nice!
This definitely takes the mystery out of truing a wheel. Another excellent tutorial!
Abraham
Very informative,
Why do you have to let the air out of the tire? Seems like leaving the tire inflated would allow you to true the wheel and compensate for any tire imperfections?
You should let the air out of the tire so that it does not risk getting punctured when you turn the spoke nipple.
Excellent tutorial. I true wheels so infrequently that every time I do it I forget little things and it becomes frustrating. Thanks much for putting this up–has been very helpful tonight. Saw this posted on rec.bicycles.rides and will definitely be coming back.
Alex, this is an invaluable tutorial. Wish I’d seen it before I did my first wheel truing last year… I trued my department store bike rear wheel so many times I can almost do it in my sleep now.
Very good tutorial. Thank you.
When adjusting for radial on the rear wheel, do you adjust the non-freewheel side twice as much as the freewheel, or does this rule only play when you are adjusting for lateral?
I am going to make sure I have uniformed tension, so I am going to buy a tension meter and tighten the spokes to manufacturer’s specs on the freewheel on the rear, but what about the non-freewheel, is there a rule of thumb on tension for that side?
Thank you for your awesome tutorials, they are much appreciated.
Hi Mike,
Yes, you should use the 2:1 ratio for both lateral and radial adjustments on the rear wheel. Keep in mind that this is only an average ratio for 7 speed bikes so it may differ depending on how many gears you have on the rear.
On the non-drive side the tension should be the same all the way around.
Nice one. I’d like to add that I prefer to remove the tyre prior to truing. I turn the bicycle upside down and place a gauge on the chainstays – usually a piece of cardboard, which has the added benefit of providing audible feedback – if it scratches more when you turn the wheel, tighten. For lateral adjustment, I retract the cardboard slightly and place another piece at a convenient angle. That is only for fine adjustment, though – i usually also take lateral into account while doing radial: if a certain spot is too high but also going to the right, I’ll tighten the left spokes only, or a bit more then the ones on the right…. You’ll be the quickest and most accurate if you don’t separate the tasks, but do everything at the same time – including dishing. I tend to measure the distance between the rim and chainstays (and anything else I can find), and place a mark on the cardboard, showing where the rim should be.
While turning the nipples, I hold the spoke with my fingers. It will inevitably turn with the spoke (I _always_ lubricate the nipples, but that doesn’t help that much), so I try to note how far it did turn with the nipple, and equalize afterwards by turning the nipple backwards to leave the spoke with as little tension as possible. Tension is usually not dangerous (unless it’s very high), it just means that your wheel will become slightly untrue again, as the spoke relieves the tension over time.
It is not always possible to adjust the tension to be exactly the same, which usually means your rim is not completely round, which in turn means that while true when unloaded, it won’t be completely true under load. This usually isn’t a big problem, unless the spokes have to be really loose to keep the wheel true. You can counter this by slightly overtensioning the whole wheel. If you feel you are overdoing the overtensioning, you need a new rim. Err on the side of caution, by no means overdo the overtensioning!
As a drummer who is still mastering the art of drum tuning, I have to say that I never thought I’d get involved in something even MORE difficult. Well, here it is: wheel truing. God knows I could pay someone to do it, but I just have to believe I can do everything myself! Thanks for the very clear tutorial. Actually getting it right is a whole other matter!
I have an issue with lateral adjustment. I have a high spot, so I loosen the spokes on the high side, tighten on the low side. I see some improvement, but it’s never enough, and it comes to the point where the high side spokes are very loose, and the opposite very tight. Help?
Wheel truing is certainly frustrating… I’m trying to picture what is happening on your wheel. If you have a high-spot you should only be adjusting to spokes on that side of the wheel. From your question it sounds like you might be adjusting spokes on both ends of the wheel?
Forgive me, “High” spot is a bad use of words. I mean to say a spot that sticks out to one side. Lateral adjustment. It sticks out to the non-drive side.
Oops, I missed the word ‘lateral’, sorry about that. What you are doing is correct, so you may have some issues with wheel tension. Is it a steel or aluminum rim? Is the rim warped or damage in any way? That can sometimes create the problem you’re having. In that case, get it as straight as you can and ride it out as long as possible.
How much would it usually take for you to have your wheel trued at a bike shop? I have an idea how much it costs in our country and I’d like to know how much in yours.
If it’s just a regular truing job, it will probably take them about half an hour and cost about $20.
wow, its expensive if we convert $20 in our currency. Is it $20 for both wheels or $20 each? In our country its equivalent to around $1-2 per wheel if you want to have your wheels trued in a bike shop.
Professional shop rates are usually about $40/hour here, so if it takes half an hour to true a wheel it’s roughly $20 for the job. The prices may fluctuate, and some shops have flat rates as well.
Our club is starting to build wheels using 100mm rims. We have fabbed a truing stand to start with, but may want to upgrade later. I noticed that you use a Park TS-2 any chance it would accomodate a build as large as we are attempting?
I had to adjust the brakes and wheels on my little one’s bike and thanks to your tutorials it was really simple!
Thank you so much for such a professionally produced tutorial. I don’t think there is such a great help for biking enthusiasts anywhere on the internet
I meant anywhere ELSE on the internet. Thank you guys!
When some body else provides maintenance to my bicycle, no matter how professional he/she could be, I don’t feel comfortable to use my bicycle; Therefor the only way which makes me feel contented, and reliable of using my bike is to repair and provide maintenance myself.
For the first time in my life I myself try to experience some detailed work on my bicycle, such as dismantling the bearing, which help me to discover completely broken one of the front wheel bearing. Totally unaware that I was using my bike in that condition for several weeks, and having great deal of difficulty for pedalling it etc…
Thank you very-very much for helping me to learn about “Notch free wheel mover” “Cassette free hub” “A thread-on free wheel-type” etc… I spent great deal of “hard breaking” time and energy for NOT having any idea of the things mentioned above…
In the future, it could be necessary to replace the cup of the bearings; Right now that’s what I am trying to figure out. I appreciate very much if you give me some ideas… Thanks!
Sincerely, Art Demirjian
As a life-long musician, I can piggyback off of the comments of the Drum-Tuner above. I’ve tried the “plucking” method of adjusting spokes, and, yup.. it does work. There will always be a need for adjustments based on physical characteristics (truing stand, etc.), but, using the sound of the spokes gets me very close to a true wheel, with only minor adjustments being necessary after the wheel is “in tune”! Cool stuff.
Awesome videos! I was looking for instruction on truing wheels and your video is just the ticket. A co-worker used to run a bike shop and luckily still kept a lot of the tools and stands. He let me borrow a truing stand so I will be attempting to true my wheels.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with others.
John Steele
Great stuff. Thanks so much.
Thanks! Good video, clear explanations. I’ve been riding recreationally for a long time, never learned to repair anything.
The bike is now becoming my preferred mode of transportation, as it’s easy(relatively speaking) to fix, gets and keeps me in shape, costs nearly nothing, is environmentally friendly and on and on… Thus, I’m learning to fix it myself.
Had a couple spokes break lately, so I’ve learned a new art. You might laugh if I told you how long I spent truing the rim but if I’d found this website first, would have been a lot less. Obviously it’s a learned art.
I learned a lot here.
Thanks. My bike is back on the road.
Shane
As noted, an excellent video. Now that I have some free time I have started doing my own repairs in a bike collective call the “Bike Church” where they provide tools and stands and lots of used parts as well as volunteer mechanics. There are lots of donated bikes that get fixed up by participants and it is a very cool community.
Thanks a lot.
Rita