wild animals

hello,
this might be kind of a vague question, but:
yesterday i was out on a ride with my sister, on a dark, narrow country road. we heard a car, so we got in single file and moved to the right a bit. unfortunately, the white line was on the right side of a short lip in the pavement, and all of the pavement to the right of the lip was totally mutilated. the bike bounced off of the lip, and as i rode on the damaged pavement, i was jerking around and bouncing all over the place. it was really uncomfortable. so my question is, how much of that kind of stuff can a 220-pound person do on a jamis aurora before she has to get her wheels trued? i haven't ever gotten wheels trued before and i don't even know how to tell if they need it or not, unless the brakes are rubbing or something. can my wheelset even handle that kind of abuse?

here's the page for the bike:
https://jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/08_bikes/08aurora.html

the listed wheel specs:
Alex ACE19 eyeletted double-walled rims, 36H, with Shimano Tiagra hubs, 14g stainless steel spokes

i want to take good care of my bike so i can ride it forever, but i hardly know anything about wheelsets. thanks for any help

somebadlemonade

Here is a simple test to see if the wheels need to be trued.
1. Turn the bike upside down so that is rests on the handlebars and saddle.
2. Then hold the brake close to the wheel no close enough for it to be touching but close enough to see a small gap less than the width of a penny if possible.
3. Then spin the wheel slowly if the gap gets bigger or the wheel gets caught on the brake it needs to be trued.
This works on both wheels and all bikes. I hope that helps.

markhr

+1

For disc brake equipped bikes use an object to check symmetry, i.e., instead of brake calipers on both sides of the rim use an object (say a plastic ruler) on one side and then check the same distance applies on the other side. If the wheel's out more than a 2-3mm then get it trued and tensioned by an experienced wheel builder. The sooner you do it the less chance there is that the wheel will stay permanently out of true.

Good quality, well built wheels stay true for a very long time with minimal maintenance. The opposite is also true though.

breadbin

You'll notice the out of trueness when braking anyway, you don't really have to check for it. when you start jerking when you brake its time to get them trued. You should be grand. my bike has taken so much abuse over the years and i'm 238lbs but seems to have held up (fingers crossed!). these are ritchey wheels i don't know what model or what but not expensive i'm sure. as you clean the spokes you will find out if any are loose or not and they'd usually need tightening. you can learn this yourself though so as to save you some money in the long run. as kids i remember we used to open the brakes wider so they wouldn't touch off the buckled wheels! ha ha. i wouldn't recommend that though;-)

flip18436572

The brake test is a very easy way, and you should also be able to feel it when braking. How long have you had your Aurora? If less than a year, you should be able to take it to you LBS and have them check things out. My Jamis dealer wanted my bike back after the first 100 miles and then 1000 miles, then a winter "check up". He actually replaced the first set off rims with upgrades from a higher priced Jamis after I was having problems with the rear breaking spokes. He has done all of this with NO cost to me. I actually will have one more year of free check-up, but we will see if I need anything.

If you are willing to do the work, you can learn a lot of easy maintenance on your bicycle to save you costs down the road.

bautieri

Evidently it can take some more. Honestly I don't know too much about out of true wheels. All my riding has been with either a true wheel or a nearly un ridable taco.

Snazzy bike!

phototron

Touring bikes are build to take a hit. The double wall rims are helpful in keeping your wheel true as well as having 36 spokes as apposed to 32. If you find your breaking spokes you could have your LBS add double butted spokes with will make it even stronger. I'm heavier than you and haven't had much problem.

CliftonGK1

I weigh 235 and ride Alex DA16 32h rims on Deore hubs (a similar, but slightly lighter duty set than yours.) After the first couple of hilly rides where I was standing up and really throwing the bike back and forth underneath myself the wheels needed trued up. I just chalked it up to them being machine built wheels, and I was right. A quick toss on the truing stand and I got them back into shape and properly tensioned; I haven't had to mess with them for almost 500 miles.

As someone mentioned, just spin the wheel and gently pull the brake lever. If you feel part of the rim "catch" instead of an even contact around the entire rim surface, then it's time to have the wheel trued up. Learning to true a wheel is a valuable repair skill, since shops charge around $15/wheel (at least that's the average rate here); but you can pick up a spoke wrench and a truing stand for $60 and then only have to pay for spokes if you break one.

cyccommute 

You may notice a blip on the rim from an impact while braking but that's an indication that the rim needs to be replaced. A wheel out of true will be span several spokes and probably won't be noticed as a pulse in the brakes. It's more likely to result in brake drag then in something you can feel in the lever.

Best way to check is to pick up the bike and spin the wheel while sighting along the wheel between the pad and the rim. If the wheel appears to wobble between the brakes excessively (even true wheels will wobble a tiny amount), it probably needs to be trued. If it hits a pad on either side, it definitely needs to be trued.

On a disc bike...which this isn't...why bother. Unless the wheel is tacoed...and even then it would need to be nearly folded in half...it's not going to cause problems.

As for riding across a rough surface. wild animals, it's not a lot to worry about. The best thing to do is to learn to ride 'light', i.e. let your arms and legs absorb a lot of the impacts by not sitting in the saddle but hovering over it.

smyth

if you can't tell a lot of the time the mech at a local bike shop will take a quick look at it for you without charging as well, especially if you're a regular supporter of the shop.
the tips everyone else gave are all great. for a bike with disc brakes(or a fixie without a rear brake) what i do is put a zip tie around the seat stay or fork and cut it so its very close to the rim, then spin the wheel and it gives the same effect of a brake caliper or holding a ruler but leaves you free to look at the gap, it also takes out user error of slipping while holding something against the fork/seatstay as a reference point. do that to both sides, then cut the zip ties off and you're set.

wild animals

thank you everybody! this all really helps. i knew that a lot of cyclists trued and maintained their own wheels, but somehow i got the impression that it was an esoteric art or something. it sounds way easier than i thought. plus now i can check them on the road if i really need to, instead of worrying for the rest of the ride that i've just broken my rear wheel or whatever

clifton, is there a steep learning curve with learning to true wheels? do you have to buy a nice truing stand to do a good job?

cyccocommute, one of the reasons i liked this bike was that it didn't have horizontal drop-outs, so i didn't have to carefully align the rear wheel to keep it from wobbling. haha. i have a gift for asymmetry. thanks for the reassurance about the rough roads--i know those bumps were hard on my body so i figured they had to be even harder on my rigid bike. i don't think i'll baby it so much now.

bautieri, thanks--I LOVE IT

flip, ok, thanks for the suggestion! i have a 30-day/100-mile check-up soon (the bike is brand new) but i think that's all i get, unless they are more accomodating for regular customers and i start to spend more time there. everything is so far away from where i live, though. but i'll definitely ask them to look at the wheels at the check-up.

thanks again everybody!

goldfishin

a blip in the braking can also be caused by a rim seam as with my rhynolites.

piper_chuck

Since it looks like your original question was answered pretty well, I thought I'd take a moment to mention something else. The laws in nearly every state give cyclists a portion of the road on which to ride. It varies from state to state. When you hear a car coming, going to single file is definitely something you should do, but moving all the way to the right, when the edge is all broken up, may not be. As you discovered, the right edge of a road can be hazardous. You may also be less visible when you're all the way to the right than when you are a foot or two left of the edge. Discussions about how much of the lane should be taken when a car approaches can turn into holy wars, so I will just suggest that you should ensure that you stay on a part of the road that is still smooth and keep enough space to move more to the right, perhaps to avoid a rock or bottle, if necessary.

piper_chuck

You can do a pretty job without a truing stand. However, having a workstand is really helpful for truing the wheels, adjusting the shifting, washing the bike, lubing the chain and other parts, etc. The only way I'd invest in a truing stand is if I was building wheels on my own.

If I need to tweak my wheels a bit, I mount the bike on the stand, tighten the brakes until they almost touch the rim and give them a slow spin. Any spots that rub are where the spokes need attention. It is certainly an art, but it's really not too hard.

somebadlemonade

It depends on if it was in a turn and if he had flashers/a head light or something to make himself visible. . . And if was a blind turn or hill. If you aren't a seasoned rider and you don't trust that the vehicle will see you let alone avoid you. He made the right choice, get safe and live to ride another day. But I agree with pretty much everything you said. But it all depends on the situation.

CliftonGK1

Like piper chuck said, there's really no need for anything too fancy for just basic truing work. Bring the brakes in tight, and use the pads as your guides. You'll be able to see if the rim is "off" in any spots.

A truing stand is helpful when building wheels or when fixing BIG out-of-true issues, because most stands have a guide that not only gauges if the rim is straight, but also if the rim is centered on the hub and if the hub is centered in the rim.

wild animals

ok great, thanks! i won't buy one then. because i am cheap.

thanks, piper. i did stay to the left of the white line, but the white line was painted to the right of the nasty cement, and it was too dark to tell how nasty it was. i couldn't correct myself because i'd've had to move back out again, and that wouldn't have been safe--hate that. that road is really tricky because there is no place on it that's safe to ride for the entire length--even the very middle of the road is damaged in places. you have to pick your route carefully, left-right left-right, or you'll fly off the bike. i had been riding in the middle, left of the yellow line, so that my sister could stay in the middle to the right of the yellow line, but it freaked her out that i was going the wrong way, so i stopped. it was quite late and it's a very, VERY low-traffic road, with good visibility both ways (most of the time). i've seen people in trucks parked blocking both lanes, facing opposite directions, just chatting, window-to-window. haha. anyway i agree with you and normally go out of my way to give myself enough room, but i couldn't tell how bad that nasty road was until i was on it. it just looked a little rough, not even potholes or anything. there were a couple of places that we just stopped and waited for the cars to pass, because you have to veer too much, and the road is too narrow for everyone to fit if you do that. plus, blind corners. haha. yeah. it's an awesome route otherwise though

i had to order new button-cell batteries for my camera, so i can't take photos, but maybe i'll take some later just for kicks. then you guys can be like "you call that bad?! THIS is bad!" and show me photos of your terrible roads

cyccommute 

A blipped rim has a different feel from a rim seam. And it's easier to find.

wild animals

i borrowed a camera! then it slipped out of the bag i had it in, and bounced, and landed in a ditch! nice one. still works though. i looked for the place that i had problems before, but i couldn't find it. during the night, the white line to the side of the road disappeared. either that or it was never there to begin with and i was confused with some other ride i went on. but i'm like 98% sure that the line was removed. that is the simplest explanation right?

so, anyway, i didn't get any photos of the really worst places, because i didn't want to stop, but i stopped out of orneriness after i was passed by 3 cars in this place:



the bad pavement goes all the way across the lane in some places, and one of the cars had to be ALL the way to the left to get around me safely because i refused to pull over any further.

also, i cut about 5 minutes off of my first time doing that route this year! that was 7-9 days ago. yahoo. plus i stopped more than usual, and there was a lot of wind. i took two days off so maybe that's why i was so much faster.

also:


i think these are osprey (i love birds but for the life of me cant tell the things apart)


bike! the camera i borrowed is owned by a teacher who needs the dates, and i forgot to turn it off. i hate those yellow dates. i guess eventually i'll get some really nice photos of the bike next to a waterfall or wahtever but for now i'd rather take a couple snapshots and then run back out of the road before i get run over. ps yes that is a kickstand. i love kickstands even though they maybe don't look that great, and mine is maybe going to fall off from vibrating all over those roads. tonight we loc-tite that baby.

the end!

breadbin

Nice bike! I have a nice cyclo-cross frame that i have yet to build up. Looking at yours makes me so jealous. The thoughts of riding the mtb again on the road is a nitemare! so slow. i'd say you fly along with that beauty;-)