Conference noted::bicycle

2507.0. "warped rim (damn!)" by GYUPCC::URBAN () Sat Mar 13 1993 14:34

    Hi folks,
    
    a year and a half ago I asked how to build wheels, and got some great
    advice and encouragement.  My front wheel, which I built as a result,
    has done wonderfully, (hardly ever needed to be trued) until today! I 
    slipped on gravel, and when I got up and tried to continue, i
    discovered to my immense dismay that i had warped my rim to the point
    where i had to open the front brake quick-release just to be able to
    ride.
    
    I tried to true it, and now i've got it to the point where I can
    connect the brake quick-release again, but it won't do.
    
    So finally my question:
    
    Can anyone recommend a method of un-warping a rim so that i can be
    (almost) perfectly trued again?  Or should I just give up (sob), and
    buy a new rim, and spokes, and build another...
    
    -rob

If I were you, I'd back off the tension in all the spokes a turn or two
then proceed from that point as if you were building the wheel for the first
time. One difference: if you use any method of stressing the spokes when
you build a new wheel, you don't need to include that because the spokes
are already stressed (aren't we all). Also, now that you've bent the rim,
the spoke tensions won't end up as even as before. But you should be able to
get the wheel pretty true again.


Rod

    If you do give up, you could use the same spokes, if you buy a
    rim which needs the same spokes, it depends on how much you have
    ridden.  If it was over a 1000 miles, I'd just spring for the new
    spokes, or if the old ones are damaged at all.
    
    ed