on a Trek mountain bike (front wheel)
They have a trueing stand you can buy...or you could just take it in to the local bike shop...Im sure they wont charge a lot.
I okorder /tooltips/tru...
The advice on how to true written above is sound but I would like to add that you should buy a spoke wrench that fits your spoke nipple snuggly. Any slop in the fit can lead to rounding off of the square edges of the nipple and that can lead to more work. So invest in a decents spoke wrench. If you have that wheel wrench with a bazillion notches in it for all the sizes; throw it as far away from the bike as possible and get a decent wrench.
Truing a wheel takes a bit of effort, and explaining how to do it is much tougher than just demonstrating, but here you go... Truing 101... this assumes that your brakes are centered properly. Fair warning... if you screw this up it'll cost you to get it fixed. You will need the appropriate sized spoke wrench... probably about $10 (ABOUT THE SAME AS THE COST OF A PRO TRUING YOUR WHEEL) 1) Turn your bike upside down. Be sure that the wheel is centered in the frame/fork. 2) Spin the offending wheel very slowly and observe the distance between rim and brake pad. Don't concern yourself with both sides of the rim for now... just look at one side. 3) Stop the wheel from spinning when the rim either touches the pad or when itwobbles" towards or away from the pad. 4) Determine the center of the wobble and the 3 spokes closest to it. 5) To pull the rim away from the brake pad, TIGHTEN the spoke/spokes that are attached to the OPPOSITE SIDE of the rim and hub no more than 1 turn each, and LOOSEN the spoke/spokes that are attached to the other side no more than 1/2 turn each. To pull the rim towards the pad, do just the opposite. 6) Repeat steps 1 through 5 until the the rim rides exactly centered between the brake pads. It is possible that you can tighten or loosen spokes too much, that you can pull the wheel out of round, and other nasties associated with this type of work... work slowly and carefully!
You need a spoke wrench. Set the bike so that the front wheel is off the ground. Use the rubber on your front brakes or attach a piece of card board to the spoke. Slowly turn the wheel. When the wheel stops due to touching the rubber or card then tighten the two spokes on the other side. Continue till it becomes true, if necessary do the same thing on the other side. Or it would be inexpensive to just take it to a bike shop and let them do it.
