After getting my spokes tightened all around and rear wheel trued (front was still in good shape), I found that I am getting resonance in two areas. The low speed grunt on takeoff lasts until around 15 MPH, then another set of resonance in the 26 - 28 MPH range. Unfortunately the speed limit in my neighborhood is 25 MPH, so I found that in order to avoid the resonant singing I was riding in the mid-30s. We have a ton of small children in the neighborhood and many kind police officers patrolling, so that was a little too fast.
So I figured my options were to go tighter on the spokes and move the resonance frequency range or to dampen them. Since I do not have a tension meter, I chose to try the dampening route. I cut up pieces of extra fuel line and zip tied the pieces in between where the spokes cross.
Unfortunately I ran out of black zip ties, so had to use white. I figured I would have to periodically remove them to check spoke tension (plucking does not work with the dampers in place, obviously), so would replace them with black ones at that time. Found a crazy deal on zip ties at Target in the bargain section, 60 zip ties for $1, so I bought 5 packs...
It worked out beautifully! The low speed grunt is more of the grunt I would expect rather than an auto-tuned Opera singer getting a paper cut and the upper range resonance is completely gone. Just a nice Tron-like whir on acceleration, most lovely.
New handlebars should be delivered next week, and still designing some sort of crash protective cover. And a headlight and tail light are in the works for added visibility for other drivers on the road.
