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to discredit this project or comments to it, but I have the best truing
stand for free, and that is the bike frame/fork itself. Honestly, I
have never seen the necessity for a truing stand despite over two
decades of cycling experience, and I'm about as perfectionist as it
gets when it comes to wheel-true, since I expected to have perfect
stability at 80MPH+ (and have tested that when going for the world
speed record).
Since a typical bicycle fork will not
accommodate a rear wheel width, and since the wheels are already
mounted on the bike, why not just use the frame itself? An ideal brake
setting (assuming you have properly matched your brake levers to your
cantilevers or calipers) puts the brake pads 1mm from the rim surface
(and they should meet firm and flat, with exception to toe-in to
counter fork/stay torsion).
If the question of more precise
truing is asked, just tighten your brakes to allow less and less
clearance. I have gotten wheels true "mounted" in every circumstance,
with no need to remove the wheel from the inherent truing stand to
another device to simulate what was already there before I removed the
wheel in the first place.
Again, no disrespect to this
project, but IMHO, truing stands are about as useful as training-wheels
for tricycles, and I still do not understand how they save any labor in
truing a wheel when the equipment is already available to anyone owning
a bike in the first place. Careful attention to detail gives me a true
within 0.01" without disturbing the wheel mountings at all once I
determine that both sides of the axle are properly bottomed in the
dropouts.
Bicycle forks and rear triangles are built on jigs
that assure proper alignment, and that is about as true as you need to
get. If your front wheel leans to the left, but is "true", reverse it
and see if the deviance is the same in the other direction. If not,
replace your fork as it has likely collapsed one side of the crown or
one blade has more rake than the other. For suspended forks, the
center-stay may have been warped. These are extraordinarily unlikely,
as well as a final reason, being that the fork was poorly-assembled to
begin with. Do not discount this before checking to see that the axle
itself isn't bent (always replace an axle with a "black-steel" or
Chro-Moly axle if ever, the minimal extra cost is far more worth it's
weight in gold).
If you are expecting perfect true and you are
riding a Huffy/Murray/Free-Spirit, or such, you don';t need a truing
stand, you need a quality bicycle in the first place, if not for your
own safety. Again, I never needed a stand because the frame itself made
one inherently, but a good project in any case. I applaud the effort.
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