Loose spokes.

[bulliedawg]

I did some work on my Cane Creek wheels today. The spoke tension on the front wheel was good and even on both sides. But the spoke tension on the non-drive-side on the back wheel was amazingly loose. In fact, four of the spokes were just sitting their doing nothing. I was stunned that the spokes were so loose, and I was further stunned that the wheel was still true.

Does anyone have an explaination for A) Why the rear wheel stayed so true despite the looseness, and B) Why the spokes on the rear non-drive-side would get so loose. I would think that the drive side would be the first to get loose since it undergoes the most stress.

[Needs Help]

B) Why the spokes on the rear non-drive-side would get so loose.

Because they are loose to begin with? I noticed the same thing on my rear wheel last summer.

[Peter]

What occurred is typical of severely dished rear wheels. With apologies, your assumption is wrong and what you've experienced is unfortunately common.

Due to the severe offset required to accommodate 9/10 cassettes, spoke tension differences between drive and non-drive spokes is considerable. It is also common that although you find several non-drive spokes loose, the wheel is still true. I don't know the engineering explanation for it, but I've observed it numerous times. It is NOT a dangerous situation.

One technique I've learned to alleviate such conditions or perhaps to prevent them from occuring, is done during the building process. You can carry over the technique to truing your Cane Creek wheel.

In a properly built tensioned rear wheel, you'll find it difficult to bring the gear side spokes up to tension; the gear side spokes will be almost impossible to turn, while the non-gear spokes will be very easy to turn. So build/tension/ true your wheel as you normally would. When you think the wheel is done, LOOSEN the NON-GEAR spokes about 1 full turn. You should then be able to TIGHTEN the gear side spokes 1 full turn. Now the wheel will be straight, but dished to the right. Finally, using ONLY the non-gear spokes, bring the wheel back to center.

This will bring the non-gear spokes up to satisfactory tension, without having to touch the gear side spokes which you may find too difficult to turn without rounding nipples. I do not believe this method nor the 1 full turn recommended will over tension the wheel, leading to fractured spoke holes and poor wheel life. It should bring the non-gear spokes up to a more satisfactory tension level, so your less likely to encounter the loose spoke condition.