From despair to joy in 36 spokes

So I decided to try and correct my back wheel, which went quite badly out of true on its maiden voyage.

What was I thinking?

After about 2 minutes of strategic loosening and tightening it was clear this wheel wasn’t getting straighter. Another couple of minutes and it was looking decidedly warped. 2 minutes more and I was shaking my head in wonder, muttering things like ‘irredeemable’ and ‘seriously mangled’. J’s comment was ‘I didn’t know it was even possible to warp a wheel that much…’

4 hours and 3 whole attempts later, it’s running true. What worked in the end was loosening all the spokes to the same point, ie where I could see the thread begin, and tightening ‘opposite’ groups of 4 in small increments. There were still plenty of warpy moments but eventually the light broke through and it spun all the way round with a jaunty clicking that cheered my heart.

Lovely stuff… until next time I go for a ride and it gets all warped again.

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