A spoked wheel can be safely called one of the most classic elements of your bike, as it is installed on most modern bicycles. This wheel configuration includes:

• center sleeve
• spokes

In the process of long-term operation, the wheel is subjected to significant stress and over time can be deformed. Therefore, every cyclist should be able to independently fix simple problems.

What is an eight?

The deformation of the wheel is called "eight" in the event that part of the rim deviates from the plane of rotation. With such a malfunction, you can ride a bicycle, but there will be no pleasure from such a walk. Moreover, over time, the figure eight will lead to the fact that the rim will completely become unusable and will need to be replaced with a new one. Therefore, it is better not to delay and fix the problem immediately after it is identified.

How to correctly identify the presence of eight?

If you begin to suspect that the wheel is deformed, the first thing to do is to find the place of the rim curvature. This can be done in two ways:

• visual
• contact

In the first case, you simply spin the wheel intensively and determine the curved section. It will constantly move away from the plane of rotation. At this point, you need to grab the wheel with your hand and mark the deformed area with a marker.
Preferring the contact method, you take the marker and rotate the wheel to run it along the rim. The marker should make a full circle and after that you will clearly see the place of deformation.

how to identify eight

How to eliminate the eight?

After you have determined the area of ​​\u200b\u200bdeformation, the only thing left is to eliminate the figure eight. You can easily do it yourself without asking for help from specialists.
There are two main ways to eliminate the eight:

• Force method
• Lift method

Correction of the eight by force

Experienced cyclists do not really trust this method and resort to it if the deformation of the wheel caught them suddenly on the road and they need to fix the problem in order to get to their destination.
In order to correct the figure eight by force, it is necessary to remove the wheel from the frame, turn the deformed section towards you and firmly grab the rim and tire on both sides. Knee press the area of ​​deformation and with maximum strength we press ourselves.
It is difficult to call this method effective due to the following reasons:

• You will not be able to eliminate small bulges
• There is a risk of bending the rim to the other side
• Eliminating the eight with this method is very inconvenient
• Some rims are simply not subjected to human force

Elimination of adjustment by tightening the spokes

This method is more popular among cyclists, because it allows you to achieve excellent results in the form of perfectly even wheels. To work, you will definitely need a special spoke wrench, which can be freely purchased at any bicycle equipment store.
In most cases, rim curvature is due to a general loosening of the spokes. In this case, we alternately tighten them by about one turn. If the spokes are weakened specifically at the place of deformation, carefully tighten those that are in the immediate vicinity of the curvature. We start from the center. It is necessary to twist the spokes in the direction opposite to the bulge.
Having mastered this simple method once, you can quickly and accurately fix the problem and enjoy the fast ride on your favorite bike!

The comfort of cycling depends on many factors. And intelligently assembled wheels play an important role in this. After all, a high-quality assembly of the rim with a central sleeve provides perfect shape wheels. A real cyclist should always be ready to perform this simple, but requiring patience and attention operation.

Types of placement of spokes in the wheel

In practice, two types of spoke arrangement are used - one radial, the other cross. Radial gives a small gain in terms of aesthetics, but lags far behind in terms of mechanics. This method can only be used for front wheels with a brake on the rim. It is not at all suitable for transmitting torque between the hub and the wheel periphery.

The cross method of wheel assembly is recognized as the most functional in the entire history of the operation of equipment. It optimally transfers the mechanical loads that occur during movement.

The choice of the type of placement of the spokes greatly affects the process of completing the wheel, especially initial stage. After all, the selection of spokes for a bicycle, installation and adjustment depend on this.

Where does assembly begin?

side bicycle wheels it is necessary to start with the selection of all components and tools. In this case, you need to take into account the difference between the front and rear wheels. If our front is symmetrical, then everything is much more complicated with the back.

The drive to the sprocket makes you take into account the possible nuances of the central sleeve. The main difficulty at this stage is to decide on the long spokes, taking into account the indicated features of the front and rear wheels. As a result of the first stage, we should have selected: a rim, an axial sleeve, spokes with nipples of a suitable length, and from the tool - a spoke wrench and a screwdriver.

Bicycle spokes: installation

With the cross method, it is useful to distinguish two types of spokes in the direction of their installation: leading and tail. The leading ones are placed in the direction of rotation, and the tail ones are against. Starting the assembly, it is necessary to insert the spokes from the outside into the holes of the right flange of the sleeve through one, and they should come out from the side of the countersink. They will become tails.

Then on the rim we find the exit slot for the nipple of the camera. We select the hole that goes along the right side of the rim, and fix the first spoke there. When screwing the nipple, do not forget to use lubricant, this will subsequently facilitate broaching and adjustment. Initially, everything is baited for a couple of turns.

The next needle is attached to the fourth hole clockwise. Similarly, we repeat the procedure on all tails on the right side. A quarter of the holes will be occupied on the rim and three free ones between them.

Then we proceed to the installation of the tail left side. We turn the wheel over and start again from the camera output. Only now we put the needle in the hole on the left side of the rim and on the other side of the lead. You will get a location next to the first one with a slight shift. We do the same with the rest of the tails on the left side. Do not forget that they are also inserted into the flange from the outside.

Now we come to the installation of the leading spokes:

• They will be inserted from the inside of the flange.
• Each leader will cross with three tails of its side.
• It crosses the first two from the outside, and starts under the last one from the inside.
• The order of installation of the leading ones is not important, the rules of intersections are observed.

The second stage will end when we get a fully assembled wheel, and the nipples on the spokes are just baited.

Tension and shape adjustment

This stage requires a responsible approach, and does not like haste. It begins with tightening the nipples an equal number of turns. It is better to go around the rim several times, increasing the tightening by one turn. For ease of adjustment, the leading knitting needles at the last intersection can be slightly bent.

When the backlash is selected on all the spokes, it's time to control the shape. The wheel should not have deviations from the plane of symmetry of the "umbrella" type; end and side beating ("ellipse" and "eight").

All these deviations are removed by loosening one and tightening the other spokes in accordance with the necessary geometry adjustment.

At the end of all adjustments, we check that the tips of the spokes do not protrude from the nipples. If necessary, we work with a file.

There is an opinion among novice cyclists (and not so much) that editing eights is something that borders on magic, and the average person does not need to do this.

When my first 100-pound wrecking bike started rimming my maxed-out vibrakes because of the eights, something had to be done.

The only bike shop in our town had just closed, and I was trying to get advice from my repair-savvy friends who had bought these junk bikes a little before me.

Everyone agreed in one opinion: a specialist should rule the eights, otherwise "it will be worse." What could be worse, when everything was already very bad for me, I did not understand. Therefore, I purchased a key for knitting needles, sat down on the Internet and began to put into practice the instructions I read.

The most surprising thing for me was that I straightened the eights. From the very first time. And I hope with this article to prove to my beginner cycling readers that this is not difficult at all. I do not want to say that I became a wheel guru. On the contrary, I don’t know how to assemble wheels from scratch - experience and flair are needed here.

Let's start. Of course, you don't have a wheel builder, so all you need is a spoke wrench and chalk. Do not try to twist the spoke nipples with pliers - you will tear off the edges.

1. If you have an ordinary figure eight, that is, lateral runout, then there is no need to remove the tire. Just flip the bike upside down and sit next to me, the process will be long.

2. The first step is to determine the degree of curvature of the rim. If you have vibrakes, then everything is simple - bring them to the minimum distance so that the rim only slightly touches the block in the most protruding place. Spinning the wheel, you immediately see which way the rim led.

If the brakes are disc, then rest something like a screwdriver or pen on the feathers and bring it to the rim. At this stage, we just look at how much curvature and in which direction.

3. Take the chalk, and resting your hand on the feathers, lean it with force against the most protruding section of the rim. Slowly twist, making sure that the hand with the chalk is stationary. Thus, it turns out that in the place of the greatest curvature, the chalk trail is most pronounced, losing strength and completely disappearing towards the edges of the figure eight.

4. Determine the center of the eight, and find the most central spoke. If the rim is pulled to the right, then that spoke will attach to the right side of the hub, and vice versa.

5. Logic dictates that the direction in which the rim went need to loosen. This is correct, but the trick is that the opposite side must be simultaneously pulled by exactly the same force. If this is not done, then the rim can lead in the radial direction, and it will be more difficult to straighten it.

6. The central spoke of the figure eight (in our case, the one with right side bushings), loosen half a turn. Trick: always with knitting needles you need to do this: if you want to turn it half a turn, then turn it three quarters and return it a quarter back. This is necessary in order to so that the nipple "sits down".

7. On each side of the central knitting needle (we have the right one, since the figure eight is right), two knitting needles will be left. Pull them up exactly the same number of turns.

8. Move on to the edges of the figure eight (just do not confuse which knitting needles you have already touched). But with each new "layer" of spokes reduce the number of turns. If, for example, you started with half a turn, then you can finish with 1/8.

9. Now spin the wheel, press the chalk again and see what happens. It won't work very well at first. If you overdid it, then the eight may take the opposite direction, it can also break up into two small eights.

10.Continue in the same spirit until you've got it all. For disc brakes, you don’t have to try too hard: minor eights can only influence the opinion of aesthetes. On vibrakes, you need to bring the rim into perfect condition.

11. When, nevertheless, after a long time you managed to achieve your goal, pull the wheel out of the frame, remove the eccentric and lay it flat on the floor. With your sleeve on the floor, grasp the rim with both hands and press with all your weight on the wheel. Then take another place on the rim and repeat. Then turn the wheel over and start over.

You can hear crackling - don't be scared, it's shrinking spokes. After such a procedure, you need to check again for eights, and if something appears, then correct it again and “seat”.

After all these operations, you will again have an even wheel, like from a store. No need to go to a bike mechanic, waste time and money. Gradually, you will get so used to correcting figure eights that you will do it in literally five minutes, without any chalk, by eye.

Radial runout (ellipse, egg)

Editing the figure eight, popularly called the “egg”, is somewhat more difficult.

1. First of all, remove the tire to make sure the curve is a rim and not rubber as is often the case.

2. On an upside-down bicycle, spin the wheel, and placing an object on top, mark with chalk the area of ​​the rim that this object lifts. Try to localize the very center, the main spoke.

3. Now you have to follow three directions at the same time: start to loosen the tension, starting from the central spoke, tighten the adjacent two spokes exactly the same number of turns so that there is no figure eight and tighten the spokes at the opposite end of the wheel to prevent the egg from appearing elsewhere.

It seems very complicated (it is), and only experience is needed here. You need to understand that you won’t wind up anything particularly terrible, and you can always start all over again, loosening, and then evenly pulling all the knitting needles.

4. Exactly the same as in the case of the figure eight. after straightening the egg you need to "seat" the knitting needles pressing on them with all your weight.

Editing "Umbrella"

There is also such a thing - "umbrella". Look, most likely, the rim of your wheel is not perfectly aligned in the middle of the hub, but shifted to one side. This is called an "umbrella". The values ​​of this offset depend on the type of brakes and the design of the frame.

You need to edit the "umbrella" in the same way as the eights - pull the spokes of one side, and loosen the spokes of the other by the same force. Only here, in contrast to the editing of eights, the effort should not fade, but stay straight all around.

How to change a broken knitting needle

The spokes tend to break, so when going on a hike, even if it is completely asphalt, it makes sense to take spare heels with you. Please note that if the spoke is broken on the side on which the cassette is installed, then it will have to be removed. And this means that you must have at least a special slotted and adjustable wrench. A whip, if anything, can be replaced with a rag.

1. To change the needle, you have to take the cover off. Remove also rim tape(which serves to protect the tube from the spoke holes in the rim). Pull the broken needle up.

2.Insert a new spoke into the spoke hole in the hub.. In order to reach the hole in the rim, you will have to bend it thoroughly - do not panic, this is essentially a wire, it will become straight again under tension.

3. Examine the knitting pattern, your new one should fit in exactly the same way - repeat the same algorithm, as on other spokes.

4. Insert the nipple from above, screw it into the thread of the spoke, pull. If several are broken, then do the same work.

5. Align the figure-eights and "shrink" the needles.

If the spokes constantly fly out, and even on the one hand, then the point here may be (except for overload) that some spokes are strongly tightened and take on more load.

Need a strain gauge, a device that measures the tension of the spokes, it is in any bike workshop. If you are in the field, then release all the knitting needles, and begin to evenly (to the touch) pull them.

It happens that the rim is very curved, and in order to straighten the figure eight, you have to tighten the spokes of one side strongly - they fly out when a certain load threshold is exceeded. Then it is better to put up with some eight.

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The need to tighten the spokes on a bicycle does not often arise, but if you need to do this, use our tips to help you figure out how to tighten the spokes on a bicycle.

Correct spoke tension

The causes of problems that require spoke tension can be the following problems:

• change in the shape of the rim (appearance of the figure eight);
• loosening the tension of the wheel spokes.

How to tighten the spokes on a bicycle correctly?

Stretching knitting needles at home is not an easy job and you will have to spend a sufficient amount of time on this operation, especially if you have started repairs for the first time. To successfully complete this task, special tools should be prepared, without which it will not work to tighten the spokes on a bicycle. To adjust the spokes you must purchase:

• special key for adjustment;
• a device that allows balancing;
• a set of wrenches for dismantling the wheel;
• screwdrivers.

Details for stretching

Work sequence

Initially, you should dismantle the wheel and install it in a special device that allows you to balance it. If you can't find such a device, simply turn the bike over and install it on the handlebars and seat without removing the wheels. To check how the spokes are tensioned, we make a swinging movement. Thus, it is necessary to check all elements, the deviation of the free play should not exceed 2 mm.

Stretching process

Each problematic detail should be marked, for example, with a piece of electrical tape.

Using a special key, tighten the weakened elements to the required level, everyone needs equal tension. These structural elements should be tensioned on a bicycle to the same length, in order to understand whether you did it correctly, it is enough to count the number of threads remaining after tensioning the nipples.

If you do not initially set the tension of the nipples at the same level, you will not be able to get a reliable picture of the curvature of the rim.

spoke fastening

After a full pull, the rim will most likely show a curvature in the form of an eight, horizontal runout may appear. To eliminate these problems, we use a special device for centering. If the device is not available, it is necessary to determine the boundaries of the curvature using chalk, for which we fix the crayon in such a way that when the wheel is rotated, a trace remains on its rim. Thus, we find the deviation peak, with which we will have to work in the future.

If a hump is detected on the right side at a width of four spokes, two of them at the left flange should be tightened half a turn. Two more pieces at the right flange are given half a turn. Thus, we achieve the alignment of the rim to the left side. If there are not four, but three knitting needles on the hump, we tighten the first one by half a turn, and release two by a quarter.

By following these steps in sequence, you can eliminate the horizontal curvature in the form of a figure eight.

Eight Correction

To start debugging the rim and eliminate the vertical runout (ellipse), it is enough to apply the chalk again, but this time we draw it from the edge of the wheel to the center, as a result determining the strongest deviation. The strongest deviation, determined as a result of checking with chalk, is eliminated by tightening the nipples where the sleeve hole is. When there are three spokes in the place of the problem, we tighten the middle one by half a turn, and lower the extreme ones by a quarter. With an even number of parts in the center of the curvature, everything is pulled up by half a turn.

Tension check

How much tension do you need to tighten the spokes?

The final alignment of the tension on the wheel is recommended to be performed only after the problems with the curvature of the rim have been resolved. It is impossible to allow such a situation when some of the spokes are relaxed, and some are tightened like a string until they ring.

Incorrectly assembled wheel. The spoke should come to the other side of the flange.

As mentioned above, the main criterion for the correct tension is the deviation of the element when it fluctuates up to 2 mm.

Tension and balancing are performed correctly, if during shrinkage no extraneous sounds are heard in the form of crackling or squeaking.

Wheel lacing is a problem that any cyclist will face sooner or later, regardless of the experience and skill level of cycling. Collecting the wheel may seem like a difficult task at first glance. You should stock up on patience and time - everything about everything will take at least an hour, or even two or three. By the way, self assembly wheels is also good because for yourself you will never hack and skip some operations in order to save time and effort.

What is the knitting needle

There are two most popular types of wheel spokes - radial and cross. Radial lacing is used only for assembling the front wheels, which will be equipped with rim brakes. The radial pattern has a significant drawback - a wheel with such a spoke experiences highest load in the vertical direction. And, perhaps, the only advantage of this option can be called pleasing to the eye. appearance.

Much more versatile and functional is the cross spoke. Cross lacing may look less impressive, but it allows you to achieve the most adequate response to the braking and rotational force from the hub. With this option, even the most serious load from braking and pedaling is transferred to the stretching of the spokes.

Very rarely mixed knitting is used. This option is something between the radial and cross methods.

Having decided on the type of spokes, you can safely begin the process of assembling the wheel. It is divided into several stages.

Stage one. Finding the Right Needle Length

It is very important to choose bicycle spokes suitable length. In this regard, there are far fewer problems with the front wheel - here the spokes on both sides are the same length. The rear is much more difficult. Multiple speeds set to rear wheel, complicate its centering. The spokes will have different lengths and angles. To determine the appropriate length, special calculators have been created that allow you to calculate the necessary parameters online.

Stage two: Installation

For successful stuffing of the wheel you will need:

• Rim;
• spokes;
• Sleeve;
• Screwdriver.

If you have to re-spoke the wheel for the first time, then pay special attention to the fact that the holes on the rim are slightly offset (tilted) to the sides. The spokes from the right flange of the bushing must be inserted into the holes that are shifted to the right, and from the left flange - to the left. Half of the spokes of each flange are among the leading ones. The other half are tail.

• The leading spokes are those that are directed in the direction of rotation of the rim. As a rule, they are indicated by shades of blue.
• Tail spokes - directed against the rotation of the wheel. Most often they are indicated by shades of red.

The tail spoke is installed first, which must pass inside the flange. It should be inserted from the outside of the right flange and guided into the rim hole offset to the right, which is located next to the spool hole. The nipple must be closed a few turns so that the spoke cannot fall out. The next spoke should be directed into the hole of the same flange, the next - three holes after the first one installed.

The next step is to rotate the bicycle wheel so that it is in front of the left flange of the hub. The second inserted group of spokes will also be tail. You need to turn the rim so that the spool is at the top. We pay attention to the very first installed spoke - if it is in the first hole after the spool, then the first spoke of the left flange should be located to the left, if the first one is installed in the second hole after the spool, then the first spoke of the left flange should be located on the left.

When all the tail spokes are in place, you can move on to the leading ones. We turn the bicycle wheel towards us with the right flange. The installation of the leading spokes is made with inside flange. They can be inserted into any hole. After that, turn the sleeve clockwise so that the leading spoke intersects with the three tail ones. It is important that it crosses the first two with outside, and the third - from the inside. It may need to be bent slightly to install. There is nothing wrong with that. The rest of the leading spokes are installed in the same way.

Illustrative video:

Stage three. Tension adjustment

The first step is to make an initial adjustment, which implies uniform twisting of all nipples. Be sure to ensure that all nipples are twisted by the same number of revolutions - the spokes should have the same tension. Usually the leading spokes are curved near the flange. Before starting the tensioning procedure, they must be bent by hand by pressing each spoke near the flange.

The final tension should be carried out after the end of the initial adjustment. Proper tension will ensure that the wheel does not vibrate when driving, which is very important for comfortable movement.

Summing up, we can safely say that wheel spokes are far from the most difficult procedure. If you are confident that you can handle the knitting, have sufficient patience, skills, knowledge and skills, then this procedure will not be a problem.