Reading this TM-1 right...

[Dead Man]

Hola..

So I went ahead and built up these gel280s anyway. Relax.... I'm also building a set of 32h Reflexes, but I just wanted to see what I could do with the gels, so I did. Finished weight came in higher than I expected... spokes ended up being 7g ea instead of 5.something, probably because the combination of 9000 hub and short rim with 3x called for a 304mm spoke.. I also miss-remember the 9000 rear hub weight - estimated 220g but ended up weighing in at 247g. But they're still light as fawk @ 1280g.

Anyway... obviously with this rim, the crux is spoke tension. Just want to make sure I'm doing this right:

Chart says 1.8mm steel spokes I'm looking at something between 19-20 on the TM-1 for a tension of 85-94. My target max tension is 9N.... because I have nothing else to go on (any suggestions there also welcome, but I'm finding absolutely nothing for a recommended tension for the gel280). Sound right?

Assuming that's right, my next question is this - should I be trusting the TM-1's initial reading? 'Cause I notice that if you even very lightly tap it after you set it on the spoke, it'll ease up and give you a reduced figure. You can taptaptaptap on it until it stops easing up.... so which number is the right number?

And finally... how much variation should you get from spoke to spoke? 'Cause all trued up, round, dished, and relieved, I'm still getting quite a bit of variation from spoke to spoke, especially on the non-drive side, but even on the drive-side. Most are right between 19-20, where it needs to be, but a couple jump up to a hair over 20 and couple are down closer to 17-18. Is that within acceptable limits, er wut?

Thanks gentlemen.

-B

[Dead Man]

OR.... is the variation in spoke tension just my own ignorance? This is my first time using a tensiometer.. perhaps I missed the point. 'Cause sitting here thinking about it, I guess tension could be improved by just better balancing out tension from left to right. The way I did it was to dish/tension the drive side, then I tossed the TM-1 aside and rounded/trued via feel, paying no attention to tension.

Maybe I ought to go back at it, this time using the tensiometer to maintain balance from right to left as I true?

[Black Dog]

Your tension is close. I would aim for even tension that gets the wheel within 1mm of true up and down and side to side. You can then dial in the trueness while keeping a close eye on the tension. Tension is more important and being out of true a little bit will still be less than the variance in the tires especially in terms of the up and down. Side to side is more important due to brake rub. It sounds like you are almost there and getting low tension wheels to have even tension is not easy. As for the meter, if you are tapping then make sure you repeat the same tapping procedure for each spoke or you will get varied readings. I find that the park meter gives good readings if I release the lever very quickly. I also try and get it as close to the centre of the spoke as possible.

[Dead Man]

OK... I went back over, reset tension to ~9.4N all across the drive side, then made true adjustments using non-drive only. This popped me out of round, so I obviously did have to adjust tension on both sides to de-hop it, but now everything measures to within .5 N of my target N. Actually, it's a little on the high side, since the device only reads in whole numbers and "20" was a lot easier target to hit than some imaginary line between 19 and 20.. hope it's not too much.

Just more motivation to get back under, and stay under 150lbs. :o