Spoke Tension Meters
Browse used spoke tension meters for sale from riders across the UK. A tension meter deflects a spoke sideways by a fixed amount and reads the force required, which a conversion chart turns into kilograms-force — so you can build to an even tension rather than plucking spokes and judging by ear, with a rear drive side typically landing around 100 to 120 kgf and the non-drive side well below that. It is a tool for wheelbuilders, and for riders who rebuild their own wheels and want the numbers written down.
What does a spoke tension meter actually measure?
Not tension directly. The jaws sit over three points on the spoke, a calibrated spring pushes the middle one sideways, and the scale shows how far it moved — a stiffer, tighter spoke deflects less. The reading is then looked up in a chart against the spoke's material, gauge and shape, because a 2.0mm plain gauge, a 1.8mm butted and a bladed spoke all behave differently at the same tension. The Park Tool TM-1 uses a printed sliding scale for this; dial-gauge meters such as the DT Swiss Tensio show the deflection on a clock face instead.
Do I need one to true a wheel?
For a small wobble, no — a spoke key and a truing stand or the brake pads as a reference will pull a rim back into line. The meter matters when you are building from scratch, replacing several spokes, or chasing a wheel that keeps going out of true, because uneven tension is usually the cause rather than the rim. Evenness is the thing worth having: a wheel where the drive-side spokes are within about ten per cent of each other will hold true far longer than one that merely looks straight.
Is a tension meter or a bearing press the better first buy?
They solve unrelated problems, and the answer is whichever job you actually do. A tension meter is a measuring instrument that pays for itself if you build or rebuild wheels; if you only ever service hubs and bottom brackets, the bearing presses in the sibling category will see far more use. Both sit at the point in a home workshop where you have already bought everything a normal repair needs, which is why so many of the specialised tools here come up for sale barely used.
What should I check on a used tension meter?
The spring is the part that ages. A meter stored clamped shut for years reads low across the whole range, so squeeze and release it a few times and watch the pointer return cleanly to the same rest position each time. Check the three anvils the spoke sits against for grooves worn by bladed spokes, since a grooved anvil shifts every reading. Most importantly, ask whether the conversion chart or calibration card is included — some meters ship with a table specific to that individual unit, and without it you have a tool that can only compare spokes to each other, not tell you the actual figure. On dial-gauge types, a gauge that has been dropped will stick partway through its travel.
What is a fair used price?
A complete meter with its chart in good order sells for a decent fraction of new, and given there is no consumable in it, that is reasonable. Pay noticeably less for one without its chart, and treat it as a relative tool for evening out a wheel rather than hitting a number. If you already know a wheel is correctly tensioned, checking a used meter against it is the simplest sanity test there is. Buy new if you are building for other people and want traceable calibration.