Buckled Wheel?

mattrsa

Hi Guys and Girls

I noticed yesterday that my wheel seems to be rolling with a bit of a wobble and wondering if anyone knows why this might have happened

The bike is a spesh rocker with slicks on it. I have not hit anything other than the odd pothole but the wheel def looks like it aint rolling properly

I'm a complete novice to the bike maintaince but just order a bike servcing book. Would take it to my LBS but dont want to fork out £50 for something I can do myself

Any help or advice would be great

will3

Is the tyre seated properly?

mattrsa

i think so,

Shall I take it off and try fit it again?

nicklouse

only if it needs it.

is the rim wobbling? if no then it will be the tyre.

will3

Well it should be easy to see if it's seated the same all the way round.

(I only mention it because it's an easy fix!)

Heckler1974

Check the spokes are all tight, if one or more is loose, wheel could be out of true. You can buy the spoke tighteners but a word of warning, there is a whole black art in wheel truing where you can wind up making the problem worse or having spokes snap, best pay the LBS a few quid to true it rather than end up having to buy a new wheel.

mattrsa

ok guys, I will take the tyre off tonight and see how just the rim spins

Not going to mess around with the rim as ain't got a clue about it.

Might just take the wheel to the local bike shop if I can't solve the problem

bannedbiker

Its surprising how often what looks like a ding in your wheel will turn out to be a tyre not seated correctly.

skellator3

no point taking the tyre off get a pencil and elastic band, put the point of the pencil up to the rim and attach to the fork using elastic band and then spin the wheel

you will be able to see if the rim has a buckle then, and then decide if you want to try and fix it yourself

lae

Read Sheldon Brown's article on wheelbuilding/truing. It's really not as hard as people say it is, you've just gotta think about it and be careful.

mattrsa

well just had a quick look at the wheel and it appears that one of the spokes has broken off where it joins the rim

can this be fixed and if so how much will it cost?

wanted to ride to work tommorrow. booo!

will3

mattrsa wrote:

well just had a quick look at the wheel and it appears that one of the spokes has broken off where it joins the rim

can this be fixed and if so how much will it cost?

wanted to ride to work tommorrow. booo!

Ah yess that was the other thing I was going to mention as it can easily happen for no apparent reason.

Yes it can be fixed, it shouldn't cost much (the spoke itself will be less than a pound, fitting it will depend on your LBS's charge rate, but it's not a huge job.

waddlie

mattrsa wrote:

well just had a quick look at the wheel and it appears that one of the spokes has broken off where it joins the rim

can this be fixed and if so how much will it cost?

wanted to ride to work tommorrow. booo!

Common problem on Rockhoppers - I snapped three in three months. Should be able to get it replaced for a few quid at your LBS, but others may follow. Have a squeeze of your spokes to make sure they're nice and tight. If it continues you might want to get the wheel re-built.