Spoke tension amount?

OHWOW! an in field comparaarararararison of Park TM-1
and a rim-spoke-TM chart
NO WE ARE GETTING THERE EYEEYEYAHAHAHHooooo
I knew Ornee was on top of this.
I heard Dave is aligned with Turn and Taxis
TM means Trade Mark?

say bruce, I'm taken aback offering group 2 advice to a new Surly
owner but why not get a quality spoke TM?
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=2141

Also the infoflow here reminds that OUAT I brought the rear wheel into
the LBS and blew $35 on a pro trueing job.
spokes broke. too tight.

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/fuscobr...HHHnvrggYL_b4F

On Mar 25, 9:58*am, datakoll wrote:
OHWOW! an in field comparaarararararison of Park TM-1
and a rim-spoke-TM chart
NO WE ARE GETTING THERE EYEEYEYAHAHAHHooooo
I knew Ornee was on top of this.
I heard Dave is aligned with Turn and Taxis
TM means Trade Mark?


Isn't it Sturm and Taxis?

D'ohBoy

On Mar 25, 2:53*pm, "D'ohBoy" wrote:
On Mar 25, 9:58*am, datakoll wrote:

OHWOW! an in field comparaarararararison of Park TM-1
and a rim-spoke-TM chart
NO WE ARE GETTING THERE EYEEYEYAHAHAHHooooo
I knew Ornee was on top of this.
I heard Dave is aligned with Turn and Taxis
TM means Trade Mark?

Isn't it Sturm and Taxis?

D'ohBoy

no, I'm sure it's the boy racers vs the commuter tourers

Bruce W.1 wrote:
jim beam wrote:
Bruce W.1 wrote:

My 2006 Fuji Touring bicycle has aluminum rims of unknown type. This
bike has a reputation for breaking spokes while doing fully-loaded
touring. In fact I broke a couple.

So I just replaced them with Wheelsmith 2.0mm spokes and nipples.
But I'm left wondering what should be the proper tension in the spokes.

My Park TM-1 tension meter table has a range of 17 to 28 units, or 51
to 179 kilograms, or 510 to 1790 Newtons.

The tension meter says I now have about 26 units on the front spokes.
On the rear it has about 27 on the drive side, and about 21 on the
left side.

Are these good amounts of tension for fully-loaded touring? Too
tight? Too loose?

Thanks for your help.


spoke tension isn't determined by load but by the rim manufacturer.
[nor is it determined by spoke count.]

if the rims are of unknown type, you're stuck with just guesstimating
based on other rims that may appear similar for which you have been
able to get the tension data. and if the spoke tension you're using
now proves to be excessive, the rims will crack giving you a perfect
excuse to re-rim with new ones for which you /can/ get the data.
================================================== ============

The manual that came with the tension meter reinforces what you said.
The rim strength determines the spoke tension. But I have no way of
knowing what that is. So this is guesswork.

BTW, each wheel has 36 spokes.

In a moment of blinding truth it occured to me that I've got a brand new
Surly LHT sitting here, so I measured its spoke tension. It is about
the same as what I did. So I'm in the right ballpark.

ok, good. but to be pedantic, if the surly's over-tensioned, you'll be
replicating the mistake*. like others here, i think the 100kgf target
is a better place to start. #26 on your gauge is 137kgf which is high
relatively high.


* i say that because some people are mistakenly under the impression
that increasing spoke tension increases wheel strength and thus
over-tension their spokes. even some manufacturers.

On 25 Mar 2008 01:47:25 GMT, wrote:
Bruce who wrote:

My 2006 Fuji Touring bicycle has aluminum rims of unknown type.
This bike has a reputation for breaking spokes while doing
fully-loaded touring. In fact I broke a couple.

So I just replaced them with Wheelsmith 2.0mm spokes and nipples.
But I'm left wondering what should be the proper tension in the
spokes.

You didn't say how many spokes your wheel has and how heavy the rim
is. Therefore, advising how tight to make spokes has no basis. I am
sure that 1.8mm diameter spokes would most likely be better for your
use, assuming you have a reasonable number of spokes.

There's enough information to make a pretty good guess, though. Fuji
Touring, two years old; likely to still have original wheels, which
probably have 36 2.0 mm spokes per wheel.

My Park TM-1 tension meter table has a range of 17 to 28 units, or
51 to 179 kilograms, or 510 to 1790 Newtons.

The tension meter says I now have about 26 units on the front
spokes. On the rear it has about 27 on the drive side, and about 21
on the left side.

I don't understand whose tensiometer you are using and why there is
such a large span of acceptable tensions. The spokes need to be tight
enough to not go slack when you statically sit on the saddle with the
bicycle normally loaded. Bouncing on the saddle should not cause
spokes to become slack.

Whose "Park TM-1" tensiometer? RTFP!

Are these good amounts of tension for fully-loaded touring? Too
tight? Too loose?

No way to tell what tension is right, as I said.

Advise checking the calibration chart that came with the tensiometer
-- or looking it up on line. If you're pushing your book because it
lists good average tension, try quoting the preferred tension. If you
really need to know what the rim is, well, that information isn't
available, so the book won't help.

To the OP, it sounds to me like you might want to stress-relieve the
spokes, and the tension is probably a bit on the high side.

Pat

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