Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

For discussions about bikes and equipment.
Post Reply
User avatar
Sweep
Posts: 8443
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Sweep »

Related to my wheel building ambitions.

Feel free to share pics.

I do have a couple of old frames in the garage I could use as trueing stands, but don't fancy plonking an upturned frame in the front room to fiddle with. And then I have to stabilise it.

If any of you nice folk have pics of cleverly mounted old forks, feel free to share.
Sweep
Brucey
Posts: 44517
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Brucey »

just put a set of handlebars and a saddle on the frame, and then it'll work just fine

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
User avatar
Sweep
Posts: 8443
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Sweep »

Brucey wrote:just put a set of handlebars and a saddle on the frame, and then it'll work just fine

cheers

even if that works/makes the thing stable, not great design is it brucey?

Lots of spare non functional metal taking up space?
Sweep
Keezx
Posts: 490
Joined: 20 Dec 2014, 10:44am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Keezx »

I 've put an old separate fork in a vise , and bend it a little open for a rear wheel. Dropouts widened with grinder.
Need a photo from that set-up?
Brucey
Posts: 44517
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Brucey »

Sweep wrote:Lots of spare non functional metal taking up space?


you are keeping a spare frame somewhere anyway and it is (briefly) in the living room (or wherever you are going to true your wheels). I don't see the big problem....?

Remember that if you go about it in the right way (i.e. with well made hubs, spokes that are exact lengths and a well-made rim) you don't need the truing stand for very long; most of the work is done outside the stand, not in it.

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brucey
Posts: 44517
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

ladies and gentlefolk, I present the 'instatrue' (TM) gizmo

Post by Brucey »

yes, years of patient toil and scientific research (*) has resulted in the manufacture of this precision engineered gizmo; the 'Instatrue' (copyright, TM, registered design etc) satisfies the inner need for a gadget without it being too expensive or heavy to carry on tour.

(*) er actually, in case you couldn't tell, it was the result of about ten minutes working of the grey matter, and slightly less time with the pliers in my hand.....

a miracle of science...?
a miracle of science...?


The gizmo allows radial truing against the crosspiece and lateral truing via a side adjuster. It is lashed to the stays/forks using a couple of elastic bands, in this case cut from an old inner tube. This give a mounting whereby the whole thing will move if it is pushed a little bit by a bent wheel; this gives the gizmo some of the same attributes as 'soft pointers' which I personally prefer (the wheel won't be stopped dead or damaged by the pointers). If the thing needs to be repositioned on the stays it is best if the elastic bands are slid a short way directly rather than being pulled by hauling on the whole thing.

Since rims don't vary that much in width it is possible to make a double-headed device (i.e. with lateral pointer on both sides, which requires threading the other end of the spoke) and furthermore this type can be made almost flat (so it packs down small) . If made flat the device will still work on most bikes, the exception being some frames with very narrow forks/stays, in which the nipple may foul directly on the frame. If this is the case, or you want to get the thing out of the way of a caliper brake (which is also achieved by using the chainstays at the rear or the back of the forks at the front) then you would be better off with a kinky version similar to the one in the photo. Most nipples allow about 5mm of adjustment (for this purpose) and an additional ~4mm is obtained by turning each nipple the other way. In total this gives a double-headed version the ability to work with rims that vary in width by about 18mm, which ought to be plenty for most folk.

It is also possible to make a version with a large loop at the top (or something that bears against the fork crown or stay brace and stabilises the position) so that the gizmo clears the tyre; this will allow lateral truing in situ without tyre removal. The lateral pointer can be used as a (crude) radial pointer provided the wheel is made laterally true first and there is an angled/curved part of the rim to bring the pointer against.

If the lateral pointers are made different lengths (eg by having more kinks in the pointer) then the sound of a contact is made different each side. This can mean that you don't need to be looking carefully at what you are doing in order to be able to true a wheel to the n-th degree. I'm still undecided as to whether it is better to have the nipple(s) free running/loose or to have something which makes the thread more draggy and prevents the nipple from vibrating during contact and going out of adjsutment.

In truth I don't think this is that much better than using a caliper brake (with an elastic band between the arms as a radial guide) but not everyone has such brakes and not everyone is happy without a screw-adjustable pointer for lateral truing. Possibly there are design variants that I have not yet considered; it is easy enough to make something that would suit a special need/frame/fork. Obviously dishing needs to be checked in the usual (in the absence of a dishing tool) way, eg. by reversing the wheel in the fixture.

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mercalia
Posts: 14630
Joined: 22 Sep 2013, 10:03pm
Location: london South

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by mercalia »

Sweep wrote:
Brucey wrote:just put a set of handlebars and a saddle on the frame, and then it'll work just fine

cheers

even if that works/makes the thing stable, not great design is it brucey?

Lots of spare non functional metal taking up space?


well would save you £60 or so. no brainer.
User avatar
Sweep
Posts: 8443
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Sweep »

mercalia wrote:
Sweep wrote:
Brucey wrote:just put a set of handlebars and a saddle on the frame, and then it'll work just fine

cheers

even if that works/makes the thing stable, not great design is it brucey?

Lots of spare non functional metal taking up space?


well would save you £60 or so. no brainer.

:)
come come mercalia - you could argue that about anything.

And you are remember the guy who argued in favour of a tensionometer.

Something I think my initial wheel building/rerimming projects will I think do without.

To clarify it wasn't so much the pointy bit I was thinking of (though thanks for your unfortunately patented device upthread brucey) as a way of mounting/supporting the old forks that wouldn't require lots of woodworking skills and kit and would dispense with the rest of the bike which is somewhat superfluous to the needs of the job in hand.
Sweep
mercalia
Posts: 14630
Joined: 22 Sep 2013, 10:03pm
Location: london South

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by mercalia »

Sweep wrote:
mercalia wrote:
Sweep wrote:even if that works/makes the thing stable, not great design is it brucey?

Lots of spare non functional metal taking up space?


well would save you £60 or so. no brainer.

:)
come come mercalia - you could argue that about anything.

And you are remember the guy who argued in favour of a tensionometer.

Something I think my initial wheel building/rerimming projects will I think do without.

To clarify it wasn't so much the pointy bit I was thinking of (though thanks for your unfortunately patented device upthread brucey) as a way of mounting/supporting the old forks that wouldn't require lots of woodworking skills and kit and would dispense with the rest of the bike which is somewhat superfluous to the needs of the job in hand.



not really. I dont mind spending the money but not when it aint necessary. If I hadnt used the tension meter I would have forever beein racked with doubts about whether I had tightened them enough or the consistancy of the spokes tension as I can detect if two spokes have the same note but not if they are close enough together. The result would have been lack of confidence in the wheels - when I was a kid I went on my grand tour from Lowestoft up to Whitby- Norwich, Kings Lynn, across the fens up thru Lincoln, Selby, across the wolds, Thixendale, Boggle Hole and the spokes broke every few miles by the time I got there ( was a cheap bike. Was nasty set of wheels)
Brucey
Posts: 44517
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by Brucey »

if you want to make a set of old forks stand up, nothing could be simpler; a short stem, a set of well-swept flat handlebars, and a set climbing pegs attached to the bars so that the 'base' is stable. An alternative to the climbing pegs is a second, longer, stem if the steerer is threadless.

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
gxaustin
Posts: 890
Joined: 23 Sep 2015, 12:07pm

Re: Pics of your "old fork" trueing stands?

Post by gxaustin »

I just stick some tape across the forks and draw lines to mark the centre and rim edges.
The front fork is small and goes in a work stand. The rear fork (and frame) also goes in the work stand. I could cut the frame up but it has sentimental value. To check it is true I simply turn the wheel around and see if the marks still line up.
zenitb
Posts: 832
Joined: 7 Aug 2018, 9:59pm
Contact:

Gaffer tape!!

Post by zenitb »

Gaffa tape ..rear forks...
Attachments
2015-12-02 21.35.52.jpg
Post Reply