My father was frugal, so all the bikes I and my sisters got as kids were
from police auctions, and all needed repair. My father made me help
with the repairs, and I did the same thing with my kids; its a good way
to spend time with your kids.

Almost all the bikes we got had wobbly wheel issues, and the problem was
with the rim, not with the tires. So step one was to measure the
length of the spokes, then visit the bike shop and buy a dozen
replacements and a spoke wrench. The next step was to remove the tire
and inspect the rim. If the rim had clear problems, such as a bend in
he metal, or rust, we usually bought a new rim. You can probably clean
up rust, but there isn't much you can do if the metal is bent. With the
tire off, check for broken or loose spokes. Replace broken ones, and
snug up loose ones, but you will have to do further snugging or
loosening later.

The next step was to figure out the cause of the wobble. We only ever
looked for two things: is the rim flat perpendicular its axis (does it
wobble side to side), and is it round, not oval shaped (if someone has
overtightened the spokes at 90 and 270 degrees, for example, the rim
would have a greater radius at 180 and 0 degrees, and would wobble
accordingly. Lacking special tools, we would just stand the bike upside
down, and hold a marker (grease pencils are good, but I've used a common
desk pencil) fixed on a frame arm while you spin the wheel; the pencil
will mark where the rim is closer to that part of the frame arm and
leave the rest unmarked. Do this from both sides of the bike, to get
marks that will show you where the rim has to be pulled one way or
another. Also do it from a member above the frame, to see if it is too
oval, and where the high points are.

We always addressed the sides first, then checked if it was oval after
we got it flat (perpendicular to the axis). I don't know why we did it
in that order, but it seemed to work well.

By tightening and loosening the appropriate spokes, you can eventually
get the rim true, but usually this means doing it once, removing the
pencil marks, and then doing it again, and possibly again, as each
adjustment will affect other areas.

Its probably more efficient to take it to a bike shop, unless you like
doing stuff like this, and/or want to spend some time working with your
child. Around here most of the bike shops seem to look down on such
work, unless you have a state-of-the-art bike, but we still have one
place that has been here for years (it was where my father took me) that
is happy to work on any bike, but all their people are getting old and
I'm not sure how long they will stay in business.

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??

TIA