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having trouble getting rid of flat spot on new wheelset....

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  bulC 
#1 ·
I just bought a new wheelset from PricePoint (Mavic 717/XT) and whomever laced it up did a pretty shotty job. Both came out of true with a nice flat spot in them. I pulled them apart and relaced them but I'm having trouble getting rid of the flat spot. Any guidence or suggestions??

k2x
 
#2 ·
what I do

k2x said:
I just bought a new wheelset from PricePoint (Mavic 717/XT) and whomever laced it up did a pretty shotty job. Both came out of true with a nice flat spot in them. I pulled them apart and relaced them but I'm having trouble getting rid of the flat spot. Any guidence or suggestions??

k2x
More likely it's a rim issue, sometimes even the best builder just can't make a rim with a flat spot run absolutely true. I'm guessing the flat spot is at the rim joint, which is where a new rim will tend to have a flat spot.
Sometimes you can play with spoke tension until the cows come home and not be able to eliminate a flat spot at the seam, unless you figure out a way to make spokes push instead of pull.
But here's something I've done to lessen a pesky flat spot in a new (or old) rim, though if you paid a bunch for somebody to tension a wheel, it's kinda a shame to do it because you just threw away whatever you paid the person who tensioned it.
Untension all the spokes so they're completely slack. Real slack, like the nipples are about a turn from falling off. Loop a big strong nylon strap, or a real strong rope, or similar around the rim at the flat spot, and around something that is unlikely to move, like a big honking tree limb, or a steel I beam, etc. Now give yer best karate killer yell and yank on the rim real hard like yer trying to pull off the tree limb. Often works.
In short,, don't discount brute force. "Gravy" is one of the sports most highly regarded wheelbuilders, right? Used to wrench for Yeti, then Cannodale DH team, now earns his beans building excellent wheels. About a decade ago I was at the cactus cup, and some drunk or something must've fallen on the bike I was riding around, a sweet steel hardtail not that it matters, because when I was done hanging out at the Cannondale van and chatting with Gravy I grabbed my bike and the rear wheel was seriously tacoed, it was fine when I rode it there. Showed gravy, what he did was grab the wheel and give a huge scary yell while slamming it into the ground with all his strength. The taco was gone, then he did a little spoke wrench magic and the wheel was perfect again. I still have the wheel, and it's still fine, though the bike is long gone.
 
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