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A customer at my shop in Boise argued that wheel truing is a lost art and I had to push back
Last week a guy brought in a rear wheel that was wobbling so bad it rubbed the brake pads every turn. He insisted I just replace the whole wheel because "nobody actually trues wheels anymore, they just swap them out." I told him that's not true and that truing is still a core skill in any real shop. I grabbed my Park Tool spoke wrench and spent about 25 minutes getting the tension right, and the wheel ran straight as an arrow. He looked at me like I had done some kind of magic trick. The thing is, I've been truing wheels for 12 years and it's one of the most basic jobs we do. I think people assume newer mechanics skip it because it's tedious, but a good wheel build lasts way longer than a cheap replacement. Has anyone else run into customers who think basic repairs are obsolete?
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baker.ben27d ago
Truing a wheel is still basic but I'd push back on the idea that a good wheel outlasts a replacement every time. A bent rim with a flat spot or a cracked nipple won't come back true no matter how long you sit there with a spoke wrench, and sometimes the hub is shot too. The skill isn't obsolete, but knowing when to true and when to rebuild is the part that actually separates a real mechanic from a parts swapper.
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