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Don Klipstein

In article ,
wrote:

Some moron left a pretty decent bike on my lawn (short version) and it
needed a few repairs so I did 'em.. I'm left with one I'm not sure how
to do. The tires have a wobble. Is there a method to the madness of
adjusting the spokes to help alleviate those wobbles??

Get a spoke wrench. Do not use an adjustable wrench or vice grips -
those will probably mash or round the square parts of the spoke nipples
(the "nuts" that hold the spokes in the rim).

Where the rim is too far to the right, tighten the spokes on the left
side and loosen the ones on the right side.

And vice versa.

Go gradually - I usually tighten/loosen by half a turn at a time,
sometimes 1 turn at a time.

Also, see of spokes that would be tightened have some loose and some
tight - and just tighten the loose ones that need to pull the rim toward
their side. And amone ones to loosen, do not loosen ones that are already
close to lacking tension.

Don't worry about tension being perfectly even. It may be somewhat
uneven if the rim has any bent areas that the spokes have to work against.

And after riding the bike for about a week, check the spokes again.

And if you go to a bike shop for tools or replacement parts - don't call
a wheel a tire. A tire is just the outer rubber part.
And don't call the whole wheel excluding the tire and inner tube a rim -
the rim is just the hooplike part between the spokes and the tire & inner
tube.

- Don Klipstein )