I was out riding to the doctor's office today and noticed a wobble. The cause appears to be multiple loose spokes all the way around on my rear wheel.

I tightened them up snug enough to get home, but I did not tension them. I only put enough on there to keep them from rattling if jiggled lightly. It showed no wobble on the way home and seemed fine.

Now my question is what are the chances my wheel is out of true because of the loose spokes? Can I just tighten them up using the good old technique of tighten 1/4 turn max, skip 2, tighten, skip 2...etc all the way around until they ping to the right noise instead of that thunk/dong, or would it be a wasted effort? I'm thinking it's alright because it wasn't out of true before and just started wobbling with the loose spokes, but could it have been altered now that it's come loose?

I'd appreciate the help, and any sort of info you have on spoke tensioning/truing. I would rather not have to take it in and have it trued if it's not necessary. Thanks.

 

personally.....i would take and have it trued.....your life rides on that wheel...IMO, better safe than sorry.

 

There are quite a few videos on youtube. I put the term I searched and "a" video. Check a few of them out and see if you have the desire to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...cle+wheel&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_AdHG7fGY

 

Not everyone is mechanically cripple. lol

 

i have been wrenching on bikes since i was 9..the last wheel i tried to true rubbed the fork leg as it spun around..taking it to someone that knows what they are doing is a good idea..

 

It takes a lot of practice to get it right. The HD service manual walks you through it, but a book is no substitute for skill (and patience).

 

It looks like a job for someone who has done several. I do a lot of work on my own bike, but truing the wheel, nah.

 

Thanks for the help, and that video is pretty good. I hadn't seen that one yet. I've done tons of truing on my mountain/street bicycle tires, but this is much higher speeds and bigger gage spokes so it has to be more precise.

I'm going to check the runout of the wheel today and maybe it won't be out of true at all, but if it is I'll let you guys know the route I decide to take and how it all turns out.

 

Well I took a look at it today and it's done. The spokes dug into the hub and left some very bad gouges that'll make it impossible to get true, and the rim also appears to be slightly bent. So I'm up for a new wheel.

My indy guy quoted me $300 for a factory style wheel/hub assembly. That is the best price so far. SS spokes, factory hub, bearings, etc. Do you guys have anywhere I could get a decent wire wheel to replace mine? It's the 16x3.00 40-spoke rear for the sportster.

 

So Scuba- did you hit something to get the spoke out on the wheel? What happened?