4 ms·

Is it possible for spokes to gain tension while riding? My intuition says no, which would mean erring on the side of more tension would keep you in the correct

Is it possible for spokes to gain tension while riding? My intuition says no, which would mean erring on the side of more tension would keep you in the correct range over time. I have heard of top level downhillers using minimal spoke tension for better compliance and traction. They also have professional mechanics and piles of wheels to use for a race weekend. Meaning their wheels have to be just reliable enough to hold together for a 4 minute race run.

jacquesm 5y ago
Not normally, unless you count the little bit of variation due to different thermal expansion coefficients of rim and spokes but that should not be enough to make a meaningful difference. But they do lose tension over time, so it doesn't hurt to periodically check. That's also a good way to spot cracks in rims, which and do happen especially on bikes that are built once and then used for years.
jimnotgym 5y ago
Interesting, I have stood next to a World Cup winning downhiller begging his mechanic to increase tension in his wheels beyond where the mechanic was happy so his wheels would survive longer. He thought this 'compliance' stuff was bs, and he liked that I agreed with him (hence the conversation). This was a couple of years ago mind, but I would be suprised if it had really changed.
- anthomtb 5y ago
  A few years back Mike Levy from Pinkbike rode Troy Brosnan's bike and made note of how little tension was in the spokes: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-troy-brosnans-world-cup-dh-bike-crankworx-whistler-2018.html https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-troy-brosnans-world-cup.... Paul Aston (World Cup pack fill, former Pinkbike journalist) also made note of experimenting with extremely low tension and implied it worked pretty well: https://www.downtimepodcast.com/paul-aston-2021/ https://www.downtimepodcast.com/paul-aston-2021/ Really though, where you have the resources to experiment with something like spoke tension, you are likely to end up with a couple outliers.

jacquesm 5y ago

Not normally, unless you count the little bit of variation due to different thermal expansion coefficients of rim and spokes but that should not be enough to make a meaningful difference. But they do lose tension over time, so it doesn't hurt to periodically check. That's also a good way to spot cracks in rims, which and do happen especially on bikes that are built once and then used for years.

jimnotgym 5y ago

Interesting, I have stood next to a World Cup winning downhiller begging his mechanic to increase tension in his wheels beyond where the mechanic was happy so his wheels would survive longer. He thought this 'compliance' stuff was bs, and he liked that I agreed with him (hence the conversation). This was a couple of years ago mind, but I would be suprised if it had really changed.

anthomtb 5y ago
A few years back Mike Levy from Pinkbike rode Troy Brosnan's bike and made note of how little tension was in the spokes: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-troy-brosnans-world-cup-dh-bike-crankworx-whistler-2018.html https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-troy-brosnans-world-cup.... Paul Aston (World Cup pack fill, former Pinkbike journalist) also made note of experimenting with extremely low tension and implied it worked pretty well: https://www.downtimepodcast.com/paul-aston-2021/ https://www.downtimepodcast.com/paul-aston-2021/ Really though, where you have the resources to experiment with something like spoke tension, you are likely to end up with a couple outliers.