Fixing a Bent Wheel
 

the rear wheel of my trek 1000 is out of true.
When i spin it it spins free for about a half a revolution and then rubs against the left brake pad. i know this is bad but can it be repaired and for how much, or do i need a whole new wheel.
my bike is a 2001 trek 1000, with the stock vuelta airline 2 wheels.

If it's only truing, it's no big deal. Quite frankly, I think bike shops charge too much for the typical truing. If I'm not mistaken, they may charge $20-$25. I really don't know b/c I've trued my own wheels for at least 15 years now.

And that's what you should be looking to do. Truing a wheel is very easy. Take it to the bike shop a couple of times and have them let you watch. Then go out and read up on how to true a wheel. With not very much practice at all, you'll be keeping your own wheels true in no time.

All that said, make sure you know the difference between an out-of-true wheel and an out-of-round wheel. The former can almost always be put right. The latter usually requires a new wheel or a rebuild. (Out-of-true applies to the wheel's lateral plane. Our-of-round applies to the wheel's vertical plane. The former rubs against your pads. The latter goes bump, bump, bump as you ride.)

well my lbs trues wheels regardless of condition for a flat fee of 15$. I dont think yours will be overly different. It doesnt sound like a huge issue, infact if it isnt that much out of true you can probably true it yourself if you know how. Though ideally you should have a stand, i picked up a park TS-7 for 64.99 shipped :)

It depends a little bit on how badly it's warped but, most likely, that much out-of-trueness can be adjusted away. A bike shop will most likely charge you between $10.00 and $25.00 to do the job. Depending on what they actually do, $25.00 may be a bargain and $10.00 might be a rip-off.

The right way to do it is to check each spoke with a tensiometer to make sure the spoke tension is equal on every one, then true the wheel by tightening and loosening opposing pairs of spokes until the wheel is both round and straight from side to side. That would be the $25.00 version.

The quick, dirty way is to find where the rim rubs the brake pad, and tighten the spokes on the opposite side until the wheel looks straight. If you want to try doing this yourself, take your wheel into an LBS to make sure that you get the right sized spoke wrench. Spoke wrench sizes aren't very different, but too small won't fit at all and too big will round off the wheel's nipples.