PSA: Hit 500 wheel trues this month without a single spoke break

Been building and truing wheels for about 6 years now. Last month I hit a personal milestone without even planning it. I marked 500 truing jobs on the shop clipboard across July. Not a single snapped spoke or rim crack during the whole stretch. Felt weird at first like it couldn't be right. But I think it came down to one thing. I stopped rushing the initial tension. Just run each spoke two full turns at a time around the wheel. No jumping ahead. Saved me so much headache. Anyone else track their successful truing runs like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlesj461mo ago

Man, I gotta be honest - I used to think the whole "take it slow with tension" thing was just old-timers being extra careful. But after snapping three spokes in one week a couple years back I finally tried your method. Two full turns around the wheel, no skipping ahead. It felt painfully slow at first but I haven't broken a spoke since. You really can't rush that initial seating, huh?

dakota_rivera1mo ago

Ngl I had a similar wakeup call but it was with a carbon rim that had a hairline crack I didn't catch. Thought I was being careful by checking tension every four spokes. Then boom, rim splits right at the nipple during a ride. Customer was cool about it but I felt like an idiot. Now I do the full wheel twice around before even putting the tire on. That slow seating lets all the little settling happen. Saved me from a lot of headache since then.