Is my wheel done for?
 

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3...ture841go7.jpg

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/3...ture837ce8.jpg

I must have hit something hard, but I didn't notice anything. Its an Iro and everyone told me their wheels were pretty strong. I've only had this bike for a little over a month... The bike shop said it was done for and it might fall apart, so my brand new bicycle is just laying idle in my house. I know I need to get a new one, but aside from an annoying wobble is there anything too terrible about riding with a ****ed wheel? When they say "fall apart" do they really mean fall apart? Is it going to damage my bike? I really just want to ride. I have no money to fork over another 100 dollars for a new wheel, but I do have a birthday next august and I may try and get a new wheel or upgrade to something better. Is it okay to ride for another month like this?

Oral surgery can be expensive

its a goner. the structure is compromised so it's quite possible that it could experience "catastrophic" wheel failure. spokes pull the rim in at high tension, if it's creased like that, its just gonna want to crumple, at which point yes it might damage the bike (or yourself) when you crash because of it. it might hold up but it's not safe to ride.

I find it very hard to believe that you didn't notice hitting something. You must have hit a curb or a pothole really hard to do that.

I don't, I dunno what happened. It really just noticed a slight wobble and checked it out, I was surprised.

It looks like it was stressed laterally. Did you lock up the bike anywhere where someone might've accidentally run something into it or kicked it?

1,700$ to the teeth fixer guy this past month. #8 and #9 gone. future blingbling look-a-like contest winner?

Only locked the bike up once and I'm nearly positive nothing could have hit it. I did ride it for a short distance when it was flat, but it was in a flat paved park, no bumps and I was really creeping. I don't know much about wheels, but could that have made it weeker? I looked at the wheel after that ride and it was fine.

yeah man i wouldnt ride that thing, unless you are going about walking speed and when you hear your front tire pop or a spoke pop, jump off your bike and take cover as the spokes rip apart and shoot through walls! well maybe not but yeah, i wouldnt ride too fast on that thing, actually i wouldnt ride it at all. If you have a craigslist in your area search for a new front wheel. i see road wheels pop up there for like 15-25 bucks all the time. just keep an eye out.

I'll keep my eyes peeled on craigslist

this is why i paid the extra $200 for a warranty.

Seconded. That looks awful. A crease which goes all the way down to the spoke nipple like that could fail in a really bad way. Are those additional creases 2 spokes down and at the valve stem?

Don't ride it.

If it's the front wheel, then you should be able to pick up a cheap road front wheel for ~$40 bucks, which is less than the co-pay on an ER visit.

my mind is boggled...

and that is DEFINITLY not safe. use a little common sense.

thirded (?). Don't ride it.

Dude. Don't ****ing ride that ****.

Looks like one bend is on the nipple, but the other one is on the valve? Is that where rims generally bend? I guess that would make sense, since it's the weakest point.

If you got them new from Iro, and you really weren't doing anything insane to cause it, perhaps try contacting IRO and see what they say. I guess it's possible there was some kind of defect or damage in shipping or something... maybe. Perhaps he'll take pity on you and hook you up with a deeply discounted new rim.

These guys are all *******. Fill your pockets up with bottles, take off your brake and helmet and go ride like the wind young man!

A new rim is, like, $30.

Its the rear wheel. I don't know **** about bike wheels, thats why I asked the question. My common sense about bikes isn't as developed as I'd like it to be. Since the wheel was riding fine I wasn't terribly concerned. It looked rough but I'm just learning. I won't ride it, thanks for the info.

So as tellyho implies, you can still salvage the hub and just build it to a new rim. But unless you wanna learn to build a wheel or know someone who will do it on the cheap (or for beer?), you probably won't save much going that route. I would second the suggestion to contact Tony at IRO -- he might be able to help you out a bit (maybe even recycle the hub) since you bought the wheel there.

Good luck.

Ill try contacting Tony, from all Ive heard hes an awesome guy

lol. Don't ride on flats even if you think it's smooth.

Don't expect anything from tony.

relace it with some other rims?? yout Life is more important..and as someone said dental surgery is expensive.

I'll agree that the rim is "oficially" fubar, that said I don't think it's gonna fail in any spectacular manner.
It's not cracked, it's not at the seam, so roll with it until you scrape your birthday money together and get a new complete wheel.
Broke people ride on mangled rims all the time.


(rightclicksave, skip to the 15 minutes and watch the segment after final credits)
http://www.nycmtb.com/video/Highland-Mtn-june-06.mov

haha, that ****s awesome