Had a revelation about spoke tension at that parking lot repair in St. Louis

Was fixing a wobbly wheel for a touring cyclist outside a gas station off I-70 last month, and I realized I'd been guessing at spoke tension for years without actually using a tensiometer. Has anyone else found their repairs got more consistent after they finally bought one?

3 comments

3 Comments

paigewood21d ago

Grabbed a cheap tensiometer off Amazon last year for like 30 bucks and yeah it was a game changer. Started actually being able to tell if both sides of the wheel were even without just guessing by feel.

kai_stone9921d ago

Yeah I read something the other day about how most people actually overtighten their spokes because they just go by feel. @paigewood got me thinking about grabbing one of those cheap meters too, sounds like it takes the guesswork out completely.

miles_roberts2221d ago

Yeah my Park Tool one was like 60 bucks but honestly it paid for itself the first time I built a rear wheel and didn't have to redo it three times. Before I got it I'd always end up with one side way tighter and the wheel would pull like crazy under hard cornering. Now I just check every few spokes and keep them within 5 percent of each other. Saves so much headache later on.