Wheel building is a true art. Building up used rims has a few extra issues added (primarily dealing with who built-who road-who/how where they unlaced). There is more to "truing a wheel than just loosening/tightening some spokes. Your wheel has to be round with even tension on spokes and true or there is uneven tension on the spokes and the wheel will never stay true. You may want to loosen?all the spokes and start over. Get the wheel round before the final "truing". There has been a lot of thought put behind building the perfect wheel. Are all the?spokes the proper length? Do you have a good spoke prep? Do you have a good method to tighten the spokes? Tubular or clincher. If it is a tubular make sure no excess glue is on the lip of the rim. It might affect the measuring of the roundness of the rim. If your rim is having the issues you mentioned there is a good chance it is bent. New rim time.
Gary "TLC4Bikes" Smith It's getting warm in Raleigh NC Raleigh NC
-----Original Message----- From: marcus.e.helman@gm.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 3:50 pm Subject: [CR] First aid/replacement for a rim?
I have a rear wheel that is not as true as I would like. It fits within the brake shoes, but I have them a bit farther out than the fronts . When I brake I can feel the wheel's unevenness. I have trued it, but I can never get it totally in line, and it seems to revert after a short time. When it is close to true, some spokes seem pretty loose, while others are pretty tight. I am not the world's most gifted mechanic, but I like to think I have some ability. I bought the rims used, and I am beginning to think that is the source of my problem. I would like to fix this wheel, but I will replace the rim if I must.
So, the questions: Is there a technique other than tightening and loosening spokes to get this wheel true? Aside from the fact that I know the wheel is out of true, as long as I can brake reliably do I need to replace the rim? Does anyone out there have a new Fiamme Red Label 36 hole rim? Failing that, are there any silver rims still being made? (needless to say, I have looked at eBay)
Best regards,
Marcus Helman
Detroit, MI