I decided to try my hand at lacing up a new front wheel, dt Swiss fr 541 to a 350 hub with dt Swiss 2.0/1.8 double butted spokes. This is about as even tension as I can get it while keep lateral, radial, and dish all pretty good. My question is regarding tension. The max tension is 120 kgf. The left side average tension is over the max at 126 kgf, and the right side is a fair bit under at 107 kgf. I don't see how it is possible to get these numbers closer without effecting the dish.
Can someone with some wheel building knowledge let me know how I am doing here and if I need to fix anything before I slap it on my bike? Appreciate it!
by aktg102
2 Comments
higher tension everything. As the tension goes up, smaller differences in tension will make bigger differences in wheel structure, and I’m pretty sure 20-23 is pretty low. If you have some known decent wheels try your spoke tension tool there and see what you come up with. My knockoff tool was reading 25-30 on my existing wheels so that’s what i aimed for with my build.
Unless you have a parts combo that produces a perfectly symmetrical build, one side will always be tighter than the other. Tension it so that the higher tension side is to spec, and let the other side be whatever gives you a properly dished build.