Is my Light Bicycle rim out of dish?

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Dante49
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Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 8:18 am

by Dante49

Just bought the U-shaped 35mm wheelset a few months back. Recently during maintenance I found the rear wheel is off-center by a few millimeters and it drove me absolutely wild. TBH before this unpleasant revelation I didn't feel anything wrong. The wheels just ride fine: true and rolls freely.

I double checked everything: the frame is not bent/crashed, the dropouts are nice and horizontal, the skewer is of high quality, the hub end cap is in position and I made sure the wheel sits properly in the dropouts.

In fact, to make sure of it, I mounted another wheel (Yeoleo Pro SAT C38) and...it is dead on centered...grrrr, what a huge shame because otherwise they are fantastic in terms of ride quality and finish..

Both wheels have a very similar build: DT Swiss 350 straight pull hubs, same spokes and lacing patterns.
Yeoleo SAT C38. I think it's centered.
Yeoleo SAT C38. I think it's centered.
Light Bicycle U-shape 35mm. Off-centered towards drive side by a few mil.
Light Bicycle U-shape 35mm. Off-centered towards drive side by a few mil.
Last edited by Dante49 on Thu May 31, 2018 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Beaver
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by Beaver

It really looks like it is off center. Who built the wheel? This can be fixed. ;)

liam7020
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by liam7020

Re-dishing a wheel is extremely simple, shouldn't any big deal.
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mattr
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by mattr

Check with a dishing guide. If you don't have one, try a) a mate or b) your LBS.

They are cheap enough that someone nearby should have one.
Failing that, you can make one with bits of cardboard and ingenuity.

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Calnago
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by Calnago

Or just flip it around in the dropouts just to check. Easy enough to do without a proper dishing tool.
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alcatraz
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by alcatraz

That difference is not great enough to mess with the wheel. That is, if I noticed this with one of my built wheels on a new bike I have.

I usually true my wheels to fit the frame they are on. Sometimes that will put the dishing off by a mm or two if I move the wheel to another frame.

This dishing problem is 100% fixable. It's harder to say when it's dished the other way. Sometimes the NDS spoke tension is simply too low at the right dish (and DS at their max) so the wheel needs to be out of dish to be stable. This isn't the case here. There is no reason to go more to the DS side than necessary. I wouldn't be surprised if your frame and old wheels are actually "out of dish" :lol:.

Dante49
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Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 8:18 am

by Dante49

Strangely enough when I mount the wheel in reverse it seems centered..

I have contacted the Light Bicycle and see what their opinoin on this one is.

alcatraz
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by alcatraz

This means it is stightly dished towards the DS side. The slightly weird situation that I spoke about. At least it's not by much.

/a

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jekyll man
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by jekyll man

NDS is probably a bit slack; give them all a half turn.
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Multebear
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by Multebear

Seriously @Dante49, this is a very small problem. Not one I would consider starting a topic about. And definitely not one I would bother contacting Light Bicycle over either. Totally easy fix by your LBS, if they are just marginally competend.

If these were $ 3000 zipps or enves, then maybe. But these are cheap wheels from a chinese vendor.

srshaw
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Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:06 pm

by srshaw

If it was bought as a rim then the issue is with the builder not the rim manufacturer.

Dante49
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 8:18 am

by Dante49

Multebear, unfortunately when it comes to wheel I'm a total novice and only have some vague ideas about wheelbuilding. Also, even more unfortunately here in China cycling is extremely niche nowadays and almost all bicycle shops have been devolved into bike outlets. Most of them even don't have a workstand in the shop and the staff are more like salesmen than mechanics.

So, no, it's nearly impossible to get a bike properly fixed in my vicinity.

Dante49
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu May 31, 2018 8:18 am

by Dante49

OK thanks to Jekyll man's advice I managed to bring the wheel towards NDS and now it seems centered. After the adjustment the wheel went a bit untrue, and I tried my best to true it to within .5mm (with a zip tie lol). I tapped the spokes and all of them sounds more or less the same. Also applied my body weight to the rim and press it a bit. Hopefully it won't break on me next time I ride.

Took me nearly 3 hours of fiddling around lol. Never touched a wheel with my tools before. Thanks everyone ;P

Multebear
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by Multebear

Dante49 wrote:
Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:55 pm

Also, even more unfortunately here in China cycling is extremely niche nowadays and almost all bicycle shops have been devolved into bike outlets. Most of them even don't have a workstand in the shop and the staff are more like salesmen than mechanics.
Really?? I thought there were like 1 billion bikes in china. Shouldn't be that hard to find someone, that knows how to dish a wheel.

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

I live in China too (northeast) and the shops here specialize in their brands and usually have a really competent mechanic. I don't think they do too much wheel maintenance though. In China an "expert" is not far away. The hope is just that they make a good job. Ironically, not many chinese cyclists actually ride chinese bikes. Wheelsets being more complicated than frames are maybe even higher respected to not mess up. It's scary to earn a few hundred usd per month and be handed a campagnolo wheelset for repair I think. Better take it to a shop where they are sold and they "know a guy".

I do my own wheels and find it nice now that I've passed this period where it all acts and seems mysterious. Now it's just straight forward.

I don't use a tensionometer, truing stand, and I don't even require the spokes to all sound the same. I do however get them into a similar ballpark. What has helped me to keep some bad (damaged rims) still rolling is loctite on the nipples. And the best thing I found is probably a spoke holder and a spoke key that looks like a wrench. This allows for the spoke to be held almost right over the nipple and doing microadjustments. Nearly perfect trueness can be achieved.

One last technique is to look at problem areas in the wheel as a whole. Lets say the wheel is radially off but not in one specific point. It's nearly half of the wheel too low and half too high. I then just choose 12 spokes (6 and opposite 6) where I alternate tension/loosen to bring the rim over. Not just tighten where the rim is rubbing.

The same technique can be used for big lateral untrue's. Lets say you have 10 spokes in a problem area. One side gets a gentle tensioning and the other a loosening. Without a spoke holder and a low holding spoke key this work would take forever because the errors in the adjustment would cause issues to prevent you from finishing.

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