How true does a wheel need to be?
JD84
Posts: 9
Hi there,
I locked my cyclocross bike to a public stand yesterday, and returned to find it on its side (most likely been kicked over) and the front wheel was very slightly buckled.
This morning I paid a local bike shop to true the wheel. They have done the best they can but it is still ever so slightly buckled -- literally a mm or two. The guy said it will be completely safe to ride, but that I could obviously buy a new wheel. Basically he wasn't very clear in his advice.
Can anyone advise on whether:
a) This is safe to ride?
b) How much efficiency am I likely to lose with a wheel that is very slightly untrue? (If that's even the right terminology!)
I'm basically reluctant to fork out even more money on a bike that I mostly only commute on, but equally I don't want to ride something that is unsafe.
I locked my cyclocross bike to a public stand yesterday, and returned to find it on its side (most likely been kicked over) and the front wheel was very slightly buckled.
This morning I paid a local bike shop to true the wheel. They have done the best they can but it is still ever so slightly buckled -- literally a mm or two. The guy said it will be completely safe to ride, but that I could obviously buy a new wheel. Basically he wasn't very clear in his advice.
Can anyone advise on whether:
a) This is safe to ride?
b) How much efficiency am I likely to lose with a wheel that is very slightly untrue? (If that's even the right terminology!)
I'm basically reluctant to fork out even more money on a bike that I mostly only commute on, but equally I don't want to ride something that is unsafe.
0
Comments
-
My rear wheel has been very slightly buckled for a few years now. I have had zero problems with it.0
-
My wheels have been fairly seriously buckled for a while now, include quite a large 'ding' in the rim. They still hold air tubeless and still go round. It'll probably cost me a DNF at some point but until it does or they get a lot worse I'm happy riding them. Its only a cross bike, designed to get muddy, beaten up and knocked about. A new one will probably look at feel pretty similar pretty quickly.0
-
As long as it's not causing brake rub and the tyre's not hitting anything you should be OK I'd have thought.
I trued a very old wheel on a 80s Peugeot bike rescued from a skip using a mixture of brute force and excessive turning of the few spoke nipples that weren't seized. Remarkably still round and true-ish a couple of years on. The spoke tensions must be all over the place, but you can get away with that if you have 36 spokes...0 -
Thanks, this is all very reassuring! Reckon I'll just ride it for a while and see how I get on.0
-
I'd think 90 % of bikes in use have more buckled wheels than that.0
-
100% of the wheels on my commuting bike are more buckled than this!Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0
