Spoke Tension on RipCurrent S

E

Earl Furman

New Member
Region
USA
Does anyone know the "correct" spoke tension for the RipCurrent S wheels?
Maybe using the ParkTool TM-1, or similar?

I found a lose spoke on my front wheel after about 1300 miles and tensioned it to sort-of-average of the other spokes on the front wheel, but would like to know if there is some ideal tension for the RCS 13G front and 12G rear spokes. Interested also in left-right rear spoke tension difference.
If this "ideal" tension is unknown does anyone know who is the rim manufacturer? Maybe that could help find this measurement
 
there is no way to know because you don't know what spokes they use what the rim is. a good mechanic can work it out with experience.
 
Earl Furman said:
Does anyone know the "correct" spoke tension for the RipCurrent S wheels?
Maybe using the ParkTool TM-1, or similar?

I found a lose spoke on my front wheel after about 1300 miles and tensioned it to sort-of-average of the other spokes on the front wheel, but would like to know if there is some ideal tension for the RCS 13G front and 12G rear spokes. Interested also in left-right rear spoke tension difference.
If this "ideal" tension is unknown does anyone know who is the rim manufacturer? Maybe that could help find this measurement
Click to expand...
Hey Earl.
One of my old Supervisors had the same last name, this is the first time I've heard it since. Furman z German we used to call him and since my last name is Weisser, we had that in common but I digress . . . Bought my RCS in Nov 2019 and have got over 16K miles on it since. My career in maintenance (including bicycle maint) has helped me to keep this beast of a bike in good running condition.
I first noticed a loose spoke on the Rear wheel a couple of yrs ago. After each days riding I give the wheels a wipe w/ a rag between ea spoke while I inspect the tire and grab two spokes at a time and give a slight squeeze while turning it. You'll know immediately if you have a loose spoke.
I've built bicycle wheel/hub assy's before but that was after watching several YT vids on the subject and w/ the help of a couple of bike builders at work. I can't answer your question because I've never put a torque wrench on a spoke I've tightened or loosened. In a perfect world w/ a perfectly round/formed Wheel & Hub & identical spokes, the tension different between spokes wouldn't vary by much, but the truth is your wheel isn't perfectly round and any other machining/manufacturing tolerances of a completed wheel assy aren't gonna be perfectly matched.
When I first rode any amount in the summer of 2020 I felt pulsing when the brakes were applied, front & rear, both wheels had over an 1/8th inch of side to side runout. You can buy a fancy bench mounted Wheel Truing stand but the bike's frame works perfectly well for that job. What I'm saying here is, by the time you have a wheel trued and no runout side to side or axially, each spoke is gonna be slightly different in tension because of manufacturing tolerances.
I tune spokes by ear. Take the tire off, clean everything up, and mount the wheel assy back into your inverted bike frame, unless you have a truing stand you can use. Take a very small wrench and tap the midpoint of each spoke while you turn the wheel. You'll hear a tone change between each spoke but they will all fall within a pitch range that you can hear. Mark the spoke w/ the highest pitch w/ some tape and do the same w/ the lowest pitch spoke, that's your tuning range. Don't tighten a spoke to a higher pitch or lower pitch of those factory settings. At this point, you should be able to tighten a Spoke w/o fear of over/under torque.
If you want to venture into truing a Wheel assy, read on. Use a pencil eraser, or something that won't scratch your wheel, and affix it to the bike frame using rubber bands or zip ties so that it's just touching the outer wheel rim at it's widest point of runout. You want the eraser (or whatever you choose to use) to be moveable at the point where it's fixed to the frame, but not loose. Turn the wheel to find the widest point of side to side runout and that's where you want the eraser to just contact the wheel. When you want to bring an area of the wheel closer to true, do so over a section of 5 spokes. Obviously the spokes run from the Hub to one side or the other of the outer wheel rim. Tighten or Loosen Spokes 1/4 turn at a time at most, but do all the same amount and tighten the side you want to draw the wheel rim closer to center and loosen the spokes you want the rim to move away from center. After each "tune", check for runout. You WILL see a change in in the truing. Just remember to compare your tightened Spokes "pitch" to those you've already marked as High and Low.
If you F#*K it up, the wheel was already out of true before you started and so take it to a bike shop, but it can't hurt to try. Just go incrementally and check the change after each tweek of the spokes. As for one loose Spoke, I have one chronically loose one that I cannot bring above the min torque (lowest tone) or it will bring the rim out of true. That's just the way it is, some spokes will need to be run at a min torque, and some at the max. Just be sure you don't go over the tightest spoke torque that came from the factory which you can detect by sound.
Happy Trails !
I'd watch a few Truing or Building YT vids first because there are several methods or techniques that Bike Mechanics use to true/build a wheel.
 
fooferdoggie said:
there is no way to know because you don't know what spokes they use what the rim is. a good mechanic can work it out with experience.
Click to expand...
I'm looking for a reply from someone who does know what the current spokes on a RCS bike with G13 and G12 spokes.
 
Uuzd4S said:
Hey Earl.
One of my old Supervisors had the same last name, this is the first time I've heard it since. Furman z German we used to call him and since my last name is Weisser, we had that in common but I digress . . . Bought my RCS in Nov 2019 and have got over 16K miles on it since. My career in maintenance (including bicycle maint) has helped me to keep this beast of a bike in good running condition.
I first noticed a loose spoke on the Rear wheel a couple of yrs ago. After each days riding I give the wheels a wipe w/ a rag between ea spoke while I inspect the tire and grab two spokes at a time and give a slight squeeze while turning it. You'll know immediately if you have a loose spoke.
I've built bicycle wheel/hub assy's before but that was after watching several YT vids on the subject and w/ the help of a couple of bike builders at work. I can't answer your question because I've never put a torque wrench on a spoke I've tightened or loosened. In a perfect world w/ a perfectly round/formed Wheel & Hub & identical spokes, the tension different between spokes wouldn't vary by much, but the truth is your wheel isn't perfectly round and any other machining/manufacturing tolerances of a completed wheel assy aren't gonna be perfectly matched.
When I first rode any amount in the summer of 2020 I felt pulsing when the brakes were applied, front & rear, both wheels had over an 1/8th inch of side to side runout. You can buy a fancy bench mounted Wheel Truing stand but the bike's frame works perfectly well for that job. What I'm saying here is, by the time you have a wheel trued and no runout side to side or axially, each spoke is gonna be slightly different in tension because of manufacturing tolerances.
I tune spokes by ear. Take the tire off, clean everything up, and mount the wheel assy back into your inverted bike frame, unless you have a truing stand you can use. Take a very small wrench and tap the midpoint of each spoke while you turn the wheel. You'll hear a tone change between each spoke but they will all fall within a pitch range that you can hear. Mark the spoke w/ the highest pitch w/ some tape and do the same w/ the lowest pitch spoke, that's your tuning range. Don't tighten a spoke to a higher pitch or lower pitch of those factory settings. At this point, you should be able to tighten a Spoke w/o fear of over/under torque.
If you want to venture into truing a Wheel assy, read on. Use a pencil eraser, or something that won't scratch your wheel, and affix it to the bike frame using rubber bands or zip ties so that it's just touching the outer wheel rim at it's widest point of runout. You want the eraser (or whatever you choose to use) to be moveable at the point where it's fixed to the frame, but not loose. Turn the wheel to find the widest point of side to side runout and that's where you want the eraser to just contact the wheel. When you want to bring an area of the wheel closer to true, do so over a section of 5 spokes. Obviously the spokes run from the Hub to one side or the other of the outer wheel rim. Tighten or Loosen Spokes 1/4 turn at a time at most, but do all the same amount and tighten the side you want to draw the wheel rim closer to center and loosen the spokes you want the rim to move away from center. After each "tune", check for runout. You WILL see a change in in the truing. Just remember to compare your tightened Spokes "pitch" to those you've already marked as High and Low.
If you F#*K it up, the wheel was already out of true before you started and so take it to a bike shop, but it can't hurt to try. Just go incrementally and check the change after each tweek of the spokes. As for one loose Spoke, I have one chronically loose one that I cannot bring above the min torque (lowest tone) or it will bring the rim out of true. That's just the way it is, some spokes will need to be run at a min torque, and some at the max. Just be sure you don't go over the tightest spoke torque that came from the factory which you can detect by sound.
Happy Trails !
I'd watch a few Truing or Building YT vids first because there are several methods or techniques that Bike Mechanics use to true/build a wheel.
Click to expand...
I have trued bike wheels in the old days by the sound and feel and looking at the wheel when it spins. What I am looking for is specific to the RCS with 12G and 13G spokes. I understand that maybe no one knows what it should actually be, but am willing to read posts here.
 
Earl Furman said:
I have trued bike wheels in the old days by the sound and feel and looking at the wheel when it spins. What I am looking for is specific to the RCS with 12G and 13G spokes. I understand that maybe no one knows what it should actually be, but am willing to read posts here.
Click to expand...
What tool do you have for measuring the tension on a Spoke?
 
12 gauge spokes can be an issue as is because most rims cant take the tension needed on those thick spokes. most likely the same with 13g. so the max tension is what the rim can handle as it will fail before the spokes do. I think this is a long term issue with the lower end wheels using way to thick of spokes.
 
fooferdoggie said:
12 gauge spokes can be an issue as is because most rims cant take the tension needed on those thick spokes. most likely the same with 13g. so the max tension is what the rim can handle as it will fail before the spokes do. I think this is a long term issue with the lower end wheels using way to thick of spokes.
Click to expand...
My quest is: What tension should these spokes take?
 
Earl Furman said:
My quest is: What tension should these spokes take?
Click to expand...
hard to find much but this page has some good info.
endless-sphere.com

Spoke tension 12g spokes

Hi all , i have a 1500 watt rear hub motor on a 26 inch wheel , after a month of sorting out loose and broken spokes , re tightening with the guitar pluck method to guess their tension i have invested in a park tool tension meter . My question is what should a 12g spoke on a 26 inch whel be...
endless-sphere.com endless-sphere.com
 
fooferdoggie said:
hard to find much but this page has some good info.
endless-sphere.com

Spoke tension 12g spokes

Hi all , i have a 1500 watt rear hub motor on a 26 inch wheel , after a month of sorting out loose and broken spokes , re tightening with the guitar pluck method to guess their tension i have invested in a park tool tension meter . My question is what should a 12g spoke on a 26 inch whel be...
endless-sphere.com endless-sphere.com
Click to expand...
Lots of information and opinions there. Many people saying "here is what I think/know what should be done" with "I've been doing it for xx years or yy wheels" or some such.
 
Earl Furman said:
Lots of information and opinions there. Many people saying "here is what I think/know what should be done" with "I've been doing it for xx years or yy wheels" or some such.
Click to expand...
yep because thats about all you can do with spokes that cant be fully tensioned. myself I would take the wheels to a goos shop have them retention them and ask them what a good tension is. but you may need to find a shop that deals with e bike wheels. my first e bike a mid drive with the 12 gauge wheels no one could deal with it because they did not carry that size spoke after it had 3 broken spokes. but a good shop should be able to retention them.
 
Earl Furman said:
Have one of the TM-1 clones. Think I have found a place that will calibrate it, at least for the G13 and G12 spokes the RCS uses.
Click to expand...
Hey Earl, you mentioned you've got a knock-off of the Park Tool TM-1 (Luv Park Tools!) So since I've got one of these RCS Bikes and you've got me curious. I may just learn something useful on this subject.
So, I did what you've likely already done, I went to Park Tools webpage on the TM-1 and found a link to a tensioning "App" webpage. Here; https://www.parktool.com/en-us/wta
You can select your Spoke type, Dia and material and produce a chart, or Tensioning Guide. Is there anything here you can use ?
It seems every Rabbit Hole I've gone down regarding info on repairs or replacement parts for this RCS has produced intel I can use from someone who has "been there, done that" on the subject and posted their findings on some webpage.
I've read the comments in here and one of Juiced Bikes least attractive attributes has surfaced, they use, find or have Proprietary components manufactured that fit their bikes Only, as often as they can. The Logan Brakes are knock-off's of Tektro's HD-E350's and the LTWOO Derailleur is a Shimano Altus knock-off. There are no patent laws in China, everybody is copying anyone who makes a product that sells. I ordered a Really Cheap spare Altus Derailleur from one of those Chinese Jungle sites and for my $11 bucks, you could tell immediately it was a fake. Tora Harris, the owner of Juiced Bikes, is Chinese/American. He's an expert at getting what he needs from China's Industrial machine and has made this bike as unique as possible for obvious reasons, you have to buy parts from Juiced.
It tried to get a ProWheel Crankset Bottom Bracket (just to have the spare) from the manufacturer. Juiced has the exclusive rights to sell that brand in the U.S. and the nearest distributor was in the Philippines. They wanted $150 bucks just for the freight & another $90 for the part. Juiced finally produced one for me @ $74 bucks (both the Bottom Bracket and Crankset) so I grabbed that one.
Anyways, my 2019 RCS has gone up for sale because I picked up the 1000watt version on a "tax inventory reduction sale" last spring. I immediately swapped out the Brakes for the Tektro HD-E725 4 caliper set w/ 203mm Rotors and the LTWOO was swapped for a Shimano DEORE RD-M5120-SGS 1x 10 Speed Derailleur w/ matching cassette & 10 spd chain. The Logan brake switch is directly interchangeable w/ the Tektro, so there was no rewiring to do, and the Shimano was just bolt on. I just gotta get the old RCS sold before next season.
Oh yea, there's a fellow in here that goes by "IOUZIP" who converted his RCS to Tubeless w/ new rims & hubs. He modified Everything on that RCS and many more mod's to his wifes Step Thru RCS. He sold them both but when I asked him why, he didn't really say why he'd sold them. However, he documented the Mod's very well and did things right in my opinion. He may have some help on the Tensioning figures you're after.
Anyways, gonna follow this thread to see what materialize, hope you find what your looking for !
Happy Trails !
 
Last edited:
Uuzd4S said:
Hey Earl, you mentioned you've got a knock-off of the Park Tool TM-1 (Luv Park Tools!) So since I've got one of these RCS Bikes and you've got me curious. I may just learn something useful on this subject.
So, I did what you've likely already done, I went to Park Tools webpage on the TM-1 and found a link to a tensioning "App" webpage. Here; https://www.parktool.com/en-us/wta
You can select your Spoke type, Dia and material and produce a chart, or Tensioning Guide. Is there anything here you can use ?
It seems every Rabbit Hole I've gone down regarding info on repairs or replacement parts for this RCS has produced intel I can use from someone who has "been there, done that" on the subject and posted their findings on some webpage.
I've read the comments in here and one of Juiced Bikes least attractive attributes has surfaced, they use, find or have Proprietary components manufactured that fit their bikes Only as often as they can. The Logan Brakes are knock-off's of Tektro's HD-E350's, the LTWOO Derailleur is a Shimano Altus knock-off. There are no patent laws in China, everybody is copying anyone who makes a product that sells. I ordered a Really Cheap spare Altus Derailleur from one of those Chinese Jungle sites and for my $11 bucks, you could tell immediately it was a fake. Tora Harris, the owner of Juiced Bikes is Chinese/American. He's an expert at getting what he needs from China's Industrial machine and has made this bike as unique as possible for obvious reasons, you have to buy parts from Juiced.
It tried to get a ProWheel Crankset Bottom Bracket (just to have the spare) from the manufacturer. Juiced has the exclusive rights to sell that brand in the U.S. and the nearest distributor was in the Philippines. They wanted $150 bucks just for the freight & another $90 for the part. Juiced finally produced one for me @ $74 bucks (both the Bottom Bracket and Crankset) so I grabbed that one.
Anyways, my 2019 RCS has gone up for sale because I picked up the 1000watt version on a "tax inventory reduction sale" last spring. I immediately swapped out the Brakes for the Tektro HD-E725 4 caliper set w/ 203mm Rotors and the LTWOO was swapped for a Shimano DEORE RD-M5120-SGS 1x 10 Speed Derailleur w/ matching cassette & 10 spd chain. The Logan brake switch is directly interchangeable w/ the Tektro, so there was no rewiring to do and the Shimano was just bolt on. I just gotta get the old RCS sold before next season.
Oh yea, there's a fellow in here that goes by "IOUZIP" who converted his RCS to Tubeless w/ new rims & hubs. He modified Everything on that RCS and many more mod's to his wifes Step Thru Rcs. He sold them both but when I asked him why he didn't really say he'd sold them. But, he documented very well and did things right in my opinion. he may have some help on the Tensioning figures you're after.
Anyways, gonna follow this thread to see what materialize, hope you find what your looking for !
Happy Trails !
Click to expand...
Thank you.
Yes have seen Parks web site. What am trying to find is the correct, or at lest from-the-factory spoke tension, or some expert who say what they use for tension on the RCS. So far it seems that most people talk about 100Kgf as a standard spoke tension. My spokes, assuming the gauge I have is correct, show a lot less -- maybe spokes on the RCS have loosened in the about 1300 miles? I have an email into the man in Canada who advertises calibrating spoke tension gauges, but have not yet heard back from him.

My RCS came with a defective rear brake and Juiced sent me a Tektro replacement. Have read (Jermey in https://forums.electricbikereview.c...ssette-installed-on-ripcurrent-s.51670/page-2) another person using an Deore 10spd setup
 
Earl Furman said:
Thank you.
Yes have seen Parks web site. What am trying to find is the correct, or at lest from-the-factory spoke tension, or some expert who say what they use for tension on the RCS. So far it seems that most people talk about 100Kgf as a standard spoke tension. My spokes, assuming the gauge I have is correct, show a lot less -- maybe spokes on the RCS have loosened in the about 1300 miles? I have an email into the man in Canada who advertises calibrating spoke tension gauges, but have not yet heard back from him.

My RCS came with a defective rear brake and Juiced sent me a Tektro replacement. Have read (Jermey in https://forums.electricbikereview.c...ssette-installed-on-ripcurrent-s.51670/page-2) another person using an Deore 10spd setup
Click to expand...
your gauge is it rated for the thicker spokes? but they may be that loose. who knows?
 
Is blue and say that my front wheel spokes are 50-Kgf which made me wonder about the gauge calibration, and then about what the tension should be.
 
What found so far: Juiced uses SAPIM spokes. The SAPIM site says:
SPOKE TENSION
Due to various factors (rim, hub, spokes number) it is impossible to tell you the optimal
spoke tension. Nevertheless, some rules should be observed.
1. On one side of the wheel, the spokes should have approximately the same tension.
2. In order to avoid full detensioning of the spoke, the Spoke tension on asymmetrically
spoked wheels on the low tension side should reach min. 80 kg. On symmetrically spoked
wheels the spoke tension should minimum have 100kg.
3. We as spoke manufacturers like high spoke tensions.
4. Too high spoke tension can damage the flange of the hub or the rim. Too low spoke
tension will bring spoke breakage due to fatigue problems. Please also read the mounting
instructions for the rim and hub manufacturers.
 
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