Bicycle Mechanics - Rim question

Found a bike in the garbage. The only thing wrong with it was the rear wheel. The wheel had tacoed. Showing my buddy, he messed with it a bit. we heard a pop and then now it looks like it can be trued. The bike is a mid 70's sekine sht 270 and it would be nice to keep it original but its not worth it if its not safe or quickly loses true. Any thoughts?

I have seen tacoed wheels made rideable but it likely won't last long. I would look for a used wheel and even a new wheel can't much more tha $40 or so.

If the rest of the bike is in decent shape, it is worth fixing up. I worked in a bike shop in Ottawa back in the 70's and that was one of the nicest bikes for the money that we sold. It may be possible to re tension and true up the wheel. If it isn't, you could look into buying a new rear wheel or even changing the rim if you can find a suitable 27" replacement. As I recall that bike had a very nice frame. If it fits you that bike could be a very versatile transportation bike

Depending on how it was taco'd and the nature of the damage to the rim, the wheel might be trued, and retensioned into a good wheel that might last a decently long while.

What matters is wherher there' local bending of the rim, which would require big tension differences to correct, or whether the rim assumed a graceful potato chip shape with little or no local bends.

If you friend has good wheels kills, I'd definitely give it a go. If not let a local shop take a look and give you an opinion, and quote so you have a basis for decision.

If your town has a local bike co-op this is the best place to go, as they're used to keeping older bikes alive. If a new wheel is called for they might even have a used replacement fairly cheap. Though IME rear wheels are the most short in supply items they have.

BTW- if you can do the work yourself, (or your friend) it doesn't matter how long it lasts, since it's all bonus time, and lets you put off the decision as to whether the bike warrants spending for a new wheel.

there are apparently only 2 27" rims widely available on the market any more. an Alex thats basically junk (single wall pinned construction), and a Sun CR-18 that's a nice rim suitable for a good grade old road bike, a highly polished alloy rim. the CR-18 come in 32H and 36H (most vintage bikes were 36 spoke)

if thats THIS bike, it sounds like a fine machine.
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/Feature_Bicycles/Feature_Bicycles_Canada/Sekine_SHT270_Mine/Collection_Bicycle_Sekine_SHT270_1_Introduction.htm

I'd definitely get the wheel rebuilt, and fix everything up if the rest of the bike is in servicable/repairable condition.

DO NOT buy a 40 buck replacement wheel if this bike is going to do more than just take up garage space. Usually ...the cheep wheel is CHEEP because it is junk. Any real mileage and your back to square one.

Depends some of what flavor of rim.. vintage chrome steel 27's are hard to really bend.. and as hard to get round again. Likely by your account this rim's a single wall alloy. What I have found to date truing damaged rims (for the learning experience) is said rim should lay flat sans allot of force on say a table.. if you can hold it with some pressure against that surface usually your laterally ok. Measure some pts across
for the ERD.. valve hole to seam.. go around and carefully compare your lengths. Should be fairly close for any success retensioning.. say under 1/4".. you might see if you can correct that further. Examine the seam.. if it's separating noticeably it'd be best to scrap it. I've seen one damaged rim welded at the joint... some ambitious fiddler at work. All in all bringing damaged rims back is for the more advanced wheel builder.

If your going to give it a go.. post some more info.. some pics would get allot of comments I am sure. Kudos too for this salvage job.. sounds like a decent ride.

Are there any markings on the rim, such as-


Araya SS-40, W/0 etc.




IF one is really lucky, they might be able to replace the rim with a Sun Rims CR 18 and reuse the spokes, keeping costs minimal.