Park Tool TM-1 - Spoke Tension Meter Tool

Quality product from park tools. Good information supplied too.

I purchased an alternative meter which may have been off calibration. Hopefully this one is spot on.

This is a comparative tool and you have to refer to tables to get the absolute measurement. However when checking a wheel you should use the associated app to get a proper appreciation of the readouts. Use in conjunction with a wheel dish guage because although you might have a trued wheel the hub position may be out and when you sit on the bike the anomaly will show up. As an example I got a new front wheel that was trued but the spoke tensions of left and right spokes did not approximate each other and when the wheel was set against the hub, the dish of the wheel was out - a gap of 1/4 inch on the rim on the left side.

Positives: Works well, easy to understand and work with - I set 28 spokes to around the same tension in about 15 mins although not able to get a clear target value from the spoke manufacturer to aim for. Easy to resell. Negatives 16" wheels - will only work on radial patterns, cannot use on the interlaced rear wheel of my Brompton as insufficient clear length to fit the meter. The tension posts are 106mm apart and really need 116mm of clear spoke to comfortably get a reading Expensive for the amount of use I will get from it.

Sturdy construction, tool functionality perfect. Very happy with the purchase.

This did the job eventually but I am really unimpressed with the build quality for the price. The mechanism binds a little so would get a different result on each release which meant it took me much longer than it should have to get my spoke tension close to correct. If you even so much as touch the grip once you've let go you can easily give yourself a lower result than it initially reads which makes ease of use awkward at times. It's just a spring on the back side of the tool that does the work and a single screw which holds it in place to keep it calibrated. The thing is, as the build quality isn't good, it's hard to trust that the values on the tool match the chart. Either way, I managed to get my wheel better than it was initially. It's hard to justify the cost of the tool though.

I would only get this if your serious about working on your own wheels (and maybe your friends) all the time, due to the price. It can really help find stretched spikes that may not be obvious if your just trying to straighten a wheel up and having a hard time getting it right. Yes there are cheaper ones out there, but I personally have not had any problems so far with park tools so would choose this over other brands.

this is a great tool for anybody who loves riding and working on bikes , only part tools could design a tool which is very easy to use ,plus also you gets charts and a spoke ring to measure diffrent spokes. you may have to wait a long tine to receive it ,but it is worth it

Cumple al 100 % su función, ¿Qué decir? Es ParkTool, en mi opinión la referencia en herramientas para bicicletas

Är lätt att använda. Bra kvalitet

I recently went to a downhill mountain bike park. These parks, while fun are quite brutal on your bike. My recent experience left me with busted rear wheel. It was busted in the sense that while riding you could hear all sorts of pinging noises coming from the wheel. I tried to tighten up any loose spokes while I was at the park but ultimately it was time for another solution. I didn't have money for a new wheel and the last time I brought my wheel to a shop I was less than happy with the results. Chances are you may be in the same situation hence the reason you are reading this review. I purchased this item knowing that fixing my wheel would not be easy but I do have a somewhat mechanical background and access to the internet so I figured this was my most affordable solution. The tool arrived in a timely manner and was packaged appropriately (typical Amazon, keep up the good work). The device came with a simple, east to read set of instructions. The device was well built and felt durable, I was initially taken back as the size in person was much larger than what I had expected based off the pictures. I used the device to check the tension on each of my spokes and Park has a web page that will let you input the specs for each spoke and it will tell you where the wheel is weak basically. I think the hardest part for me was trying to figure out the specs for my particular spokes. That was very frustrating (not Parks fault though). After spending about an hour with the device I became quite comfortable using it and even got into a nice rhythm using it. I re-tensioned the wheel while it was on the bike because I did not have a wheel truing stand (I really don't think it is necessary unless you are building a wheel from scratch.). I found that setting the tension is much like tuning a guitar in the sense that when you tighten one spoke you loosen another. My advice is to adjust all of them a little bit at a time and continue going back over them until the tension is set vs. trying to get them all set on the first try. To summarize, I have a fancy new tool which was well worth the money and I have a nice tight and straight rear wheel and ready for the trails. If you are not afraid of a little challenge and some elbow grease I would highly recommend trying this out. I thought it was a bit pricey but it has already saved me a trip to the bike shop not to mention a new rear wheel. It will also help me keep my wheels in tune which will lengthen the lifespan of the wheels.

Even though I'm new to using this tool and the dark art of wheel truing this definitely helped me out a bit. I'm amazed how my wheel hadn't blown up it was that loose

Spokes that are evenly tensioned allow wheels to stay truer, longer. The TM-1 measures spoke tension and combined with the app on the Park Tool website, it becomes an incredibly powerful tool for Pro and Amateur bike mechanics alike. Would I recommend this tool for new bike mechanics? No, probably not. I got by for years truing my wheels using my brake pads as reference. But over time you may notice that even though you have trued your wheel, some spokes are low-tensioned and some are high-tensioned. This discrepancy between spokes will mean your wheel becomes untrue faster. As with most Park Tools, the quality is top-notch but you pay the price. And if you are like me and have interest in a tool like this but no idea how to begin using it, the Park Tool site provides an excellent guide and an excellent app.