Quoted message said:I crashed my road bike the other day and luckily I only
got a minor foot sprain. But the rear wheel (Bontrager
Race Lite 700c) twisted on me. I slammed the "boinged"
part against the ground to untwist it as much as I can,
but this only fixed it so far and it's still twisted
enough that it won't rotate now since the rear caliper
brakes get in the way.
In general, the best way to straighten a rim that's actually
bent is to apply a force similar to what bent it in the
opposite direction. Unless your wheel got bent by being
slammed against the ground, what you've done has more likely
put even more bends into it.
The best way to fix a bent rim is to loosen the spokes a bit
and then attempt to bend it back. This works best on rims
with an "S" bend (a curve, rather than a sharp bend). What I
do is this- with the rim in a floor-mounted truing stand (or
in a bike upside-down, but it's tough to get into a good
position for the next part), I position the rim so that the
bend is towards me and, holding the rim with my hands at
approximately the 10 & 2 o'clock positions, push the bend
(positioned at 10 o'clock) away from me, using my foot.
Depending upon the severity of the bend, you may have to
move your hands a bit further down the rim. This is
something best practiced on wheels that are already of no
value to you, since the best way to learn how much pressure
you need to apply is by applying too much.
What you don't want to do is try and true a badly bent rim
using spoke tension alone. The result will be extremely
uneven spoke tension, as a small number of spokes work hard
to force a rim in a direction it really doesn't want to go.
Such wheels won't stay true very long.
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗
"Zilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:I crashed my road bike the other day and luckily I only
got a minor foot sprain. But the rear wheel (Bontrager
Race Lite 700c) twisted on me. I slammed the "boinged"
part against the ground to untwist it as much as I can,
but this only fixed it so far and it's still twisted
enough that it won't rotate now since the rear caliper
brakes get in the way. I'd say the rim is 1/2 to 1 inch
out of true. Of course the spokes are all lose now. Is
this rim worth salvaging? It's basically a new wheel on a
new bike, which is 4 mos. old with only around 200 mi. on
it. (I have not ridden it much because of the weather.)
Can I still true the wheel?
I've subsequently ordered a new rim, BTW (hence, the wheel
building post I had earlier.)
--
- Zilla Cary, NC (Remove XSPAM)
