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Wibbly Wobbly wheels

Hi,

After experiencing a bit of what i think is wobbly wheels (I dont know that much about bikes!) at speeds of over 35kph I am a tad worried!

On further investigation I noticed a very very very slight deviation towards the left brake pad on the rear wheel, and the to the right brake pad on the front. Is it this which is causing the wobbling at high speeds? So Im guessing the wheels are not quite true, now we come to the main point of my question.

I have 2 options I think, either buy a spoke wrench and have a go at fixing them myself, or take them to a local bike shop for repair.



The reason I would like to have a go at doing them myself is because I would rather learn to do these kind of jobs myself, and so I understand my bike a bit better. But I am a little worried I will screw them up worse than they are, is this something I can do fairly easily myself?

Comments

  • MGMG Posts: 470
    Yeah of course you can do it yourself!! All you need is a piece of chalk and a spoke wrench. Turn the bike upside down and spin the offending wheel, then holding the chalk move it closer (slowly and steadily) towards the rim or tyre, eventualy youl have a chalk mark on the rim or tyre, this is where your buckle is. To rectify the buckle or true the wheel you need to loosen (slightly, half a turn) the spoke CLOSEST the chalk mark and tighten (slightly, half a turn) the spoke OPPOSITE the chalk mark, eventuly youl have a straight wheel!!!! Try it its a piece of cake.



    Good luck
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    aces, thanks for the advice mate, got myself a spoke wrench and have spent the evening getting what i can see to be perfectly trued wheels! I hope this helps on the road tomorrow!
  • ashthetashashthetash Posts: 164
    Not sure if it is legit or not but when truing a wheel I tend to adjust the brakes until one of them is just touching the rim at one point. I fix this and then move the brakes in to find the next out of true spot. When I have finished I adjust the brakes back a touch and everything seems ok.

    I do it this way because I can't hold the chalk steady. Are there any inherent problems with this method?
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    ARGH!



    ok so after spending the best part of 2 hours 'truing' the wheels to what I believed was perefect, I tried the chalk,technique thanks for that MG ;) I got it to the point that there was a unbroken chalk line all the way round the rim, and the wheel seems to be equidistant from each brake pad.

    But, I'm still having the problem at high speeds! I am suspecting it is the wind, but as I live in leeds it is never not windy so i dont know!

  • FastWestieFastWestie Posts: 26
    Is the tyre straight?
  • ashthetashashthetash Posts: 164
    But, I'm still having the problem at high speeds!
    Slow down then![:D]
  • MGMG Posts: 470
    Have you shortened your stem? Could be a speed wobble, usualy caused at high speeds or if your handlebar setup is a bit twitchy. If it happens again just gently unload some of your weight off the saddle, and see if it stops. You might need to have a look at making your ride more stable, a quick fix to this is getting a longer stem.
  • TTX PROTTX PRO Posts: 225
    my proffesional opinion is that wheels tend to be more true when they go faster and less true when slower as strange as it is its a fact unless there more than 1.2mm out so it could be what MG said has said your handlebar setup is a bit twichy wich can effect you at high speeds(speaking from experiance)so it could be any of them but i wouldn,t try trueing wheels without a jig and spoke key or just leave it to quilified cycle engineers(like myself.lol)
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