Wheel Truing Basics

Wheel Truing Basics: Straighten Your Wheels Like a Pro

A true wheel rolls smoothly, brakes evenly, and inspires confidence. When wheels go out of true, they wobble side to side or hop up and down, causing brake rub and poor handling. Learning basic wheel truing lets you fix minor problems at home and assess when professional help is needed.

Understanding Wheel True

Lateral True (Side-to-Side):

• Most common truing issue
• Wheel wobbles left and right
• Causes brake rub with rim brakes
• Corrected by adjusting spoke tension

Radial True (Up-and-Down):

• Wheel has high and low spots
• Creates bumpy feel when riding
• Harder to correct than lateral
• Often indicates bent rim or loose spokes

Dish (Centering):

• Rim should be centered between hub flanges
• Especially important on rear wheels
• Incorrect dish causes handling issues
• Requires dishing tool to measure accurately

Tools for Wheel Truing

Essential:

• Spoke wrench (sized for your nipples – common sizes are 3.2mm, 3.3mm, 3.5mm)
• Truing stand or bike frame as a guide

Helpful Additions:

• Spoke tension meter
• Dishing tool
• Nipple driver for faster adjustments
• Light and magnifying glass for inspection

Using Your Bike as a Truing Stand

If you do not have a truing stand:

1. Flip bike upside down or mount in repair stand
2. Spin wheel slowly and observe gap between rim and brake pads
3. For disc brake bikes, use zip ties attached to fork or frame as indicators
4. Watch where rim moves toward and away from reference point

Basic Truing Process

Step 1: Identify the Problem

1. Spin wheel and watch for wobble
2. Mark the worst spots with tape or marker
3. Determine if wobble is lateral, radial, or both
4. Identify which direction the rim moves at each spot

Step 2: Understand Spoke Tension Effects

• Tightening a spoke pulls rim toward that spokes hub flange side
• Loosening a spoke allows rim to move away from that side
• Spokes alternate between left and right hub flanges
• To move rim left, tighten left-side spokes or loosen right-side spokes

Step 3: Make Adjustments

1. Start at the worst wobble
2. Identify spoke or spokes at that location
3. Determine which direction rim needs to move
4. Adjust spoke tension – quarter turn at a time
5. Check progress after each adjustment
6. Work multiple spokes if wobble spans several

Step 4: Maintain Overall Tension

• When tightening one side, loosen the opposite slightly
• This keeps overall tension consistent
• Prevents creating new problems while fixing old ones
• Final tension should be even throughout wheel

Spoke Wrench Direction

Confusion is common because of viewing angle:

• When viewed from the outer rim: clockwise tightens
• When viewed from hub side: counterclockwise tightens
• Most mechanics work from the outer rim side
• Remember: righty-tighty applies when looking down at nipple from outside

Correcting Radial True

For hops or dips in the wheel:

1. Mark high and low spots
2. At high spots, tighten spokes on both sides equally
3. At low spots, loosen spokes on both sides equally
4. Small adjustments – eighth turns recommended
5. This changes vertical position without affecting lateral true

Common Truing Mistakes

• Over-adjusting: Making full turns instead of quarter turns
• Ignoring tension: Creating unevenly tensioned wheels
• Working random spots: Start with worst problems, work systematically
• Damaged rims: Trying to true a bent rim – some damage cannot be fixed
• Stripped nipples: Using wrong size wrench or excessive force

When to Seek Professional Help

• Rim is severely bent or cracked
• Multiple broken spokes
• Tension is extremely uneven
• Wheel cannot be brought into true despite efforts
• Dish or radial true problems persist
• You are unsure of your work and safety depends on the wheel

Preventive Measures

• Regular tension checks: Squeeze spoke pairs to find loose ones
• Address wobbles early: Small fixes prevent bigger problems
• Avoid impacts: Curbs and potholes damage wheels
• Quality builds: Properly built wheels stay true longer
• Replace damaged spokes: Broken spokes strain remaining ones

Pro Tips

• Work in a quiet space so you can hear spoke tension
• Pluck spokes like guitar strings – similar pitch means similar tension
• Make notes or take photos of initial state for reference
• Let wheel sit after major truing – tension settles
• Recheck true after first ride

Wheel truing is a learnable skill that improves with practice. Start with minor wobbles on non-critical wheels to build confidence, and you will soon have the ability to maintain all your wheels in perfect true.