Sharp bend in a rim
 

I picked up a set of Ambrosios laced to Cyclone sealed hubs on a C-Dale recently. I trued the rims as best I could and they are fine, except for the sharp bend (approx 1-1.5mm from side to side) in the front rim. I tried riding it, terrible wobble.

Can I fix it or am I now hunting for yet another rim to complete a set (Mavic MA green/yellow lable, Sun M13II and now Ambrosio 19 Elite):mad: I really, really hate having mismatched rims. Slightly neurotic:twitchy:

sounds like its toast. you could try bending it back but thats pretty last-ditch.

sell all your single rims on ebay. buy 1 matched set :)

Thank you oh wise one:D

The hoarder in me enjoys having extra wheel sets hanging around for the random frame that may just "end up" in my cave.... So my hunt for stray rims continues.

A few years ago I took a wheel with a nasty bend in it (I think the rim was a dark anodized Wolber Super Champion Alpine job) to a shop and the owner was outside at the curb sending a customer off when I showed up. He grabbed the rim and said it might be dead. I asked if there was anything he could do. Still standing on the sidewalk, he put his knee on the offending bend and pulled a bit to get it pretty straight. Then he sorted it out on the truing stand for a couple minutes. When I left there was only the slightest wave as it spun. He didn't charge me a dime.

Sometimes they can be sorted out, but I'm sure there may be some lingering strength issues where the bend was at.

Tom posted about this before. You have pretty good control over bending the rim if you unbuild it and straighten just the rim. Use a compass to draw a circle on a perfectly flat surface, then gently bend this way and that way until it's as good as you can get it. A few pieces of wood will help you focus the force, brace the part that doesn't need to be bent, and so on.

Worst case scenario: your rim is toast. What have you got to lose*?



*Ekfept your two front teeff? Seriously, you don't want to bend it far enough to fatigue the metal; but I don't think that's a risk.

Some rims can be "fixed" by loosening the spokes around the bend, laying it on the ground with the "bulge" facing down touching the ground. Carefully apply the balls of your feet to each side of the bulge, pressing it back in. rinse .. repeat ... finish truing back on the stand.