My wheel build went totally sideways last night

I was trying to true a rear wheel for a customer's commuter bike around 9 PM after my shift. Got it all dialed in on the stand, but when I put it on the bike the tire rubs the frame on one side. Turns out I had the dish completely wrong and didn't check it against the frame. Has anyone else had a late-night build go bad because you skipped a basic step?

2 comments

2 Comments

patel.leo3d ago

Remember reading somewhere that even the best mechanics screw up dish when they're tired. Your brain just stops checking all the boxes after a long day. I had a similar thing happen a few years back with a touring bike build. Got the wheel perfectly centered in the stand but didn't bother to check it against the frame's actual centerline. Customer came back the next morning and showed me the tire rubbing on the chainstay. Felt pretty dumb having to re-do all that tensioning work. You're right that it's a quick fix, but it's the kind of mistake that makes you wonder what else you missed when you were rushing. Late night wrenching is always a gamble.

willow6723d ago

You say it "went totally sideways" like you caused a crash or something. Is it really that serious though? You just had the dish off, it's not like you melted the rim or snapped a spoke. I've done way dumber stuff at midnight like lacing a wheel with the wrong spoke length. You just pop the spokes loose, re-dish it, and move on. It's a commuter bike, not a track wheel. Probably took you 10 extra minutes to fix, right?