Hey, thanks for stopping by! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also subscribe to BikeHacks by email. Thanks for visiting!
Truing wheels isn’t the same as building wheels. Similar equipment is used, but wheelbuilding is more labor intensive. And requires some specialized stuff. Truing up an already-built wheel, however, doesn’t have to be scary (though you’ll probably make your wheel worse the first time you mess with it. Tip: tighten less). You’re gonna need a truing stand, though. You can certainly buy a truing stand that’ll serve you well. But since this is such an occasional task, and since you probably have the right materials laying around, you might as well trying building your own first.
Here are 5 decent looking truing stands that you can build for cheap…
This first truing stand is super easy to build. You’ll need a spare fork, a bench mounted vise, and a zip tie. Drop the fork into the vise, then mount your wheel on the outside of the fork. Use a zip tie as a visual aid (or, do like the originator of this hack and use a screwdriver and a steady hand).
This next wooden truing stand is pretty sweet. There are no explicit instructions, so you’ll have to use it as inspiration, but the design is simple and elegant. View the original size to get the details.
As usual, instructables.com comes through. This guide to building your own truing stand is nice because it’s mainly metal parts. It’s made for precision, but the downside is that you’ve got to actually buy a cheap truing stand first, then modify it for higher tolerances.
Here’s another wooden truing stand, with multiple photos. I think this might be a favorite of mine, but the pics are kinda grainy. Bummer. The design is pretty elaborate, with some general instructions for the build. Again, this is probably best used for inspiration as opposed to an exact copy.
And yet one more truing stand made of wood. This one has the simplest design of all the wood versions, but once again, no explicit instructions for the build. You’ll have to examine the large picture to get a sense of what’s going on.
Kinda related posts
Filed Under: gear, maintenance
12 comments for this entry ↓
1 Joshua // Feb 26, 2008 at 9:38 am
I’ve only trued a wheel once, with Sheldon Brown’s instructions, so maybe it’s my inexperience talking here, but why not just use the bike itself? I just turned mine upside down, spun the wheel, and held a marker up to the rim (I braced it against the fork arms to hold it steady). You just slowly bring the marker closer while the wheel is spinning. It will make a mark where the rim’s out of true.
2 Bruce Coppola // Mar 18, 2008 at 8:20 am
The second stand (first wooden one) is based on a design from a downloadable (pdf) book on wheelbuilding by Roger Musson. I’m going to build it soon. I have the 3rd edition; seems to be in its 4th ed. now.
I am not affiliated with Mr. Musson.
http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php
3 Dylan Taylor // Mar 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
use the brake blocks as guides ??? no need to take wheel off at all. i get the wheels within 2mm spot on every time.. so why bother making a wheel stand to true the wheels defies me
4 Bren // Mar 20, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Yeah, the brake trick can work. Unless, like me, you’ve got disc brakes…
5 Dylan Taylor // Mar 20, 2008 at 5:48 pm
and that’s another thing why buy discs ??
parallel v brakes are lighter, cheaper, stop just as well if not better and are far far easier to maintain, and u can straighten your wheel on the fly with the brake blocks as well
u could use anything like a toothpick for example to straighten a disc wheel by holding it firmly against the forks adjacent the gauging surface
Discs mucho sucks !! Just another way to get money outta people
6 Bruce Coppola // Mar 21, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I’ve trued wheels on bikes successfully. The only caveat, though, is that properly dishing (or keeping the proper dishing of) the rear wheel is sometimes iffy on the bike, especially if it’s way out of true/tension. For that matter, centering the front wheel can be iffy too if you’re starting with a wheel that’s really out of whack. Only a dishing gauge will tell you for sure. But I’ve done it “near enough” a few times both front and back with wheels that were not bad to begin with and have been OK.
Another good reason to true your own wheels, with or without a dedicated stand and/or gauge: when you do it right by “stress relieving” the spokes as you’re truing, as shown in most sources, you’re likely to end up with a wheel that stays true longer. That has been my experience. And I don’t even use a fancy-schmancy tensionometer.
I’ve yet to try building. That’s why I need to build the stand, and why I first came to this page.
7 Dylan Taylor // Mar 21, 2008 at 3:30 pm
roger that.
im just an old hat bike builder, everything i know is from trying it out and just doing it since i was a nipper…..
i used to buckle my old steel wheels so often, getting them properly spot on was just a waste of time ….. back in the old days of mountain biking he heh
8 Roger Musson // Mar 26, 2008 at 6:26 am
These aren’t low cost hacks. Some of us use the home made stuff because it’s actually better than store-bought! And that would include myself. The first wooden stand is exactly like the one I use on a daily basis as a Pro builder. Explicit instructions in the book mentioned by Bruce (grab your 4th edition, free upgrade), plus many other tooling hacks.
Mike T and his upturned forks in a vise taking #1 position. I think he might be a convert to wooden structures by now. Eh Mike!
9 How To True a Wheel - Bicycle Repair Video Tutorial // May 23, 2008 at 5:41 am
[...] 5 DIY Truing Stands (Bike Hacks) [...]
10 riddle // Jul 23, 2008 at 1:12 pm
RE: the first few comments talking about truing with wheel in bike.
These wheel stands are for wheelbuilding, not just truing.
Even wheelbuilding can be done with just a bike frame & forks. But with a well designed stand you can easily check on accuracy in a multitude of directions with no fuss.
11 seb // Aug 3, 2008 at 4:55 am
All you need are the forks, while there on the bike. You can stick anything to them to act as calipers.
12 Bookmarks for Wednesday, September 3rd — Trevor Fitzgerald // Sep 3, 2008 at 8:04 am
[...] 5 DIY Truing Stands | BikeHacksHere are 5 decent looking truing stands that you can build for cheap [...]
Leave a Comment