Fizzoli

I'll try to get to the point as quick as possible.

I had broken a spoke on the rear wheel of my 2012 Specialized Sirrus Sport (stock wheels). After tons of research, I let my passion for DIY kick in and decided to replace the rear spoke myself. I soon learned this was not an easy task. However, after a while, I got it done.

Little did I realize, actually replacing the spoke was the easy part. I soon learned that one broken spoke would throw the entire wheel of true. So my DIY nature kicked back in and I attempted to true it myself. This proved to be much too difficult for someone like myself so I turned to my LBS (I had a free tune up).

This led to my first negative experience with my LBS. When I originally took in the bike, I told them about my issue and they told me this would be no problem to fix. Emphasized it even. However, several days later when I went to pick it up, they looked at me like a crazy person when I asked them if they were able to fix the truing of my rear wheel. One guy asked another, that guy asked another and in the end I was told that they could not completely fix it. It almost seemed like they were upset that I expected that to be fixed as part of my free tune up. They told me I would probably need new wheels.

In the end, I found out that they were able to fix the horizontal true of the wheel (the side to side wobbling), however, they couldn't get it to vertically true. If I spin it while off the ground the wheel wobbles slightly up and down.

They also seemed very confused as to whether or not this would be ok to ride on. Being so discouraged (and also broke), at the time, it kind of led me to be less passionate about my biking experiences. I'm the type that if one little thing is wrong with my bike, it get's in my head and I become less motivated (another problem all together).

So long story short, after about a 4-6 month hiatus from real riding, I've come back to my senses and have gotten back into biking. I've done a couple 20 mile or so rides and besides what seems like (could just be in my head) a recurring up and down bouncing, have had no REAL issues. I'm wondering if this is ok to ride on? Am I causing more harm than good? Do I need new wheels for sure? Should I just ride these one till they're done? If I do need a new wheel, can I just get one (meaning can my rear wheel be different than the front one)? Or, best case scenario, can the vertical true still be fixed (maybe they just didn't know what they were doing)?

I'm just confused...pleas help. Thanks in advance.

DTSCDS

First, they didn't know what they were doing.

Yes, the vertical truing can be done. (This is assuming the rim is not bent and simply needs to be trued.)

Unless the rim is trashed (since you have ridden on it I am going to assume it is NOT trashed) you do not need to buy new rims. No, the stock rims are not as good as spendy new hand made rims but that does not mean need to replace them. At some point you may want to but that is not now.
If you are a big fella you may start popping spokes. (I'm 280 and have never popped a spoke on the original rims that came on my Trek hybrid.) At that point you may want to think about talking to another LBS about rebuilding the rims or think about some new rims. The only time you must buy a new rim is if it is actually cracked/broken or bent beyond repair--not the case with yours.

In conclusion, you don't have a rim problem, you have a bike store problem.

Fizzoli

Thank you so much for the response. I consider myself fairly big for an active rider, but I'm only about 215-220 and plan on losing weight. If you're 280 than I don't think my weight is the problem.

It makes sense that it might have just been an issue with my LBS. It almost seemed like I had caught them off guard. Like they knew they messed up, but didn't want to admit it. I'm going to try and take it back to them one more time (I have another free tuneup). If they still play dumb, I will be looking for a more knowledgeable LBS.