It is the rear wheel on a 15 speed mountain bike and it appears to be about 3/8 of an inch out of true in about 20° of arc around the wheel. I am using the amount of shift in the brake caliper to judge the amount of bend in the wheel. Yes I am trying to not spend an arm and a leg as I am limited on funds
2006-09-04 09:36:06 · 5 answers · asked by Tony S 1 in Sports ➔ Cycling
Well - ya got a couple of options that I know of. Call a local bike shop to see what they'll charge you to "true" the wheel - it may not be as costly as you think. The next more expensive thing is to purchase a new one. You could also see if the bike shop might want to trade you a used but good wheel at a discount since they could fix yours and resell that.
Unless you have knowledge of how to true a wheel, I'd be careful to do it yourself since you may throw the wheel farther out of round.
I did find this website which illustrates the method of a homespun fixit - check it out! Good luck and keep the rubber side down!
http://www.webmountainbike.com/noname1.html
2006-09-04 09:42:02 · answer #1 · answered by fla_dan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's the deal...
You WILL need a specialized tool, but it is a cheap one. You need a spoke wrench. Park tools makes one shaped like a triangle with all 3 major spoke nipple sizes on it. Should cost you less than 15 bucks at the most.
Here's the method:
Take the tire off your rim so that you can see the bend better and then put the wheel back on the bike.
Spin the wheel with the brakes re-connected and watch where the rim is out of true.
When you can determine which area needs to be re-aligned, grab your spoke wrench and make adjustments in quarter turn increments.
NOTE: To pull your wheel to the right, loosen the spoke that leads to the left side of the hub, and then tighten the spoke that leads to the right side of the hub.
-You should look at the entire area in order to determine where
where the wheel is the most out of true. The amount of
adjustment of each spoke should be relative to how far from
center the wheel is at that spot.
-To determine which way to turn the spoke to tighten or loosen,
look at the wheel where the rim tape is and just remember...
rightie tightie, leftie loosie while fitting the spoke wrench on the
nipple of the spoke you are about to turn.
The first time you try this may seem painstaking, but keep at it. It's not that hard and if you can get your wheel to pass between your brakes with about an 1/8 of an inch clearance you've done well and you're good to go until you can afford to take it to a shop to have it trued by a real mechanic.
I hope this helped
2006-09-04 10:58:48 · answer #2 · answered by iipiki_okami 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All you need is a spoke wrench and you can get it pretty trued. Just do a search on Google to find out how to do it. You basically have to tighten or loosen the spokes to pull the rim into true. It's not that hard.
2006-09-04 09:39:42 · answer #3 · answered by Cybeq 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can do it your self put your feet around the back wheel side to side and ujust the wheel by grabbing the seat
2006-09-04 09:42:01 · answer #4 · answered by blah! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i had that problem (i think) my dad used his hand. haha
2006-09-04 13:01:44 · answer #5 · answered by Violet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋