Last week or so, I went on a ride with a few friends. I took a fall, and a friend tried to pass while I'm down trying to unclip. Well he comes out of his clips and plants his foot right on my spokes, next to the rotor. Well yesterday I was hanging out front with my kids. My son wanted to ride his bike a little, so I broke mine out too. We were just cruising around in the street when I noticed my front wheel is not true anymore. WTF! It's nothing major at all but it's bothering me. I didn't think him falling on me like he did would have done that. I'm wondering if I just need to have the spokes checked out, because he never touched the actual rim. I'm no spoke/wheel tuner. So I'll probably have a shop do it. Or should I just live with it.
What to do about my front wheel
- Thread starter JSB
- Start date
If the bike is still rideable - i.e. none of the spokes are broken/loose and the rim still fits through the fork, then it's not all that bad. Take it to a trusted shop and have them true it for you. They may have to replace some of the spokes if they are bent/damaged from when they were stepped on, but the wheel should be easily fixed. My shop charges $20 to build a wheel, so trueing should be less, depending on how many spokes need to be replaced.
Stomping on spokes is probably the easiest way to knock a wheel out of true, as the spoke tension is all that's holding the wheel in true in the first place...
Bring it to the shop and have them true it. You shouldn't just live with it - you'll shorten the life of your wheel. If you've got a good relationship with the shop, ask 'em if they'll let you watch and show you how to true your own wheels.
Wheels are this great big mystery to most people, but they're much easier than you think. The spokes laced through the left hub flange pull the wheel left, the spokes laced through the right flange pull the wheel right. Loosening one side and tightening the other will pull the wheel one way or the other.
I wouldn't practice on your primary or only wheels in case you overtighten something and break a spoke or strip a nipple (
), so perhaps just let your shop handle this one and practice on an old wheel or get a friend to lend you their back-up wheelset.
Bring it to the shop and have them true it. You shouldn't just live with it - you'll shorten the life of your wheel. If you've got a good relationship with the shop, ask 'em if they'll let you watch and show you how to true your own wheels.
Wheels are this great big mystery to most people, but they're much easier than you think. The spokes laced through the left hub flange pull the wheel left, the spokes laced through the right flange pull the wheel right. Loosening one side and tightening the other will pull the wheel one way or the other.
I wouldn't practice on your primary or only wheels in case you overtighten something and break a spoke or strip a nipple (
), so perhaps just let your shop handle this one and practice on an old wheel or get a friend to lend you their back-up wheelset.
Just true it yourself, it'll provide you hours of fun. :evil:
Cool. I guess I'll run it up there after work. I could probably get it done for free at this shop I bought my first bike. They are like 4 minutes away, but some times I wonder about them. Then there is this other shop that I've heard does better work but it will probably cost me. Plus it's much farther away. Decisions, decisions.
IMO, it's well worht a few buck to have the wheel trued properly. A poorly trued wheel is just going to cause more problems, so you'll be back at the shop again anyways. Get it done right, then go ride.
Your probably right. I'll just be more pissed off if I have to go back.
if you are going to take it to the shop anyway, why not try & true yourself & if you mess it up more, what's the big deal? You are just back where you started. It maybe easier than you think...at least it was when I first tried.