wobbly wheel

[chris123321]

Please forgive my velo-related ignorance here but a slight problem with my bike;

I always walk it the last 100 feet to my house as its a dirt path with potholes that even make my landy defender squirm, whilst walking it back tonight I noticed on the rear the brake was binding at certain sections of the wheel, gave it a good going over and seems the wheel is bent. Does this only require truing? how much does this normally cost to get sorted?

I fear the gravelly potholed to hell roads I've been riding it on have taken their toll already on a bike that was built for smoother roads and with me being less-than-light it seems I need a a more hardy wheel, can anyone suggest a cheap and strong wheel and tyre combo that could take out some of the vibration and jolts from the crappy road surface and still be round at the end of the day?

Cheers for any help,

Edited by chris123321 on Monday 1st June 23:20

[Bobley]

Getting a wheel trued costs £9 at my LBS. You could always buy a suitable spoke key and give it a tweak yourself. I've given up getting the LBS to replace spoke nipples on my Spec Camber wheels and now I do it myself (which is easier as its got disk no rim brakes).

What sort of bike do you have? What size wheels? The original wheels on most road bikes are a bit cheap and nasty. Most aftermarket wheels will be more reliable...

[chris123321]

Hi,

Is it that easy? will peruse some youtube videos...

Its a B'twin Triban, with 700c wheels, Im thinking something cyclocross orientated would be a tad more sensible,

[Kermit power]

chris123321 said:

Hi,

Is it that easy? will peruse some youtube videos...

Its a B'twin Triban, with 700c wheels, Im thinking something cyclocross orientated would be a tad more sensible,

Getting it absolutely, 100% true to an OCD level is a right pain, but getting it back to "that'll do" is pretty easy. You essentially just figure out where it's out of line then tighten the offending spoke half a turn whilst loosening off the two either side by a quarter turn and run through that process until your brakes are no longer binding.

The reason Bobley says it's easier for him is that with disc brakes, it doesn't matter as much if your wheel isn't particularly true, as you've no brakes for the rim to rub on.

[dick_turpin]

Wheel truing is really something I ought to learn.
I always just take mine to the LBS to sort out.