Makeshift or Emergency Wheel Truing

In preparation for the upcoming race this weekend, I was giving my bike a little tune-up. It came to my attention that the wheels needed servicing, but without a truing stand it's just plain annoying trying to do any truing or tensioning. With rim brakes you can use your brake pads as a rough indicator for truing, but on my mountain bike with discs there's no obvious/simple way of doing it. I did a little bit of research online and came across a good tip I thought I'd share. I tried it out and it worked pretty good for lateral (side-to-side) truing. This method is very simple and can be done anywhere from your workshop to the side of the trail for emergencies.

All you'll need is:

• 4 zip ties
• Scissors/wire cutters
• Spoke Wrench
• Basic knowledge of wheel truing (PARK TOOL's GUIDE) 

Basic Steps:

1. Secure your bike, either in a workstand or by flipping it upside down, such that the wheels can spin freely and are comfortably accessible.
2. Attach a zip tie to each side of your fork/seatstay parrallel at the same spot as the rim.
3. Orient the zip tie such that the end you'd normally cut off sticks out and comes in contact with the side of your rim.
4. You can either leave the zip tie as-is (depending on the length of the zip tie), or cut it so that it just touches the rim in a spot that isn't too out of wack.
5. Go ahead and true your wheel using the two zip ties as references for the lateral movement of the rim.
6. Cut the zip ties off your bike once you're satisfied.

WARNING:
This method in no way replaces a proper wheel servicing done in a good wheel truing stand. It can only get your wheel roughly laterally true. This method does not facilitate truing your wheel radially either, so make sure you don't mess up your wheel more than when you started. I like to make sure I compensate for any tightening by loosening the opposite spoke by the same amount, in an attempt to minimize any effect on the radial "trueness" of the wheel. If you're unsure about any of that stuff, consult that Park Tools link again.



Photo from Park Tool Site