Focus Mares, part 2

A slight detour was necessary after the last post.  While I was going over the rear wheel and checking spoke tensions, I saw that some of the bladed spokes were twisted at the nipple end by the rim.  Knowing where I will be riding this bike and the distance I’d have to walk if I had spokes break, I decided to relace the rear wheel with new spokes and nipples.

I ordered spokes and a tool to hold the bladed spoke while tightening the nipple, since these are straight pull spokes and the hub end can easily spin around until the tension increases.  Waiting for them to be delivered, I removed the rim tape and the old spokes and nipples.  They arrived in just a few days and I checked the spoke lengths – spot on.

It is quite easy to lace wheels with straight pull hubs, since the spoke literally points directly to the proper position on the rim.  The only change from a J bend spoke is the need to use the spoke holder to prevent the spoke from twisting as you tighten things up.  Before tightening things up, I checked the specs for the rim and found the proper range of spoke tension.  I use a Park Tool TM-1 to monitor spoke tension, so I checked the conversion table to see what the proper tension would equate to on the tool’s scale.

The wheel came up to tension nicely, no hops, and almost perfect lateral true.  A few tweaks to the dish and the lateral true, and the wheel is finished.  Next is rim tape, a valve stem, and tire mounting awaits.

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