Spin, Find, Turn

Your back wheel is bent. It rubs on the frame of the bike, and it makes a noise at every turn. You don’t need a shop for this. You need twenty minutes and a small tool called a spoke key.

First, turn the bike upside down and rest it on the seat. Spin the wheel slowly with your hand. Watch the wheel where it passes the frame, and find the worst point — the place where the bend is biggest.

Then look at the spokes. The spokes are the thin metal lines from the middle of the wheel to the outside ring. Each spoke pulls the ring a little to its own side. A tight spoke pulls harder. That is the whole idea.

Now do the same three steps, again and again.

Spin the wheel. Find the worst point. Turn the spoke on the other side one quarter of a turn — no more.

Spin the wheel. Find the worst point. Turn one quarter.

Spin. Find. Turn.

After five rounds the wheel is better. After fifteen rounds it is almost straight, and the noise is gone.

Finally, put the bike back on the ground and ride it to the corner. No noise? Then the wheel is fixed.

And if the wheel is worse now, don’t worry. You turned the wrong spoke, and everybody does that the first time. Turn it back, two quarters, and start again from the worst point.