Tuesday Tip - Tightening Spokes
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To many, taking the time to tighten your spokes may seem quite basic and lack any type of proper technique, but that’s not the case. If you don’t give your spokes some accurate attention, they can easily puncture your tube. And when you do take the time to tighten spokes, make sure you follow the correct pattern. No, you don’t just tighten each spoke as you go: spoke one, spoke two, and so on… You must tighten every third spoke and it’s crucial that the torque of each spoke be no more than half a turn at a time.
Tools required: Spoke torque wrench, and proper heads. Heads vary from bike to bike.
STEP 1 Start at the rim lock and call that spoke number one. The most important thing to remember when you’re maintaining a wheel is not to turn the spoke more than half of a turn. If you turn the spoke more than a half-turn than it’s easy to pull the spoke off to one side or the other. Always make sure you turn the spoke to proper tension; sometimes it’ll need torque and sometimes it won’t. Also, it’s a good idea to keep your hand on the last spoke that you’ve tightened, that way you don’t get lost.
STEP 2 Maintain the pattern of every three spokes. Start with spoke number one right next to the rim lock, then skip spokes two and three and go straight to spoke number four. You’ll want to continue this pattern, by going from spoke number four to spoke seven, spoke 10, and so on. Continue torquing every third spoke until you return to spoke number one.
STEP 3 After you’ve made it through each revolution of the tire, it’s important to spin the wheel a few times to make sure it has an even pull over it. Also, always place your hand on the same spot of any wrench, whether it’s a torque wrench or a standard wrench. If you do that you’ll always be consistent with your pull. Being consistent is the key to having a strong wheel.
Tags: How-To, maintenance, spokes, Tuesday Tip, wheels
Current Issue: February 09
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Hey guys, in step 2 I would ad that you need to make 3 full revolutions to complete the whole wheel. So your second revolution would start on the second spoke from the rim lock and continue all the way around skipping to every third spoke. Then the same starting at the third spoke from the rim lock…. Just didn’t want anyone to get confused thinking theres only one revolution.
Good call, Garrett. Thanks. Take note, folks.
This may seem like a stupid question but, if you don’t have a torch spoke wrench how tight do they need to be?
davis,
you don’t want to kill them, once you fell their snug do a 1/4 to 1/2 turn more and you should be fine.
You can also tap the spokes to get an idea how tight they are by the sound they make, then go around until they all have almost the same pitch.
i tightened my spokes wrong, how do i go about loosing the spokes to retighten them?
I just got a spoke torque wrench, (how sweet!) but im not sure how tight the spokes should be. My manual says 2.7 foot lbs which works out to be 32.5 inch lbs; that is what the wrench measures in. I followed the tips but somehow i feel 32.5 in-lb is not tight enough, is there suppose to be some flex in the spokes, or sohuld they be very tight ? THanks
Great tech tip! I always learn a new trick here!!!
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