X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,a771c452fe8237d9,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-02-21 13:04:07 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!nntp.flash.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsxfer.eecs.umich.edu!panix!news.panix.com!qz!not-for-mail From: Eli the Bearded <*@qz.little-neck.ny.us> Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art Subject: truing a bicycle wheel (useful ascii art) Date: 21 Feb 2001 21:02:56 GMT Organization: Some absurd concept Lines: 58 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: panix5.panix.com X-Trace: news.panix.com 982789376 18536 166.84.0.230 (21 Feb 2001 21:02:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 21 Feb 2001 21:02:56 GMT X-Files: Used for sharpening claws and teeth on your hawk and hacksaw X-Motto: "Erosion of rights never seems to reverse itself." -- kenny@panix X-US-Congress: Moronic Fucks. X-Attribution: EtB X-Usenet-II: Because it is time for October. Encrypted: double rot-13 X-Newsreader: Sony Playstation 5.0MIPS Xref: supernews.google.com alt.ascii-art:4523 One of the wheels on my bike had become fairly badly warped. Investigation revealed a broken spoke. So I called up my friend Marc, who is much better at bike repair than I am, and talked to him about it. The general theory is that the spokes alternate going to the left and right side in the center, so when one is loose or broken the tightly attached spokes from the other side pull the rim in that direction. _ /' '\ |. .| <- Tire \~/ <- Rim T <- Spoke nipples | .^, <- Spokes (two, overlapping at top) | | .| |, | | [===] <- Axel Above, the wheel in cross-section. Below in profile (imagine it to be rounded instead of straight -- I'm being lazy with the ascii-art). Key: ! nipple of broken spoke T nipple of incidental spoke 7 nipple of spoke to tighten Y nipple of spoke to loosen #^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^# INFLATE TO 85 PSI _____________________________________________________ T Y 7 Y 7 ! 7 Y 7 Y T | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (a) (b) (c) (d) (d) (c) (b) (a) a: loosen a very little b: tighten a little c: loosen a little b: tighten most (1/2 turn or so) All fine in theory, in practice it is easy to lose track of whether clockwise or counterclockwise is tightening, and what needs to be done to what spoke. Marc told me that he had never successfully 'trued' a wheel himself. He always made things worse. I managed to keep myself from being confused by using a Sharpie (permanent felt tip marker) to note on the rim what needed to be done for each spoke. So after about twenty minutes of planning and work my wheel is a lot more balanced. Elijah ------ posted ascii art to the net years ago but found none of it in current archives