Old timers advice on spoke tension just saved my wheel build

I used to think I knew better than the old mechanic at my shop about spoke tension. He always said tighten to feel not to a number on the tensiometer. Last week I built a rear wheel for a customer and followed the Park Tool manual to the letter with even readings. The wheel went out of true after 30 miles. Today I rebuilt it by feel like he said, squeezing pairs of spokes and listening for pitch. The wheel is dead true and the customer is happy. Anyone else ditch the tensiometer after a bad experience?

3 comments

3 Comments

wrenh657d ago

And that's the thing about the tensiometer, it gives you numbers but doesn't tell you how the rim actually feels. Once you get the hang of squeezing spokes and hearing the pitch, you start to notice bad spots way faster than any tool can show you.

simonl112d ago

Hell yeah, screw that tensiometer. @wrenh65 nailed it, those numbers are nice but they don't tell you the story. I built a wheel once that was perfect on the gauge but sang like a dying cat, felt all wrong when I squeezed the spokes. Went with my ear and it rode true for years. Numbers ain't everything.

sean_johnson167d ago

I had the exact same thing happen with a front wheel last year. Built it perfect on the tension meter, dead even numbers all around, and it went wobbly within a week. @wrenh65 is right that the tool just can't feel what the rim is doing. The old guy at my shop showed me the squeeze and pitch method too, and now I don't even bother with the tensiometer anymore. You start to notice how a rim has a natural high or low spot based on how the spokes sing. It's like tuning a guitar string, once your ear learns what's right you can balance the whole wheel in half the time. I still check tension with the tool sometimes for piece of mind but I always go back and tweak by feel before I'm done.