Bent front wheel - How much is acceptable?

d3matt

I fell of my bike yesterday trying to cross ruts on a downhill track, resulting in a painfull sprained thumb and a slightly bent front wheel. During the rest of my (one handed) ride back it looks like the wheel is bent by 4-5mm. How much is acceptable and are there any consequences of having a slight bend in the wheel.

supersonic

A bent wheel often signifies uneven spoke tension or a warped rim. They generally get worse with hard use. I'd check the spoke tension and remedy it.

jon1993

I bent my wheel around the frame so it wouldn't go round and pulled it out Yeh will be weakened but its back strait now. just look at it sensibly if you can get it back straiter without adjusting spokes (leaning on it) it will bend the rim and not spring back if you do by the spokes to true strait away ur rim will be bent still just tension holding the rim strait even though it isn't. this is self taught and from experience doing it as I go when touring, I'm no professional but worked for me doesn't sound that bad anyway I'd still ride that I wouldn't worry but if it bothers you lbs will for £15-20

supersonic

It id very unlikely the rim is bent with a 5mm wobble, and physically bending the rim back should be a last resort 'get you home' fix.

d3matt

I forgot to add, one of the reasons for asking is that I was planing to go tubless this week for the first time. And I didn't want to waste the tape and sealant on the front wheel if it needed work or a replacement.
I'll have a look at the spoke tensions. Will try to find some video instructions.....

jon1993

Well if you read it right It says at the end I don't think it will need to do this and he also says how far is to much so i told him that i did that and still run on the 'get you home fix' 4000 miles later that was about 3/4 of an inch out although probably weaker now. as i said no expert but it worked sorry for the confusion.

supersonic

Touring and MTBing are two different things, and obviously place different stresses on the wheels - I'd never, ever trust a wheel I'd knocked back into place off road over rocks. MTB wheels need to be evenly tensioned and true to work safely off road. I just wanted to add some safety into the equation if going to think of this route.

Neither would I ride a wheel with loose spokes.

jon1993

One thing if your going to do it yourself make your self a stand get some old bike forks upside down and use 2 tie wraps as pointers at either side and a top marker if you have any flat spots. The vidio tutorials on youtube tell you the rest just watch a fue some of them arnt great and don't tell you everything you need to know.

jon1993

That's doing dalby red/black every other weekend aswell just to add. I know I wouldn't advise it myself either but being a student had no money at the time so do best I can with what I had I wouldn't have done if I could have helped it but still works and still used today the crash was actually messing about on a jump park near wilberforce collage (hull) out of the 4000 miles since about 1000 in dalby and other centers 2000 touring and 1000 on fire track so if I'm honest I'd say that's lasted well and still works although does have a very slight flat spot and a 2mm oscillation

cooldad

Paragraphs, sentences, punctuation please.
Your posts hurt my head to read.

d3matt

I'm trying to buy a spoke wrench so I can check out my spokes and have a go at truing up my wheel. However, I'm now confronted with at least four different sizes. My wheels are Ritchey OCR Disc 32 hole. Is there a typical standard size of spoke nipples? Doing a few searches, it seems to indicate the 3.45mm (red) is the standard one, but still not sure on this.

d3matt

I borrowed a micrometer/calliper (not sure what these are called) to measure my spokes and they look like they are 3.2mm at the top and 3.3mm at the base, so this is all too confusing. These weren't digital so it was difficult to measure to such a small fraction of a mm.
I've now ordered both a 3.23mm and a 3.3mm Park spoke wrench from CRC. Seems crazy that there is such a tiny difference between theses sizes and I've had to spend twice the amount.

kdawg74

wiggle do a pack of 3 spoke keys of different sizes.

d3matt

Dam, I didn't see that set. I was searching on "spoke wrench".
Oh well too late now. I've spend twice that on two Park ones.