Riding in a group at 35 km/h, guy pulling didn’t tell us there was a huge piece of metal in the middle of the road, 2 guys cut their tires, mine just blew the front one but dented the rim. Can it be fixed? Wheel needs truing too.
by martynssimpson
Riding in a group at 35 km/h, guy pulling didn’t tell us there was a huge piece of metal in the middle of the road, 2 guys cut their tires, mine just blew the front one but dented the rim. Can it be fixed? Wheel needs truing too.
by martynssimpson
14 Comments
It’s fucked
That’s a nasty one. It could be bent back to slowly and carefully ride it home, but then the rim would be significantly weaker in that spot, and any bump or pothole you hit could crack it. It needs to be replaced.
Nope, tire isn’t safe and it also is a problem for the brakeblocks.
I would not try to repair that, I’d replace. Bummer!
On the plus side – at least it was a cheaper alloy wheel that got written off instead of a more expensive carbon one.
You can use this excuse to upgrade to a newer wheelset or search for a replacement wheel on the second hand market if you’d rather just save a buck.
If you dont care much about looks. you can also throw on a front wheel from any old 700c rim brake wheelset and carry on riding.
for me i had a similar accident, but it was so much worse actually, i didn’t have the money to get a new rim, so i went to a welder and fixed it there, well, it isn’t perfect as it used to be, but it works just fine, i have made huge destinations with the not perfect wheel, and it isn’t dangerous for me at all. it kinda annoy me when i use my brakes but it isn’t as much, but for your scenario i think yours was less fucked than mine, just go to a welder with the rim and you’ll be just fine, you can always try it after fixing it at a welder’s and you test it yourself, but for it to be weaker, it won’t affect your riding experiences as much, just make sure after it being fixed to maintance the spokes tourch. good luck with it! save yourself some money! (but of course if buying a new rim wouldn’t be a big of a deal then just replace it)
Looks like it’s done for mate, sorry.
Get a new one asap. Decathlon has cheap wheels would look there
If you’re in a place where you can get a new one – get a new one. Yes, if need be you could make this less bad and maybe even last a couple K, but honestly, you don’t want to do that.
I don’t think it’s that bad but I wouldn’t want to ride fast with high pressures on it. You could bend it back and use it lightly while you wait for a replacement
Tldr: I wouldn’t consider it fixable. Just get the rim replaced, costs may vary a lot depending on your location. It could also financially (and time-wise) make sense to get a new fully assembled and trued wheel, especially if you swap the cassette on your own. Learning to build wheels is also a valid option if you’ve got the time and interest.
Technically it could get fixed, that’d mean welding up the hole /tear and grinding down the spot to flat again. This would require a skilled aluminium welder and some fancy ass machines for the smoothing part. As it’s a safety critical part you’d probably still want to do some kind of fancy examination like an X-ray to be sure there’s no further cracks and the existing one is fully fixed
Now you can see how this process might make sense for a 4 digit machine/automotive part. But not a what 100$ at most rim.
Depends on your budget and risk aversion level.
You can pull that dent out, there are tools for it. But, is that a crack? If so, I would replace it.
Rim is dead, kaputt.
if it’s worth it bring it to your bike shop and ask if the guy can assemble the hub and the spokes with a new rim. Might be cheaper than a new wheelset.