Question about truing a wheel on a rainy day in Portland

I tried truing my rear wheel after riding through some wet streets last week and the spokes kept pinging weirdly, has anyone else had trouble with moisture messing up spoke tension?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaelw264h ago

Moisture definitely messes with spoke tension, especially if your nipples are aluminum and corrode a little. The pinging sound is usually the spoke relaxing or sticking in the nipple as you turn it. A tiny drop of light oil on each nipple before you start truing will stop that noise right away. Portland rain gets into everything, so I'd also check that your rim tape isn't holding water against the spoke ends.

tyler_hernandez3h agoMost Upvoted

Does this mean I should start oiling my nipples before every ride, or just when they start talking back to me?