My Level’s spokes - Take Note

[Brockrock]

I have just shy of 400 miles on my Level, and maybe 50 miles ago, I began hearing my spokes creak each time I initially got onto the bike for a ride, and during yesterday’s ride, I began hearing them intermittently creak as I powered up steep hills in my usual PAS 2.

Inspection revealed that the rear non-drive side spokes were all much looser than the drive side spokes to the point that some nipples could be moved around while moving the spokes side to side. On the front wheel, it was just the opposite as the drive side spokes were all looser than their opposites.

I don’t claim to have figured out all of the nuances related to wheel truing, so I was a bit nervous putting tool to spoke, but I began with the rear making 1/4 turns working all around from the air stem, and I had used a pair of tie wraps on the wheel forks to gauge the wheel’s trueness. There was some rubbing after that requiring a bit of tightening of the opposite spokes here and there, and I repeated those steps a couple of times, but in the end, the wheel was very true, and all spokes seemed properly and equally tensioned. I then repeated the process on the front with the same results, and it even cleared up a brake rubbing issue on the front that I could not get rid of. Today’s ride evidenced no spoke sounds at all, and I am pretty sure that I avoided what would have been broken spokes - at least in the rear - before too long.

 

[AdamT]

The non-drive spokes are supposed to be looser than the drive-side spokes. That's what they call "dishing," which is necessary to center the wheel in the frame. The added width of the transmission gears makes the wheel asymmetrical along the length of the axle. Tightening the spokes on the drive side pulls the rim into symmetry along the axle's axis.

 

[Brockrock]

The non-drive spokes are supposed to be looser than the drive-side spokes. That's what they call "dishing," which is necessary to center the wheel in the frame. The added width of the transmission gears makes the wheel asymmetrical along the length of the axle. Tightening the spokes on the drive side pulls the rim into symmetry along the axle's axis.

They were too loose though. I used tie wraps on the forks carefully clipped and placed to maintain wheel position, and just properly tensioned the loose spokes. They are a bit looser still, but not such that the nipples shuck around.