Spoke tension meter - indispensable tool or waste of money

andyeb

So far wheel maintenance has just consisted of truing wheels with a spoke key and tightening up any spokes that have got loose enough to rattle.

However as I tend to do more tightening than loosening, I'm worried I might be putting too much tension into the wheel and I could end up breaking spokes

Is it worth investing in a spoke tension meter to check? Or are these gadgets a waste of money? They don't come cheap it seems.

At the moment I squeeze the spokes against each other to check the tension is about the same.

Monty Dog

If you're maintaining 32 or 36 spoke builds with regular rims, then checking tension by squeezing pairs of spokes is pretty effective as long as you know what 'good' feels like. When you get to low spokes counts and carbon rims which require higher tensions and more critically, even tension, then a tension meter becomes almost essential.

rrsodl

andyeb wrote:

So far wheel maintenance has just consisted of truing wheels with a spoke key and tightening up any spokes that have got loose enough to rattle.

If you find yourself having to tight spokes on a regular basis then something is not right with your wheel. Some factory wheels come under tensioned which is a tail tail sign of spokes becoming loose.

A spoke tension meter is not a waste of money in my opinion, however, if you are to tighten the odd spoke from time to time then a tension meter might just too much money to spend on a tool that will not be used enough.

You can use tone to equalise tension on spokes. You can squeeze spokes together to judge the spokes tension, but you really need to know what that feels like or have a similar wheel correctly tensioned so that you can compare. The alternative is a tension meter.

ugo.santalucia

Monty Dog wrote:

If you're maintaining 32 or 36 spoke builds with regular rims, then checking tension by squeezing pairs of spokes is pretty effective as long as you know what 'good' feels like. When you get to low spokes counts and carbon rims which require higher tensions and more critically, even tension, then a tension meter becomes almost essential.

What he says...

woolwich

I am a tension meter fan, personally I trust them more than my dodgy ears if attempting to true by tone.
However if you are just sorting the occasional loose spoke then save your money, as said by the others tone or comparison will be fine. It is highly unlikely if not impossible that you will snap a spoke by overtightening, you will pull the rim way out of shape long before you get close to the forces involved in snapping a spoke. AFAIK spoke failure is usually the result of fatigue over many cycles and not linear stress. I'm sure the others will correct me if I have this wrong.
BTW just be careful when you compare spokes that you do so like for like. By which I mean drive side spokes or non drive side, front or rear etc.. Or even disc side or not if applicable. Due to the wheels dish, the tension can/will vary massively from one side to the other.

earthvspace4XTuUWcX

I've built a few wheels over the years, usually mavic open pro rims on various hubs using double butted spokes 28 and 32 hole.Touch wood, I've never had a spoke break or any other major issue, and my wheels stay pretty true. Being a tight so and so I've never invested in a tension meter and rely on 'feel', so yes in my experience I would say they are a waste of money