Spoke Tension Gauge 4+

I’m very impressed with this app suite. A bit of a learning curve to negotiate but really very well thought out and presented.

Over 45 years of building and several thousand built wheels informs my evaluation.

The app will not replace well executed technique. If you are just starting out, read some of the wealth of published documentation and check out Joey Mesa’s videos.

Employed properly, the app will provide a high degree of accuracy and verification of the objectives sought by skilled wheel builders: measured and confirmed uniformity of tension within tightly held limits of radial and lateral deviation.

Instructions are clear, with an additional set of contextual hints.

And it’s fast. Left open on your workbench the app will report instantly on any spoke you care to investigate without having to stop, pick up your manual tension gauge, test (maybe more than once) swap the gauge for a spoke wrench, adjust and repeat, and repeat again. The advantage gained from this simple bit of continuity cannot be overstated.

The accompanying spoke length calculator is robust and extremely well provided for with dimensional data of hundreds of hub and rim types and an editable template for custom or otherwise unlisted hub models. Graphics are excellent. Full and comprehensive instructions as well as automatic updates to the databases and other information are included.

All in all an impressive amount of real and useful information as well as a vetting tool that will help achieve accepted, high level, quality control parameters.

First, it does need to be a relatively quiet setting. Second, made truing my wheel very even with having spoke tension data. Third, I have an iPhone 7 which has great mics...so not sure how it works on a legacy device or iPad.

I might even start building wheels (again) with an app like this. This app is a home run!

After truing my wheel on the Park Tool 2.2 wheel truing stand I wanted to insure I had uniform tension on the spokes. Lacking a spoke tension gauge I checked for an app and tried this one. While the concept made sense, when I was done my wheel was horribly out of true. And when I could hear clear differences in tone the app failed to detect them. Pretty disappointing.