Cycling UK Forum

Hi All,

I've just bought my son a new bike online and it's just been delivered.

Having installed the front wheel when I rotate the front wheel the rim is rubbing the brake block in a couple of spots. Now I did take the wheel out and resintall it a couple of times just to check the wheel was aligned in the dropouts okay and I think that it is.

The brake isn't rubbing all the way around the rim just a couple of spots and it is just a slight rub. When you stand above the bike looking down over the front wheel and spin it you can see it wobbling from side to side a bit and so I don't think that the wheel is quite true.

Now I've never built or trued a wheel before and I don't have any specialist equipment such as a truing stand or anything like that.

The bike in quetsion is a childs bike but it's effectively a hybrid bike and has 26 inch wheels and V brakes.

In a toolkit I think I might have a couple of spoke keys but I've never used them before and I'm not sure how to tell what size the spokes are on my sons bike.

Now is there is an easy way for a complete beginner who has never trued a wheel before to true it with nothing more than a spoke key (assuming that I have the right size key) or am I better off taking it to a local bike shop and asking them to true the wheel?

Perhaps this is an example of whereby you're better off buying from your local bike shop and not online because if I had of bought from my LBS I would have just asked them to sort it and so maybe it's karma coming back to get me.

Many thanks for any thoughts and help.

Cheers,

John

I suggest you measure the amount that the wheel is out of true and post the result so that people can make a more informed comment. For example, if the brake blocks are very close to the rim, the amount in question might be quite small.

I've only built one wheel to date, and that was following the Roger Musson book (£9 here), which I would strongly recommend you buy, so that you understand what to do and how to do it. It sounds like you should be able to true it with the wheel in the fork: turn the bike upside down or mount it in a stand if you have one, remove the tyre and possibly the rim tape (to check that the spokes are not protruding such that one or more will press against the inner tube and likely cause a puncture at some point), and use the brake blocks or something affixed to the fork leg (e.g. a cable tie) to check the result as you true the wheel. If one of your existing spoke keys is not a good fit, you may need to buy a new one, but that should be all.

John_S wrote:Perhaps this is an example of whereby you're better off buying from your local bike shop and not online because if I had of bought from my LBS I would have just asked them to sort it and so maybe it's karma coming back to get me.

I suspect you may well find it's a blessing in disguise, as you learn a new skill and acquire confidence in doing so. Moreover, by following the Roger Musson book you will likely end up with a much better and longer lasting wheel, especially if the wheels were not stress relieved when they were built (very likely by the sounds of it).

If you've taken the wheel out, make sure that you have the bike resting on the ground before you tighten up the quick release. Also operate the brake a few times to make sure that the caliper is centering.

If the wheel is new it will be straighforward to true provided that the rim is inherently true.

Before you make any attempt to true it I would advise you stress relieve the spokes - it is essential to bed then in and give them a chance to ‘unwind’ and may not have been done already. Grab a pair of spokes each side and squeeze them firmly together. That in itself may well straighten the wheel with the advantage of allowing you to feel, by comparison, if any spokes are looser than the others.

It’s a bit of a minefield for someone who’s never done it before. It’s not as simple as just increasing the tension on the spokes nearest the point where the ‘buckle’ is, until the rim straightens. “Stress relieving” is basically squeezing the spokes together at the point they cross over. I’d wear gloves for this, as it hurts less that way.

I agree with the previous poster - it's a bit of a dark art is wheel building. It's quite easy to make things worse. However, this might be the ideal opportunity to dive right in and give it a try! Much depends on how bad the buckle is - photo (with strategically placed ruler...) will be helpful for us.

Like a lot of things, it's easy if you know how. Buy if you don't, it's easy to get it wrong and make the issue much worse.

Plenty of online videos. Just follow them and work in small changes.

you only need a spoke key for light truing, don't go by the tyre these can make a wheel look out of true.

1. Do as Peetee said and stress relieve the spokes.
2. check for loose spokes and tighten
3. turn the bike upside down (unless you have something else to hold the wheel) alignment can be easier with the tyre off though not essential, locate the point where its rubbing, estimate the start of the bulge loosen on the side the bulge is pointing to and tighten on the other then small turn no more than 1/4 turn loosen and tighten alternative spokes

It is fairly easy and one needs no special equipment

A used wheel, especially a used dished rear wheel with derailleur gears, can be harder to true

You can use a zip tie around the seatstay on the frame as an indicator to work by. I'd at least deflate the tyre if you don't actually remove it before trueing, kids bikes are often single wall rim so turning the nipples on a wheel with the tyre still inflated can chew up the rim tape and possibly puncture the tube.

Hi All,

Many thanks for all of the replies and I'll read through and come up with an action plan. It was just really disappointing for my son today because having been really excited about getting his new bike we took it out of the bix and had been planning on going for a quick ride when I took a quick break from work over lunch. But when the rim was rubbing on the rim that has delayed the first ride.

Hi Slowster, the bike has been set up so that the pads are pretty close to the rim. It's on the non drive side and if you look directly down on the wheel from above there is a noticebable wobble (I have no idea if that's the correct term to use in this context or not) as you rotate the wheel. It sounds as if it just rubs in two places and when you spin the front wheel it's almost like that repeating train track noise chooka-chooka. You could probably ride the bike in its current state but it annoys me that it's not right and I don't really want the brake pad geeting worn down on a certain spot everytime the wheel rotates. There isn't the same contact of the rear wheel on the pads when you spin that even though again the pads are set up close to the rim but the rear wheel doesn't have the same distinct wobble of the front wheel. Thanks for the tip of the book to look out for. Whilst wheel building is a skill I'd love to have between trying to work as best I can and be teacher to two primary school aged children who are at home at the moment unforunately any spare time is pretty much none existent which is why it's so frustrating that my son didn't get the chance to go out on the bike when I had a little bit of time. Therefore the full blown wheel building skills may hav to wait a while before I have the time to study them but I'm hoping that in the short term I can solve this problem.

Hi freeflow, the bike arrived with the front wheel not installed and so I installed it and I did have the bike resting on the ground and plus I did operate the brake before tightening the quick release and when I had the rubbing problem I removed the wheel a couple of times and reinstalled but I still get the same rubbing porblem each time.

Hi peetee, thanks for this tip and I'll try this before anything else. When you say graba pair of spokes do you mean a spoke on the drive side and one from the non drive side and squeeze them together into say the centre of the hub as a reference (not that far I just mean driection). Or do you mean spokes side to side and squeezing them towards each other (apologies if I've not explained this very well as I found it hard to explain what I meant).

Hi Marcus Aurelius, thanks for the advice and I was a bit cautious about any major adjustments to the wheel because I didn't want to leap in and make things worse. Thanks for your tip about stress releiving and that's pointed me in the right direction about doing it at the point where the spokes cross over.

Hi simonineaston, thanks for your message and I've given up on this for today but I will try to take a decent phot if I can.

Hi Cyclewala, I'll get googling and search for some videos. On first google search I found this and the technique seems to be slightly different from that described above:-

https://youtu.be/Zeyr-brECm4

The person in this video had a similar technique but if you watch this please be warned that the accompanying music might be a bit much and it's maybe best to mute your speakers before watching:-

https://youtu.be/BFkrtzAqIJo

I guess what they are doing by hand is similar to what is done by this machine:-

https://youtu.be/j6_QpWLQrVc

Hi Nuke, thanks for the advice on how to tackle this and I'll start with the stress releiving as suggested above but if that doesn't help move onto points 2 and 3.

Hi Cyril Haearn, yes I'm glad it's the front wheel and not the rear with the problem.

Hi gregoryoftours, thanks for the info and if I get to the point of using a spoke key to start making adjustments then I think it sounds safer to at least have the tyre and tube off the wheel by the sounds of it.


Thanks everyone for the advice!

Cheers,

John

Hi simonineaston, thanks for your message and I've given up on this for today but I will try to take a decent phot(o) if I can.

Actually, soon after I posted, I realized that a static photo has little value. A video clip, on the other hand, has the potential to capture the wobble, relative to a fixed point like the brake block. But don't waste time on my account! Just go with what you think is the best tactic - hope your son enjoys his new bike!

Stress relieving is a very good idea. However if you just want to get out with your son the most basic level of truing, tightening the low side (ie spoke on the on the other side, pulling the rim away from the pad/indicator) and loosening the two either side is good enough to get you out.

alexnharvey wrote:Stress relieving is a very good idea. However if you just want to get out with your son the most basic level of truing, tightening the low side (ie spoke on the on the other side, pulling the rim away from the pad/indicator) and loosening the two either side is good enough to get you out.

Personally, I'd loosen the adjacent rubbing side spoke(s) first, then tighten the other side spoke(s), to minimise increased stresses...