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    Rim became too flexible under load


    In sharper turns (on the street) or if I put a lot of torque into the pedal while driving straight, I feel the rim "bending". It feels like I am about to get a flat tire, but it's not the air pressure giving off the wobbly feeling.
    I can reproduce the "bending" in pretty much every position of the rim, when putting some pressure into the pedal pushing towards the frame.
    I also noticed my wheel is slightly uneven. So apparently some spokes need tightening.

    I bought a tool to tighten them, but somehow messed up the tension completely and the wheel is more uneven than before.

    But will that it fix though?
    The guy at the bike shop said he never saw something like that. So maybe thats a case of material weakness?

    The rim is should be a Shimano WTB – Deore XT FH-M8000 | ST i25 – 29" | QR 135 – HGS

    Rim became too flexible under load
    byu/derProtagonist inbikewrench



    by derProtagonist

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    22 Comments

    4. DtEWSacrificial on

      You can see that it’s toggling between a potato chip and being in-line.

      Your wheel needs to be re-tensioned by a real wheelbuilder. But that wheelbuilder would just tell you that you need a new wheel because the cost in labor just isn’t worth it vs. just replacing a machine-built alloy WTB rear wheel.

      If you were a real wheelbuilder and for some reason had some attachment to that rim/hub, you might try to figure out where you have an issue, eg. elongated spoke, etc.

    7. ClearRuby on

      You cant just buy a tensioning tool, and start tensioning loose spokes randomly. It has to be methodical with proper tools. Avoid riding it, maybe its still repairable if rim is not bend, but like someone said, bikemechanic will most likely tell you to buy a new wheel….

    8. Unlucky_Purchase_844 on

      Stateful taco. Never seen that before, impressive.

      Do not ride, wheel needs rebuilt or replaced. Next time do keep it maintained.

    9. AccomplishedCandy732 on

      Bro put the whole bike in a museum. You fcked something up tremendously and now its kinda awesome

    11. Smooth-Noise1985 on

      You’ve over tightened some and over slackened some. Ideally, this needs to go in a little jig. It would be far easier and quicker to go to a bike shop than explain the full process of getting the wheel true, but yes, even that wheel is easily fixable with experience

    13. lingueenee on

      Not sure what exactly you did but, yes, you messed up. Rear wheels are asymmetric builds (dished) due to the freehub and the tension of the drive side spokes is much greater than those on the non-drive. If you set out to equalize the tension on all the spokes that would contribute to the wheel being out of true as well, i.e., “slightly uneven”.

      There are many resources online for budding wheelbuilders; Google and read up.

    16. the_volvo_vulva on

      I have seen something similar to this before when a rim cracked across the rim bed. It tacod when deflated and went into true when inflated.

    17. tabspdx on

      If you are **very patient** you can *probably* un-tension and re-tension all the spokes following this guide: [https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html)

      Note: you don’t need to completely remove the spokes, just un-tension them. Then start with the `Tensioning and truing` section.

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