How badly have I messed up?

[midlife]

Bought myself a set of long Allen head sockets and armed with my trusty torque wrench and no real research, torqued every spoke on the rear wheel. Each spoke moved probably 2 complete turns before torque was reached.

Have I messed up big time?

Is the wheel now likely out of true and if so how will this manifest itself and is there a simple check I can do to see this?
Just about to leave on a 3000 mile trip...will any rectification wait till my return?
Am I worrying too much?
Thanks in advance
Rob

 

[colorider]

What torque did you have your wrench set for? Two complete turns on EVERY spoke seems pretty suspicious, particularly as you work your way around the wheel.

When I checked mine a couple days ago, I got maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn on about half the spokes. This was my first time at just under 1K miles.

 

[midlife]

Double checking the torque wrench it would appear that I have set it closer to 8 rather than 6 lbs. I really should not be let loose when in a hurry!
Should I back them all off the same amount and then re torque or leave well alone until I return form my trip and get them checked out by a professional?

 

[limey]

The manual says 6Nm =4.3 ft.lbf ... I did my spokes with the wheels off the bike and checked the radial and lateral runout at the same time in a truing stand. And when I did tighten the spokes I would tighten 2 then go do the opposite 2 then 90 degrees. Have no idea if this was the right way but it seemed to work out just fine.

 

[silvergoose]

I would suggest: Back off the torque on each spoke, approx. the number of turns you used when you over tighten. Relive the pressure on each spoke in an alternating pattern, e.g., 12:00, 6:00 and so on. I would reduced the tension on the left and right side equally. If you can lift the wheel try to spin it, notice any run out? If there is little to no run out begin to tighten the spokes in the same manner that you used to release the tension. I would tighten in steps,e.g., 4 NM, check run out, 5NM, check run out and the final 6NM, again I would suggest an alternating pattern. Don't ask how I arrived at this plan, but alcohol use was indicated. ::022::

Good Luck

 

[craigd]

You can get an approximate sense if the wheel is true by laying a ruler or something similar across the swingarm or forks with one end almost touching the rim. Just rotate the wheel and you will see the runout, both side to side and up and down. The tricky part is keeping the ruler from moving while you are spinning the wheel.

When I have adjusted my spokes to the proper tension, I have simply gone around the wheel without alternating sides or using any fancy pattern and this has not had any appreciable impact on trueness. Of course, this may not be the case if the spokes are over tightened.

 

[midlife]

Double checking the torque wrench it would appear that I have set it closer to 8 rather than 6 lbs. I really should not be let loose when in a hurry!
Should I back them all off the same amount and then re torque or leave well alone until I return form my trip and get them checked out by a professional?

Thanks folks for the responses.

Ok, sorry for typo. My wrench was closer to 8 nm. (Not pounds) . The wrench is new and calibrated, am I wrong to think that the extra 2 nm would mean so much movement as I got?

 

[colorider]

How many miles were on your bike and had the spokes ever been adjusted before?

 

[midlife]

How many miles were on your bike and had the spokes ever been adjusted before?

12,000 miles and probably never checked before ( I put the last 6k on it)

 

[WJBertrand]

I checked mine and found may a half dozen that needed a tweek, but none of them took more than 1/4 turn.


-Jeff

 

[Checkswrecks]

Is the wheel now likely out of true and if so how will this manifest itself and is there a simple check I can do to see this?

You'll need to spin the wheels to know the answer. Basically, you want to put a wire or ruler next to the rim and take two measurements. One is to see how far it is out of round the rim is and the second is to see how far out of flat (left/right) it is. Park Tools has a bicycle oriented page about wheel truing and it's the best I know of:
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/wheel-and-rim-truing#article-section-4


It's not a motorcycle page but really good for the basics. There are a bunch more Youtube videos and web pages for more detail.