I take it as a fundamental principle, without proof or derivation, that a perfectly straight rim can be held perfectly straight with even spoke tension. The corollary to that is that a warped rim will absolutely require uneven spoke tension to hold it straight. That's the way the world works, in my view.
So, if you build a brand new wheel with a very good rim, you can likely end up with very even spoke tension. If you take that wheel to the Arizona dessert and have a little too much fun and knock it way out of true, it very likely will require uneven spoke tension to hold it straight again. If it's straight and the tightest spokes aren't much too tight, then you're done. Ride it. Nothing is likely to blow up on you. Keep a spoke wrench in your seat bag and continue to have a little too much fun. Someday you'll buy a new rim and build a new wheel. That's it! Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 9:08:17 AM UTC-8 John Rinker wrote: > Thank you Michael and Garth. > > Michael, I have followed your suggestions and the tension values on the > wheel look much better (I'd prefer a little higher tension on the non-drive > side- say, the upper 60s) but at least there's consistency. The problem now > is that the wheel is no longer true. I'm going to play with this a bit more > today. > > New values with 15% variance: > [image: Screen Shot 2025-01-30 at 9.00.29 AM.png] > Garth, The rim was new in 2019 and has seen a lot of rough miles. This > is, however, the first time I've had to play with it (re-true) since > building it then. Seems a short life for such a rim if, in fact, the rim is > the issue. > > The following was taken from Aljaz Trenta's 'Spoke Calc' website > <https://spokecalc.io/spoke-tension-you-say.php>: > > Advice: would you sacrifice an even spoke tension for a perfectly true > wheel? In my opinion that is not a compromise to be taken. If not pleased > with the wheel trueness, I would rather advise a client to dump the rim and > replace it with a new one. > > Thank you both for weighing in. I'll update you on my progress. > > Cheers, John > > On Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 4:16:09 AM UTC-8 Garth wrote: > >> >> John, Seeing the values have changed so drastically I would be inclined >> to look at the rim itself also. >> Let's day, if you built an assumably perfectly manufactured rim with that >> variety of tension it wouldn't be straight laterally or radially. That it >> *is* now straight with that wildly varying tension, points to the rim. >> >> >> On Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at 9:27:51 PM UTC-5 Michael Connors wrote: >> >>> The drive side looks ok. You could probably loosen the high one 1/4 >>> turn. The low tension spokes on the left are next to high tension spokes >>> so try loosening spokes above 14 by 1/2 turn and then tightening the single >>> digit ones to even things out. >>> >>> On Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at 6:26:27 PM UTC-6 John Rinker wrote: >>> >>>> Good afternoon, >>>> >>>> I'm working with a rear wheel I built in 2019. M15 hub, 2.0/1.8 steel, >>>> round spokes, 9-speed cassette, and a 700c Dyad rim. After a little too >>>> much fun in the Arizona desert, the wheel was in need of a little truing. >>>> In the process, some of the drive-side (right) spokes were too tight. >>>> Velocity recommends 110-130Kgf for their rims and I was well above >>>> (131-168Kgf or 23-25 on my Park TM-1). I backed off 2 turns on all spokes >>>> and began truing from there. >>>> >>>> The wheel is now laterally and radially true, and the dish is spot on. >>>> But the spoke tensions are all over the place. Below are Park Tension App >>>> values: with a variance of 20%. >>>> [image: Screen Shot 2025-01-29 at 4.01.10 PM.png] >>>> >>>> When I built this wheel I worked with a variance of 15% and it came out >>>> beautifully. Here are those values from 2023: >>>> [image: Screen Shot 2025-01-29 at 4.17.16 PM.png] >>>> >>>> I'm looking for advice on how I might proceed. Should I de-tension the >>>> wheel completely and start from scratch? Might there be an issue with the >>>> rim? >>>> >>>> I'll certainly allow for my intermediate (at best) wheel-building >>>> skills and I know I have much to learn, but I've built a fair number of >>>> wheels and most are still riding true. >>>> >>>> Anyway, thanks for reading and any thoughts you might have. >>>> >>>> Cheers, John >>>> >>>> >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/bbea7ee2-27a4-4001-b140-668e8641330an%40googlegroups.com.
