Destroyed my wheel

[Dazed42]

I'm hoping to get some advice on where to go from here.

A few weeks ago I got my bike a full tuneup including having the wheels trued before going on a weeklong tour with my friend.
I had attached a rack to it and had about 15 lbs of stuff on it, and it fell over while we were stopped, and most of the impact was on the rear wheel.
After that the rim was rubbing against the brakepad on every revolution and I was losing energy to friction. Since we were in the middle of nowhere at the time and my friend had a spoke wrench, we decided to take a stab at truing it ourselves.
I'm sure you can guess how that worked out.
The wheel can no longer turn at all, its wedged tightly against the frame of the bike and is visibly bent out of shape. At least one of the spoke nipples became somewhat stripped in the process as well.

The wheel is a 27 1/4 road tire, and I didn't ride on it or anything after we messed it up. What I'm wondering is, is a tire that messed up even possible to true again? And if not where can I get a new rim? I had the freewheel on this one replaced right before this happened so I'd like to avoid paying for another one of those if it can be avoided too.

Thanks for any help..

Also, I'm in Toronto, Canada if anybody around there can recommend a place that will help me out.

 

[alienator]

I'm hoping to get some advice on where to go from here.

A few weeks ago I got my bike a full tuneup including having the wheels trued before going on a weeklong tour with my friend.
I had attached a rack to it and had about 15 lbs of stuff on it, and it fell over while we were stopped, and most of the impact was on the rear wheel.
After that the rim was rubbing against the brakepad on every revolution and I was losing energy to friction. Since we were in the middle of nowhere at the time and my friend had a spoke wrench, we decided to take a stab at truing it ourselves.
I'm sure you can guess how that worked out.
The wheel can no longer turn at all, its wedged tightly against the frame of the bike and is visibly bent out of shape. At least one of the spoke nipples became somewhat stripped in the process as well.

The wheel is a 27 1/4 road tire, and I didn't ride on it or anything after we messed it up. What I'm wondering is, is a tire that messed up even possible to true again? And if not where can I get a new rim? I had the freewheel on this one replaced right before this happened so I'd like to avoid paying for another one of those if it can be avoided too.

Thanks for any help..

Also, I'm in Toronto, Canada if anybody around there can recommend a place that will help me out.

Take the wheel back to the shop. Alloy wheels can be flexed a surprising amount before they suffer permanent damage. If a nipple is stripped, that's an easy fix: the LBS will just replace the nipple. Then they'll true the wheel. Even if the rim is trashed, a new rim can be had for $20-ish dollars and can be built into the wheel, possibly needing new spokes in the process.

Your first step: get thee and they wheel to an LBS.

 

[Dazed42]

Thanks for the prompt reply. The only reason I haven't taken it in already is that my friend told me when his wheel was this screwed up they refused to true it, and a new rim will run me at least $100. (Which I don't have.)

I'm not sure if my rims are alloy, my bike is admittedly ancient, it's an Eaton Road King.

And I should take just the wheel and not the whole bike?

 

[alienator]

Thanks for the prompt reply. The only reason I haven't taken it in already is that my friend told me when his wheel was this screwed up they refused to true it, and a new rim will run me at least $100. (Which I don't have.)

I'm not sure if my rims are alloy, my bike is admittedly ancient, it's an Eaton Road King.

And I should take just the wheel and not the whole bike?

Just take the wheel.

 

[longfemur]

I would say that if the wheel can't be trued, it won't be worth replacing it. It would cost more than the bike is worth -- which for an ancient Eaton's bike is zilch. If you don't want to trash the bike, you would be better off just looking for a similarly old 27 inch wheel from an old trash bike.

 

[Dazed42]

That's kinda what I was afraid of hearing.
I got the bike at a garage sale for $10, but I love how it rides, I can outpace guys on much newer more expensive bikes without breaking a sweat. I already dropped $100 on it to get it tuned up and trued and have the freewheel and chain replaced as well.

If I can get a new rim for $20 as Alienator said that would be worth it to me.

 

[longfemur]

In that case, if you like the bike, just bring the wheel in (not the whole bike), and see if they can fix it. If not, keep in mind that while there are many bikes out there using 27 inch wheels, it's an obsolete wheel size. New replacements are available, but not readily, and usually not cheap. You never know, maybe the bike shop might have a suitable old wheel hanging around. If not, like I said, your best bet is to find a bike from the 27 inch wheel era with a junk frame but with reasonable wheels (craiglist, local bike repair co-ops, keeping an eye open for bikes left with the garbage, etc.).

By the way, I have nothing against older bikes or 27 inch wheels. My older touring bike has these, and my newer road bike looks like an older bike

 

[dabac]

Sounds like you overtightened the spokes and the rim warped. Back each nipple out 1/2-1 turn and see what happens. Jobst Brandt actually recommends pretty much that process to establish maximum allowable spoke tension for a wheel. (not that he's without opponents though...)

Rims that have warped due to overtension will usually spring back fairly well, and in your case the original incident doesn't sound bad enough to do much damage.

If this gets your wheel back to rotating freely(in the frame if not in the brake), then take it to a lbs for trueing and to have the spoke tension checked all around.

Rims that have warped/tacoed due to external forces can be manually straightened and then trued, with decently balanced spoke tensions and trueness as result.
This isn't really recommended by professionals, as it should lead to a weakened wheel.
I've done it on several occasions though, and bad things have as yet failed to happen because of it.