Road Cycling - How much of a wobble is safe?

Rear tire just went flat and when I patched the tube and put it back on there was a noticeable wobble in the back tire (horizontal to the ground). I hadn't even ridden on the flat tube since it appears to have slowly lost air overnight. It doesn’t touch the brake pads but when I apply the brakes I can hear a definite pattern when the brakes touch and don’t touch the rim.

Well, I am no expert, but seems to me this needs looked into a bit more! The two things that pop into my mind would be a broken spoke or damaged cords in the tire. Either condition should not be overlooked. While a wheel with a broken spoke can be ridden to get you home, I would not risk wheel failure/damage by continuing to ride on it. And, if something has happened to damage the cords of your tire, it is time to get it replaced also. These things always seem to come apart when you are the fartherest from home, or when it might cause the most damage to you or your bike! Check it out, and have a great ride!

If you're sure you didn't have it before the flat, make sure the axel is firmly seated in the dropouts. It often happens that in our haste we think it is right, but it might not be.
A little wobble is not dangerous, but as you've noticed it is tough on brakes and your rims. If you grab the spokes in the wobble area, you'll notice that some will feel looser than the ones around them. This indicates a weakened wheel and should be trued.

Hey Big- read up in the bike mechanics forum about my recent wheel problems! We are kindred spirits!

If your wobble is feeling like an up-down wobble, I would think that the tire is not set correctly on the rim. I had this problem over the past week, and I just recently got this corrected. What they told me in the mechanics forum is to let the air out of the tire, then pump in about 15 pounds of pressure, then knead around the entire tire and check to make sure the tire is seated correctly on the entire rim, and also check to make sure the inner tube isn't peeking out from underneath the tire.

If it's still seeping out air, take the tire off and first take a small sponge and wipe around the inside of the tire to ensure that you haven't lodged anything in the tire that's causing your tire to continue to go flat (also in my escapades- read about that too!). Check the inside of the rim too for any obstructions (read about that wonderful adventure too!).

Good luck. I can't stand dealing with tires right now after the last 7 days of tire hell I went through.

Koffee

Yeah, it just appear to be some spokes. I'll bring it down to the store tomorrow when I get some new tires (found a nice screw in it complements of a construction site). I had this problem before on the back wheel before and a few minutes with a spoke wrench fixed it for about 700 miles.