Just figured out why my spoke tension was all over the place

I've been building wheels for maybe 6 months now and kept getting wonky tension readings on the drive side. Turns out I was pulling the spoke wrench at a weird angle instead of straight down, which meant each spoke was getting a different amount of twist before it actually tightened. Used a buddy's Park Tool tension meter to double check and saw the pattern clear as day. Has anyone else dealt with this or found a trick to keep the wrench square every time?

2 comments

2 Comments

patking25d ago

Buddy of mine had the same problem for almost a year. He finally figured out he was holding the wrench too far back on the handle, which let it rock side to side. Switched to choking up on it like a screwdriver and his tensions finally came out even. Said it felt weird for the first few wheels but now he won't go back. Sometimes the smallest grip change makes all the difference.

white.seth25d ago

Have you ever checked if your rim is maybe a hair out of round or your spoke bed has a slight burr on it? I ran into something similar where no matter how careful I was with the wrench, one spot always felt off. Turns out the nipple seat had a tiny lip of metal that was grabbing the spoke thread and throwing off my tension readings. A quick file job solved it where changing my grip never could. Sometimes it's not your hands, it's the parts themselves playing tricks on you.