Levo SL Gen 1 Spoke tension for 29 in Roval Traverse SL?

[Alpman]

Hi guys. I’m truing my rear wheel after replacing some spokes and wonder what the factory spec average spoke tension should be for the ds and nds. I have Roval Traverse SL rims with 1,6 double butted DT Swiss Competition Races fitted as OEM. (My Park TM-1 says I’m at around 160 kgf on the drive side which seems pretty high to me...)

 

[Alpman]

Anyone?

 

[KennyB]

Anyone?

A similar question was asked a few weeks ago about the tone the spokes make when plucked. Haven't a scooby about tension but this is what I said then:

I think the simple answer and remembering you are after a working wheel for yourself, not a customer, is:

• the same(ish) (tone) as all the rest (assuming the wheel ran true before the new spokes were put in)
• enough to make the wheel run true(ish, about 0.5mm)

Back in the day of Magura hydraulic rim brakes, AKA rim eaters, I rebuilt and built lots of wheels. I found the best guide was:
Wheelbuilding. This gives good advice about stress relief and getting the spokes running straight, i.e. not bowing after the contact points (rim and hub holes and cross-over). Looking for this URL, I also came across this: Check Spoke Tension by Ear which gives a lot more than I think we need but is interesting especially in recommending plucking the spokes at a cross-over.

 

[Alpman]

Cheers mate, good stuff. Since my LBS closed (indefinitely I fear) decided to become self sufficient as far as possible with repairs. Replaced and installed two broken spokes and one bent one. Used a nice app to rough tune the tension Then bought a Park TM-1 to verify. The tool is accurate enough for an amateur and easy to use. Satisfying and rewarding work tuning spokes; strangely relaxing I find. I have got the wheel true radially and laterally true within 1 mm and am now confident I can tune the spokes by ear to a high degree of accuracy. TEOTWAWKI self sufficiency. Can’t get any absolute spoke tension numbers from Roval or the net so used 130kgf for the drive side and about 75kgf for non drive (rear wheel). If anyone can measure a factory spec rear wheel spoke tension (Roval 20 inch Traverse SL 1,6mm double butted) I‘d be quite interested what the orig value was.

 

[KennyB]

TEOTWAWKI? How about checking tension in the front wheel to give you a ball park figure, or known good ones on the rear? What was the app?

 

[Alpman]

TEOTWAWKI? How about checking tension in the front wheel to give you a ball park figure, or known good does on the rear?

Guess you’re not a Walking Dead fan I loosened all the spokes on the rear after first attempt resulted in severely dished wheel. Part of learning curve but lost the values. Front wheel check a good idea.

 

[KennyB]

Folk Rock for me. It's worth remembering that the more upright the spoke, the more tension hence the different values for drive and non drive sides. Also the front wheel values may be a bit different to the rear due to the different hub width (across the flanges). The front will have different tensions as well but more on the disc side, whereas the rear will have more on the drive side. By the way what app did you use?

 

[Alpman]

Folk Rock for me. It's worth remembering that the more upright the spoke, the more tension hence the different values for drive and non drive sides. Also the front wheel values may be a bit different to the rear due to the different hub width (across the flanges). The front will have different tensions as well but more on the disc side, whereas the rear will have more on the drive side. By the way what app did you use?

Never realized how much physics were involved in a simple bike wheel. I bought an app called Spoke Tension Gauge (iOS) by a developer called Pepelko - bloody amazing. Easy to use and mostly dead-on. Lots of fun to use too - after a while your ear gets tuned in and I found I could estimate the tension of a plucked spoke to within 5 - 10 kgf without the app.