Bicycle Mechanics - What is a good price to get a tired trued?

Hi Everyone,

Noob here. Yesterday while riding I somehow bent my bike tire. It was still rideable, but was wobbly and got worse and worse as I rode (I had a few mile to go to get back to my car so I rode it). It was rubbing pretty hard against the brake pad so I was riding with alot of resistance.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I found an open bike shop on the way home. They were just closing so I left my bike and they are going to let me know the price to fix it today. What is a reasonable price range to true a tire? I am new at this; not looking to nickel and dime, but I do want to make sure they are not going to over charge me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

You bent your wheel or more spcifically, your rim. The tire is the rubber part that is mounted on the wheel. Most shops around here charge around $10- $15 for a simple truing. If the rim is bent badly enough, it may need to be replaced and that could be considerably more.

$15-$20, somewhere in there.

Definitions:

Tire - The rubber outer part of the wheel that has tread and contacts the road
Tube - the rubber bladder inside the tire that holds air
Rim - the outer 'frame' of the wheel to which the tire and tube mount
Spokes - the metal rods that connect the rim to the hub
Hub - the center part of the wheel with the axle and rear cogs
Wheel - the whole assembly of hub, spokes, rim, tire, and tube.

Generally when a wheel is wobbly like you described, we say 'the wheel' needs truing, as the act of truing the wheel involves the rim, the spokes and the hub. THe tire is the one part of the wheel that is not used in truing.

To answer your question, cost for truing a wheel is usually between $10 and $25, depending on the complexity of the repair. It could cost more if there was something specific wrong that required more work.
From your description of the problem, you may have broken one or more spokes. THis usually happens due to the repeated stress put on spokes as the wheel rotates during riding. It is more likely to happen on a wheel where the spokes were not properly tensioned when built.

It is possible, assumign you have broken spokes, that the shop will just replace them, tighten them up and the wheel will be straight and ready to ride. However, this is also likely to leave the root cause of the failure unchecked.

+1 Tires don't get trued, they true the wheel. Cost will depend on condition of the wheel when they got it. Could be anything from $20 to a wheel replacement.

+2. I suspect you just have loose or broken spoke(s). They would need replacement and/or tightening/truing. I'd do it for free but the shipping costs to Naperville would kill the deal. You need a friendly local bike shop anyway.

replacing spokes is going to up that price a bit and if you need to replace more than one or two, it's probably going to be time to replace the wheel because more are going to fail soon.

Thanks for the info guys. And thanks for the education.

@DCBO, you mentioned that the root issue may be unchecked? Would you be able to tell me at all what kind of issues might be at fault? Perhaps I can check it out myself once I get my bike back.

New York City is an expensive place to run a business, so expect higher overhead
cost, to run a bike shop there, reflected in the service charges,
+ there is probably sales taxes to be paid, on the services and certainly on any parts..

Thanks for the info guys. And thanks for the education.

@DCBO, you mentioned that the root issue may be unchecked? Would you be able to tell me at all what kind of issues might be at fault? Perhaps I can check it out myself once I get my bike back.

If the spokes are broken, the standard action by the bike shop to take are to replace the spokes and true the wheel. Spokes are usually broken due to insuifficient tension, and the shop is unlikely to check this. To properly check tension you need a spoke tension meter, which is kind of a specialized tool... I'll bet most bike shops don't even have one...

Also, since spokes usually fail due to fatigue, if a couple of spokes break it is a good bet that most of the others are close to the end of their lives, too. Depending on the wheel, the proper fix for this is either to relace the wheel with new spokes (for a high-end rim and hub), or replace the whole wheel.

What sort of bike/wheel do you have?

I had a broken spoke on my road bike while on vacation in Vermont. The cost to replace the spoke and re-true the wheel was $29.

If the spokes are broken, the standard action by the bike shop to take are to replace the spokes and true the wheel. Spokes are usually broken due to insuifficient tension, and the shop is unlikely to check this. To properly check tension you need a spoke tension meter, which is kind of a specialized tool... I'll bet most bike shops don't even have one...

Also, since spokes usually fail due to fatigue, if a couple of spokes break it is a good bet that most of the others are close to the end of their lives, too. Depending on the wheel, the proper fix for this is either to relace the wheel with new spokes (for a high-end rim and hub), or replace the whole wheel.

What sort of bike/wheel do you have?

+1 This is a likely scenario

Bike shop trued the wheel and tightened all the spokes.

I have a GT Transeo 5.0 (2009). I've put just over 200 miles on the bike. Bought it in May new from a bike shop.


Wheels

Rims Alex Z-1000
Tires 700 x 38c Kenda
Spoke Brand Stainless, 14ga. (2.0mm)
Spoke Nipples Brass

Bike shop trued the wheel and tightened all the spokes.

I have a GT Transeo 5.0 (2009). I've put just over 200 miles on the bike. Bought it in May new from a bike shop.


Wheels

Rims Alex Z-1000
Tires 700 x 38c Kenda
Spoke Brand Stainless, 14ga. (2.0mm)
Spoke Nipples Brass

And how much did they charge in the end?

I just took a friends bike in to get the front wheel trued, brakes adjusted, and the cones were also adjusted. The total cost was $5. How much you will pay for bike repairs is totally dependent on location.

They charged me $30, just above the range most of you guys mentioned.