Rear wheel alignments for bikes can be tricky, since it involves the tension of the spokes. In a wheel with perfect alignment, all the spokes have the exact tension. If your tire wobbles when your bike is in motion or if just a small section of your wheel hits a brake pad, you will need to have your tire fixed by a professional at a bike shop. However, if one full side of your wheel rubs on the brake pad, there is a straightforward fix you can do at home to align your rear tire. Place your bike on a solid, even surface, such as a sidewalk. Turn your bike over, so the wheels are facing up and the seat is on the ground. Stand behind the rear tire, and spin it with one hand. Watch the tire as it moves, using the brake pads as a guide. If the wheel is just off center, sitting closer to one pad than the other, you can make the adjustment. Line a ruler up against the nut in the center of the wheel and note how far the nut is from your bike frame. Repeat the measurement on the other side.

The distance between nut and frame should be the same on both sides. If not, your wheel needs aligning. Deflate your tire by pressing a thin object, such as a ball point pin, inside the air nozzle on the tire. Hold it there until all the air is out of the tire. Apply a small drop of light oil to each spoke hole. This is the space between the spoke nipple and the rim. The spoke nipple is the small, raised area between the rim and the spoke. Turn all the spoke nipples on the off side one-quarter turn counter-clockwise with a spoke wrench. The off side is the side of the rim that is too near the brake pad. Loosen all the spokes on the other side one-quarter turn clockwise. This will pull your wheel over to the other side. Spin your wheel again, and check the alignment. If it is still too far to one side, repeat the process. Keep making adjustments until your wheel appears to have the same space on both sides. Measure the distance between the axle nuts and the frame again to ensure proper alignment, and make further adjustments if necessary.

Fix-it Pages Advertising Banner110Height If your wheel moves slightly side to side as you ride, your rim is out of true. Problems: Brake pads may touch the tire at some point during its rotation, requiring you to back off the cable tightness. Brakes may "wump, wump, wump" as you applyThe bike may wobble at high speeds. The first thing you should do is inspect the rim carefully. (the thingies that the spokes screw into at the rim) that are pulling through the holes, bulging or cracked metal near a spoke nipple, or cracks along theIf you see significant signs of rim damage, it's time for a new wheel -- not just minor "tweaking." If you're a beginner at bike repair, anything but minor side-to-side wobble may be beyond your fix-it ability. If you're going to get serious about truing wheels, you need a truing stand. And you need more instruction and experience than we can give you. A good truing stand lets you detect: flaring of the rim (time to buy a new one)

variation (concentrically untrue -- hub is off-center) flattened areas on the rim tilt (one side of the rim higher than A truing stand will cost a bit. on-line store sells a high-quality truing stand for serious cyclists. *on the rear wheel, the spokes are longer on one side than the other -- called dishing -- toSears Tire Center Stockton Ca compensate for the cogsHomes For Sale Topeka Ks Craigslist Yes, you can perform quick 'n dirtyPacific Wholesale Blinds And Shutters "on-trail" truing without removing the wheel or tire. But for a good adjustment, you should remove the tire from the wheel and do the work in a workstand. to "true" a wheel on the bike, without removing the tire, is a

good way to mess up the wheel. If you already have a workstand, you can get an add-onThis is a bit better than doing it on your bike, but it doesn't compare to a real truing stand like the one above. But let's face it. You aren't going to spend the money to do Unless you have the right skills and right tools, you're better off having a pro fix your misbehaving wheel. But here's the rub: when your wheel starts to wobble, do you leave it at the shop for a week, or do you true it up yourself so you can "make that ride?" So, the remainder of this section tells you how to (pathetically) attempt to true your tire while it sits on your bike. for minor adjustments of side-to-side wobble only. Before you start playing with the spokes, make sure the wheel wobble isn'tCheck for rocks tucked between the tire casing and the rim. axle is correctly fitted in the dropouts. Take the tire off and spin the rim alone, just to be sure a damaged tire isn't deforming the rim.

sure the axle sits properly in the dropouts, then check to be sure the wobble isn't the Take the tire and the rim liner off. Lube the spoke holes in the hub, rim, and where the spokes enters the nipples.Now you need to put the rim somewhere where you can assess the wobble. If possible, use a truing stand. If that's not possible, put it back in the dropouts of the bike frame. Use the distance from the front tip of your brake pads as your measurer. Here's a poor man's truing stand: Remove the tire, then place the rim on your upside-down bike. Clamp some sort of marker to the chainstay or front fork, so it barely touches the rim. or center-punch works well. Here the point on the corner of the screwdriver is the marker for both lateral (side to side) and concentric (distance from the hub) truing. Replace any bent or broken spokes. Remove a spoke by unscrewing the nipple from inside the rim, then turning the spoke and pulling it out through the hub.

non-radially laced wheel (virtually all mountain bikes), you may need to remove TWO spokes to replace one, because the shaft of one spoke may overlie the head of another. broken spoke is on the freewheel side of the rear wheel, you'll have to remove the freewheel to remove the spoke. This requires a freewheel removing tool (or a bike shop). When replacing a spoke, tighten the nipple until the spoke has just a tiny bit less "wiggle" (when you push it back and forth in the middle of the spoke shaft) as those adjacent to it. Check around the entire wheel for any spokes that are obviously floppy. (Make sure the looseness isn't a damaged hub or flattened rim. problem is in the hub or rim, it can make things worse if you tighten theTighten floppy spokes to just less than the average tightness of the nearby spokes. Spokes stretch slightly with time. Our truing discussion assumes that it's spoke-stretch, or a nipple "unscrewing" itself, that's put the wheel

Therefore we suggest tightening of specific spokes. your spokes seem to be under significant tension -- already very tight -- you may want to do the opposite. That is, you'll want to loosen spokes to relax the pull on the rim. But here's the basic strategy: Truing action, based on overall spoke tightness! Spokes overall rather loose: Tighten 2 spokes that attach on side of gap, 1/4 turn each (clockwise) Spokes about right, on average: Tighten 2 spokes on side of tap, 1/8 Loosen spokes between (attaching to opposite side), 1/8 turn each Spokes seem generally too tight: Loosen 2 spokes on side OPPOSITE gap, 1/4 turn each (counterclockwise) Repeat until rim comes into true! Time to start the truing process. Stop the rim when it's as far from the brake pad as possible -- maximum wobble, the furthest untrue. On the side with the gap showing, find the spoke on that side which is closest to the point at which you're measuring the gap.

(Select the spoke that starts and ends on the side of the rim that shows the gap between rim and brake pad.) Tighten that spoke by turning 1/4 turn clockwise. Turn the wheel again, and again find the spot that's the furthest untrue. Again tighten the spoke on the side that's closest to the maximum untrue spot. adjusting spoke tension until the rim rotates without side-to-side motion. To evaluate concentric truing (roundness), rotate the rim while holding a(Here we're using the point of a nail, with the nail immobilized against theLocate the spot on the rim that seems highest. roundness problem is trickier, and can be frustrating. But if you want to try it, here's what you do:Select the TWO spokes on each side of the high spot (a right spoke and a left spoke) and tighten 1/8 turn each. (Alternative: find a low spot and loosen each spoke 1/8 turn.) Turn the wheel again, Squeeze sets of spokes gently, going around the wheel. Now check the side-to-side and