So I ran into a problem a few days ago with wheel alignment. A week ago I noticed my real wheel was spinning with an eliptical orbit, or side to side by up to an inch. As opposed to regulary just spinning in place. I went to the bike store to tighten it, looked fine then did a thirty mile ride and found it wobbling just a bit. Then on another ride today i hit a pothole(covered with leaves) and it started to wobble more.

Is this a sign of crap reparing or am I slowly going to have to replace spokes until I get a new wheel? It is annoying so any imput would be appreciated. That said I am also on the husky side at 6'4 260 lbs, but swam Division I at a weight of 210 and was nothing but bones and shoulders.

what brand?
front and back or just back (pothole)?

Shimano WH-R550 Rims,Hubs and Spokes. Circa 2005-2007

did you re-true it or did the shop?


honestly i would get a new wheel / set. the spokes are proprietary so replacing them will cost you and truing etc = money pit.

aksyium or ksyrium (personally a fan of mavic)

Thanks; that's what I was dreading. The shop retrued it but they just called it tightening the spokes and charged me 15 bucks. Seeing how it was almost just yestday I'm going to take it back to them so they can fix it again for free. Then I guess shop wheel in the mean time

If you do decide to get new wheels, consider a set of handbuilts with a higher spoke count. Something like 36 on the rear and 32 on the front wouldn't be a bad idea. At your weight, they'll be much more durable and I think you'll be happier, long term. Less maintenance.

Gloves off?

If so....

Shimano R550's are crap wheels as it is and there are definitely NOT designed to work well under a 260 pound rider. Sorry. The sooner you are away from them the happier you will be.

With that said it does sound like the shop did a poor job repairing a poor product and you put that poor product at it's limits on a good day. Pick which part of this equation you want to work on, but I think you need at address all three.

Thanks, I've already started socking away about 20 bucks a week, so I'm at 40 dollars for new wheels. BikesDirect has some vuelta HDs with 36 spoke count on the rear for about 170 so i figure I'm gonna have to pull the trigger. Thanks everyone for the input, just had to get my mind off buying wheel for 1/4-1/3 what I payed for the bike

there you go.
Don't forget to consider heavier-gauge spokes. I had some 32-spoke wheels I didn't like. Didn't really know why, just didn't feel good. I'm about 200lbs. Gradually got around to thinking about them and my other wheels. Went into detail checking them out and I found that the spokes were light-gauge like 1.6 mm butted (1.8 at the ends). Too small for me. I went up a gauge. There are a few other choices for you, including straight-gauge 2.0 (DT swiss Champion or Competition). Been riding these better wheels ever since, with much more enjoyment / success. Still have to do occasional hub maintenance for best results.

I would agree, just replace it. I had one on my rear for a while, I got it free of craigslist. A larger gentleman gave it to me because he kept popping spokes. Got a new spoke for 5 bucks and fixed it. I rode it pretty hard for about a year. I have had to get the hub tightened on several occasions, and the rim cracked, and I even somehow got a tiny hole on the rim wall. And not too light either. Save yourself the grief and get new wheels.