VTBike

I've got stock 700c wheels (32 spoke) on my commuter bike. I noticed that the rear wheel was slightly out of true. This happened after I wound up on a rough trail that I probably shouldn't have been on in the first place. I only have about 400 miles on the wheel, though.

A couple of questions:
1) If the wheel can be made true again, and there is no other damage, is the wheel "as good as new" or will it be more susceptible to coming out of true?
2) How do you know if this is really a sign that the wheel is not strong enough in general?

VTBike

Ugh. Sorry for the typo in the title.

MOD NOTE: Typo fixed.

chasm54

That's OK. But ugh... LOL

Your wheel almost certainly does not need replacing, it needs trueing and tensioning. If you only have 400 miles on it, I'd suspect that the issue is that it wasn't perfectly tensioned in the first place.

As to whether it will be more prone to buckling from now on, there is really no reason to suspect that.

GravelMN

Stock wheels getting out of true after a few hundred miles is common. A good LBS should have someone who can true and tension the wheel and it should stay true for many miles. Even entry level wheels can hold up remarkably well when someone takes the time to tune them up properly. I like to use a tensiometer to get accurate tension readings and any good shop should have one. Sure, there are a few very experienced wheel builders who can get pretty close to even tension just by listening to the spokes as they are plucked, but there are a whole lot more out there who only think they can.

chriskmurray

I am with the above posters. Take the wheel to a shop who is comfortable building wheels and have them true/tension and stress relieve the wheel and it should be good to go for quite a while.