Road Cycling - my infernal warping wheel!

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. I ride my bike everywhere in the city and the city roads are crap. My rear wheel keeps warping. Is there a rim out there that's resistant to warping or less likely to warp? I see other cyclist and bike messengers ect... and they don't seem to have same problem. Any answers?:confused:

I'm not sure what kind of wheel you have, but there is a lot of junk out there. Go to a good bike shop - they can tell you if yours can be salvaged or not. If not have them recommend a good wheel for your type of riding.

I agree with the advice from blwyn.

But I am curious. What brand and model rim do you have? How many spokes?

You say the streets are crap. Do you mean potholes and uneven sections kind of crap? Or trash (metal, glass, etc.) in the streets?

Good wheels aren't "branded" , they are handbuilt. The quality of components is less important than the quality of build. My local bike shop built my commuting wheels out of pretty low grade stuff, but its held true for 2 years.

You can build wheels yourself, but it takes time , and more practice than most people can afford. MA area has some good bike shops inc Harris Cyclery and Peter White Cycles, who will guarentee their wheels. If you want a local shop, look for one who can build touring grade, rather than ultra-light racing wheels.


http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/index.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/#map

A wheel may be trued to where there's no wobble or hop, but if the tension on the spokes is not right, it will quickly go out of true again. We have wretched streets in Kansas City (one newspaper columnist, a world traveler, said he's only seen their equal in Beiruth!), but luckily my wheels stay true for months at a time. I guess it's because they were done well to begin with, and when I touch them up I'm probably (mostly by luck) getting them back to where they were. They're not expensive wheels.

There are only 2 things which are likely to warp a wheel (well, actually 3 things, if you count exposure to flame), and they are:
1) Abuse and
2) Improper spoke tension.
I'm assuming that, somewhere, somebody that either did not know how to tension a wheel properly got his hands on it, or perhaps, if it is a machine-built wheel, it was never properly tensioned in the first place. Either way, chances are that the rim of shot by now, if it is truly "warped".

Hey guy's thanks for all the advise and the web sites. I've been riding my bike for years but I've always had mountainbikes and I'v never paid much attention to the mechanics of the thing I was riding untill about a year and a half ago when I found a Bianchi in the trash. I took it home and I've since fallen in love with it and I want to eventually get knew components for it. A lot of things on feel a little rickety. Specifically the front forks and I think it's because of it's age I'm not sure but it seems like the bike is from the late 70's or early 80's. I'm addicted to it. But like I said the streets in Boston can get pretty rough with potholes and cracks that either seem innoccuous or unavoidable when when there 's moving traffic to the left of you. RonH asked what kind of wheel I had. Well it's a Wolber GTA 622(700c) made in France, 32 spokes and I believe it's alluminium. It's the second one I bought and it cost $75.00. I can't believe it took me this long to find a web site like this. You guy's a great thanks:beer:

Well Wobbler rims are OK, for the most part, but who made the hubs?
BTW, a $75 rear wheel would be considered a "cheapo" in my book. And, at that price, I can guarantee you that no human ever checked the spoke tensions. You get what you pay for.........

Try some Mavic rims and learn to be light on your pedals and stay off your saddle in the rough stuff!

Ride with A Light Touch
Pat