Why
Building a wheel is simple, right?
1. Gather parts
2. Assemble
3. Tension and True
4. Ride
Like mounting a tire, eh? Not so fast! To be worthy of our trust, a bicycle wheel needs all of its elements to be fully engaged. Jobst Brandt made the case long ago for tension balancing in The Bicycle Wheel (1981, pg 115): “If spokes are not equally tight, then they will equalize during use and cause misalignment.”
Beyond the question of stability, "Uniform spoke tension is a wheel's most important asset. Even the best rims and spokes can't make up for incorrect tension, and trueness without uniform tension is short-lived." (me, Bicycling Magazine, 3/86).
40 years later, it's still correct, so let's check how things have changed since then. Early performance rims were laminated hardwood (1890–1940), changing to aluminum as metal alloys improved. Takeaway—these made very flexible wheels, tolerated because:
• Flexibility absorbs shock, a benefit when many roads were barely paved, and
• With enough spokes (32–40) wheels could be built strong and light.
Building flexible rims is a challenge! A flexible rim offers no place for uneven tension to hide. Little need for tensiometers when rims were so transparent. Building in the '70's and 80’s, for example, meant learning on rims like Fiamme, Martano, Super Champion, and Mavic. As light as 260g, they seemed impossible at first try.
Succeeding required patience—they keep deforming in the stand, reacting to every tension, responding in unexpected ways to simple adjustments—drama queens, nearly hysterical by today's standards. Yet, with the right touch, they could be made straight and tight and win races.
A builder “listened” as the rim gave messages. The rim was your tensiometer. Success required tension applied very gradually and deliberately. Better builders were "wheel whisperers" with a sixth sense of the structure.
Survivors of that era can remember long periods of uncertainty, as a wheel might refuse to improve and you could only trudge ahead with what you knew. Sometimes you were faced with a radical wobble after a seemingly innocuous adjustment.
With patience, the structure would eventually begin feeling sound and stable. Not unlike a hiker just trusting a compass reading until the terrain becomes legible.
Today, building is so very different. Advances in aluminum extrusion and the arrival carbon fiber composites support a new era of rim strength and stiffness. Tension physics is unchanged but rims are so stiff, many run straight in spite of tension issues. While rim stiffness is a benefit, builders must more consciously address tension balancing. Imbalance can hide behind stiffness.
Tensiometers are more essential today. Own several. They are calibrated—which means they can uncalibrate.
How
Build with better components. For spokes in particular, choose carefully. Inspect a batch of spokes. Are they dirty, have different elbow shapes, uneven lengths, kinks, or bad threads? Be picky. It's more efficient to balance tension in a wheel with high quality and very uniform spokes. Your health, after all, ultimately depends on this.
Use an assembly method that favors uniformity at every step—a neat layout, a lacing jig to minimize effort, good light, and few distractions. There is no one "best" way. Be as precise and effective as you want your wheels to be!
Make sure ALL tightening and truing involves tension balancing. If you adjust with tension always in mind, you will build faster and better. Pluck spokes with a banjo pick to hear what's tighter or looser. There are also smartphone apps that display frequency, so even those with bad hearing can play!
Lastly, adopt and continuously perfect strategies for destressing, stretching, and stress relieving. Today's best wheels don't need tuneups after a few initial rides.
Download your wheel's tensions into a graphic display, a radar chart. Park is a pioneer with their own system. Wheel Fanatyk digital tensiometers interface with our own free web utility—Radar.
• The download kit uses a footpedal for input, leaving hands free for building.
• A 6' extension cable for the tensiometer is included (available separately).
• The radar chart lets gives you a clear, intuitive picture of your wheel's tension state.
• The utility features double-tap, automatic zeroing, which speeds things up.
After collecting these for a while, you'll be able to interpret at a glance, even be transported back to the day that wheel was tensioned. Other builders can see the situation in a chart without words.
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