I hit a HUGE branch on the road today - lights were pointed too far upward for me to see the branch.

When I got home I spun the front wheel around a bit and noticed that at times the wheel comes ever so closer to the brake pads (which are already very, very close to the rim to begin with). I'd say maybe a millimeter of side to side wobble every now and then.

Is my wheel untrue? Or is the rim bent? What should/can I do?

Edit: I just tested it again pushing the brakes really, really close to rim and yes, the rim is rubbing on the brakes sometimes when I spin it. Not all the time. Just sometimes. So yes it appears that the rim is slightly bent.

Most likely, your rim is not damaged, it just needs to be trued up a bit. Still, if you don't know what you're doing with it, take it to a shop rather than do it yourself and chance messing it up worse.

There is a slight chance that the rim has been bent by the impact, but I think that would be pretty unlikely to happen unless you hit something hard enough to flatten the tire as well. This could probably be confirmed by seeing if the spot where the rim comes closest to the brake pad on one side is closer or farther at the other side at the same point. If both sides are closer, you may have bent the rim, if one is closer and the other moves farther, it is probably a truing issue.

Assuming the rim has not been bent, the wheel could be trued, but if it doesn't rub the brakes when riding, it is fine to ride it the way it is.

If the wobble is only about 1mm, I would actually wonder if hitting the branch did nothing, since a perfectly true wheel is pretty rare.

I have had wheels so out of true that I had to adjust the brakes outward to keep them from rubbing, and the wheels lasted for a long time that way, so you aren't looking at anything super critical.

I went to the shop. The woman working there put the wheel on the stand, spun it, looked at me funny, tightened one spoke, and told me it was back to perfect.

What brands of wheelsets are good? I currently have Eastons ... and they've really been living up to one person's review who said they were "bombproof ... 8000 miles and still true." When should I replace a wheelset?

You should replace your wheels when you taco them. Or, alternatively, if you start popping spokes--the general rule is 3-and-out.

There are many good manufacturers out there, and it really depends on the riding you do. If you're just commuting or riding for exercise, you'll probably want to stick to something with more spokes for structural integrity. My fixed-gear has a set of Mavic Open Sports, and they take quite a lot of punishment. But if you're riding club rides with racers, you're going to want to shed some spokes and potential switch to carbon wheels.

a wheel = rim+spokes+ hub.. all are independent companies .. the high end Racing bike world has some Pre Built wheels

Some use so much Proprietary Parts as to make them Unserviceable in small Mom&Pop shops...


Thousands of what rim and hubs and spokes wheel building threads are already going. No reason to start another one for Me.



Your Local Shop can Hand assemble the parts to make a Premium Wheel set, If the Money is There.

I think I gave my computer screen the same funny look when I read your description of the problem.

A problem that you can only see 'sometimes' under close examination is not really a problem.

I have this problem and it is reassuring to read this post. I know that a bike shop would only need to turn like one spoke to fix the problem, but it would probably cost me 15 dollars for a "wheel truing" so I bought the spoke tool to do it myself but I'm honestly too scared and am never going to do it. Im not ready yet and am afraid I will mess up my wheel.

Basically, the rim is held centered between the hubs by spokes on each side pulling the same amount. If the rim has 1 section that is out of true, then the spokes in that area are either too tight on 1 side, pulling the rim, or too loose on the other side, allowing the rim to move away. Generally, spokes don't get tighter by themselves, so likely that a spoke or 2 is too loose and tightening will pull the rim back where it should be.

First step is make sure you have the right size spoke wrench. It should fit nice and tightly on the spoke nipple. Too loose and it will slip at strip the nipple, rounding off the corners and making it un-turnable.

Watch some videos, then if you have specific questions, come and ask..... But post them in the "Mechanics" forum where many experts hang out.

1mm? I have lots of wheels, none within 1mm of true.

My brake pads are adjusted with about 1cm dIstance between pad and rim. Less than that and braking is just too quick. Loosen up those brakes.

if it's really only one, you can always turn it back.

yeah but Im just not sure which one.