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That fancy wheel truing stand was a waste for me, cheap fork trick works better
Been building wheels for like 8 years now, mostly budget stuff for commuters and kids bikes. Last spring I dropped $260 on one of those nice truing stands with the dial gauge and all that. Figured it would make things faster. Honestly its been sitting in the corner for 6 months now. I keep going back to the old way I learned from a guy in Tacoma who ran a shop out of his garage. You just flip the bike upside down, use a zip tie as a pointer on the fork, and spin the wheel. For 90% of the work, especially with cheaper rims, that gets me within a millimeter and I can feel the hop with my thumb anyway. The stand is more precise sure, but it takes setup and leveling and honestly most of my customers just want the wheel to not rub on the brake pads. Has anyone else gone back to the low tech method after buying the expensive tool? Or am I the only one who finds those stands more fuss than theyre worth for everyday repair work?
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danielh812d ago
That line about the stand sitting in the corner for 6 months got me, mine's been holding up a half torn apart derailleur for a year now. I did the same thing, dropped real money on a Park stand with the dial and everything, and now I just flip the bike and zip tie a pencil to the fork like some kind of caveman. The dial gauge is great until you realize a commuter rim with a bad weld is never gonna read true no matter how long you fiddle with it. Spoke wrench and a thumb on the fork gets Mrs. Patterson's cruiser back on the road in ten minutes flat. The stand mostly impresses the guys who come in wanting to talk about their carbon race wheels.
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