This is a bit embarrassing ... it's been years since I've trued a wheel. I'm having brain [email protected] I guess. Anyhow, if I'm facing the wheel in a stand, with the cassette on the right hand side, if I turn the spoke clockwise (as i look down on it) it makes the spoke tighter, right?
Basic wheel truing question
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Exactly. I find it helpful to think of it as being opposite the left pedal.
Seriously though. You generally don't turn the spoke, you turn the nipple. The nipple screws onto the spoke like a normal right-handed nut onto a bolt.
If the OP grabs a nut and a bolt and holds it to mimic a nipple and spoke, it will be clear which way to turn the "nut" for whatever way you want it to go..
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At least it should be clear ;-)
Anyway, presuming he meant "turn the nipple" rather than the "spoke," he was already correct.
It doesn't matter which side the cassette is on.
I'd rather have mine on the right
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If you're looking down on the nipple from the hub toward the rim and turn the nipple clockwise, the spoke will get looser. You are basically screwing the nipple off the spoke.
Agreed. We are saying the same thing. With a nipple near the bottom of the wheel, just at the feeler guages on most truing stands, and viewing it with the DS on my right, when I turn my spoke wrench toward my right, I am tightening the spoke and a turn to my left loosens the spoke.
OK, so to be clear, turning the nipple clockwise as I look down on it tightens the spoke? Does it matter how the wheel is oriented? If the cassette is on the RHS, I'm looking at the wheel from the back (if it were on the bike). Would it be the other way around if the cassette is on the LHS? I'm thinking not.
Yes, I meant nipple, not spoke. The spoke is not supposed to turn. I did drop some oil on each nipple head to make sure the spoke didn't get wound up. They're bladed spokes, so its easy to see if the spoke turns.
I can't believe I've completely forgotten this stuff. Years ago I built a few sets of wheels that worked reasonably well.
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c'mon guys, it's not that hard. you're basically screwing a nut onto a bolt, in simple terms. picture that and you'll be fine. if you still can't figure it out, turn it one way and see what happens...if it's what you want to happen, you're good. if not...:idea:
I told 'em that in a previous post but it didn't do any good.
Never understood "righty tighty". One side moves left, one side moves right!
If you are struggling with the concept tightening nuts or bolts, "right hand" threads, which are the normal ones, follow the "right hand rule". Put your hand out like you are gonna shake. Curl your fingers in the direction you are turning the nipple. You'll either end up with a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". The direction your thumb points is the direction that the nipple/bolt/nut moves.
If you are struggling with the concept tightening nuts or bolts, "right hand" threads, which are the normal ones, follow the "right hand rule". Put your hand out like you are gonna shake. Curl your fingers in the direction you are turning the nipple. You'll either end up with a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". The direction your thumb points is the direction that the nipple/bolt/nut moves.
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Still not clear. I don't know what you mean by "look down on it." Are you looking at a nipple that's on the far side of the wheel, so that you're looking past the hub at it? Clockwise would loosen in that event. Like you're looking at a nut from the bolt-head end, so turning clockwise moves the nut away from you, thus away from the bolt head, thus loosening it.
Never mind. Just think as Mike and cx advised you. It's a nut, threading onto a bolt (the spoke) in the normal right-had fashion. If you thread it on further, it shortens (tightens, pulls on) the spoke.
cdh, my truing stand has its feeler gauges up at eye level, close to me. when I adjust a nipple that's near the gauge, I'm looking "down" on the spoke "through" the rim (so to speak). In that position, clockwise tightens.
I think there was a similar discussion here about cable adjusters a while back. It's all just instinctive to me now, so I have trouble explaining it in words. Hands on, I'm confident I could make just about anybody get it in 30 seconds.
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depends...on tension, and what the rim is doing. there is no way to answer a question like that in such general terms. you need to check the tension, then look at what direction the rim is going. most of the time the rim isn't just moving purely side-to-side, it will have some vertical movement as well.
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