riding with a buckled back wheel
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riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:54 pm
My question is: what risks are involved in this? I am already taking the precaution of adjusting my route so it consists entirely of shared paths and low traffic back roads.
Disclaimer: whatever anyone says, I'll probably ride it anyway
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby NASHIE » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:37 pm
No risks unless its broken a spoke. Just get it trued or buy a spoke wrench and true it yourself. 5min job, won't be perfect but its a handy skill to learn. Plenty of youtube how too's.AdelaidePeter wrote:Last weekend I noticed that my back wheel was buckled. It's a significant buckle - at least half a centimetre. I noticed it because the brake was rubbing. I loosened the back brake so I can still ride it (and the brake still works). It's a pretty sturdy 20 year old hybrid / flat bar bike (I think tyre width is 28mm - not sure about the actual wheel width), but this is the final straw in my decision to finally replace it. So my intention is to keep riding it to commute, until I get a new bike in the next week or two.
My question is: what risks are involved in this? I am already taking the precaution of adjusting my route so it consists entirely of shared paths and low traffic back roads.
Disclaimer: whatever anyone says, I'll probably ride it anyway
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby P!N20 » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:50 pm
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby Duck! » Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:51 pm
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AUbicycles » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:21 pm
You can actually also true it yourself - a $5 spoke key, a large dose of patience and access to youtube will solve it.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby bychosis » Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:27 pm
Just see if you can find the cause of the wobble. Broken spoke or just out of true is an easy fix, damaged rim where the spoke has pulled out is terminal.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:59 pm
I'm not afraid to buy a new bike because it's long overdue. But I'll look into "trueing" (a term I'd never even heard before).
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby geoffs » Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:04 pm
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby RobertL » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:51 am
Even if you buy a new bike, spend a few $$ on a spoke spanner and have a go at truing the wheel yourself. Use youtube videos to help. If nothing else, it's a handy skill to have, and if it works, then you've got a perfectly usable "spare" bike.AdelaidePeter wrote:Thanks everyone. I just went and looked (admittedly by torchlight) and the spokes all seem to be intact. It's all a little strange because it happened at the end of a ride where nothing out of the ordinary happened.
I'm not afraid to buy a new bike because it's long overdue. But I'll look into "trueing" (a term I'd never even heard before).
I've really only done it once - on my clapped out old MTB. I started with a bad buckle, got 95% of the buckle out, but rounded off some of the nipples in doing so, so that's as good as it's going to get!
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby ironhanglider » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:21 pm
The easy way to look for loose/broken spokes is to give pairs of spokes a squeeze and just work your way around the wheel.AdelaidePeter wrote:Thanks everyone. I just went and looked (admittedly by torchlight) and the spokes all seem to be intact. It's all a little strange because it happened at the end of a ride where nothing out of the ordinary happened.
I'm not afraid to buy a new bike because it's long overdue. But I'll look into "trueing" (a term I'd never even heard before).
Often with old wheels one broken spoke is just the first of many, so a rebuild with new spokes may be in your future.
Cheers,
Cameron
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:02 pm
Given my past experience of using Youtube help videos to try to fix other things (my toilet, my car door lock), I'm pretty skeptical. In the case of my car door lock, not all car doors are basically the same (despite the videos claiming they were), and I bent some parts so badly that even when I gave up and took it to the garage, I'd made it worse. So I'll probably prefer to have a spare bike with a buckled wheel, than spend a few dollars and hours just to ruin it totally.RobertL wrote: Even if you buy a new bike, spend a few $$ on a spoke spanner and have a go at truing the wheel yourself. Use youtube videos to help. If nothing else, it's a handy skill to have, and if it works, then you've got a perfectly usable "spare" bike.
I'm not sure if that's a commentary on Youtube help videos, or my handyman skills
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby RobertL » Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:46 pm
LOL. I know a guy who told me that he once went for a ride with some mates and at the start, one of them noticed that his wheel was a bit out of true so he grabbed his multitool to straighten it. Five minutes later, the wheel was S-shaped, he couldn't ride and the rest of them rode off chuckling.AdelaidePeter wrote:Given my past experience of using Youtube help videos to try to fix other things (my toilet, my car door lock), I'm pretty skeptical. In the case of my car door lock, not all car doors are basically the same (despite the videos claiming they were), and I bent some parts so badly that even when I gave up and took it to the garage, I'd made it worse. So I'll probably prefer to have a spare bike with a buckled wheel, than spend a few dollars and hours just to ruin it totally.RobertL wrote: Even if you buy a new bike, spend a few $$ on a spoke spanner and have a go at truing the wheel yourself. Use youtube videos to help. If nothing else, it's a handy skill to have, and if it works, then you've got a perfectly usable "spare" bike.
I'm not sure if that's a commentary on Youtube help videos, or my handyman skills
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby human909 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:41 am
It is a pretty basic task. Don't write yourself or your wheel of so quickly.AdelaidePeter wrote:So I'll probably prefer to have a spare bike with a buckled wheel, than spend a few dollars and hours just to ruin it totally.
Given the speed that it occurred it is probably only a single spoke that needs correcting to get it 95% true. Could potentially be done in two minutes.
*(Getting things to the 99% true stage is always an art and requires patience and skill. IME most wheels don't come from the factory in a highly true state.)
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby Thoglette » Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:57 pm
+1. Right now you've written off the wheel, so you've got nothing to lose except some time. There's more than you need to know in this page on Sheldon's site.human909 wrote:It is a pretty basic task. Don't write yourself or your wheel of so quickly.AdelaidePeter wrote:So I'll probably prefer to have a spare bike with a buckled wheel, than spend a few dollars and hours just to ruin it totally.
Usually, I find that the "buckle" is caused by one or two spokes being a touch loose (i.e. those that need to tighten to remove the buckle).
That's unless it's a broken spoke. Most inexpensive machine made wheels are not properly stress relieved and tensioned, so they commonly fail quickly (scroll through the article above). Replacing a spoke is less bother than actually buying the bloody thing. (If you've got a local shop they may give a good deal for supply, install and re-tensioning.)
Now, never let me be one to stand in the way of an N+1 decision, but you can actually buy a new wheel (or wheelset) for less than the price of a new bike.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Sun Feb 25, 2018 6:33 pm
I'll get the local bike shop to have a look, and make a decision on whether to fix it based on what it costs, and what a new flat bar commuter costs.
Revisiting my original question - what should I watch for while riding it? I commute mainly on tracks, but a little road usage is inevitable.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby ironhanglider » Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:26 pm
Ok, three spokes is definitely in re-build territory, but it is not in itself justification for a whole new bike.
A new set of spokes is going to be about $40-$50 Labour probably about $75-$95. It might be worthwhile to re-build the wheel if the hub and rim are still good and in good condition. However it may be the case that a new wheel will be cheaper and easier.
As for nursing a dodgy wheel, avoid anything that puts unnecessary loads on the wheel, particularly side-loads. Avoid steep hills and hard cornering, avoid rough surfaces (potholes, tree-roots) etc, don't pedal out of the saddle, but do get out of the saddle to unweight the wheel if you can't avoid a rough patch. Lower the tyre pressure to almost the point where you are concerned about pinch flats. Don't be in a hurry.
With a new wheel your bike will be as good as it was before.
Cheers,
Cameron
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby NASHIE » Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:49 pm
I wouldn't be riding it with 3 busted spokes.AdelaidePeter wrote:OK. On closer inspection it has 3 consecutive broken spokes, out of 36. (Consecutive at the rim). A handful of other spokes feel quite loose, probably due to the buckled wheel.
I'll get the local bike shop to have a look, and make a decision on whether to fix it based on what it costs, and what a new flat bar commuter costs.
Revisiting my original question - what should I watch for while riding it? I commute mainly on tracks, but a little road usage is inevitable.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:12 pm
Sorry for another newbie question, but how interchangeable are different rear wheels? i.e. I assume any LBS will only have a limited range of new rear wheels; so what do I look for to ensure I can put it on my bike? Naively I'm thinking I just need to match:ironhanglider wrote:Hi Peter,
A new set of spokes is going to be about $40-$50 Labour probably about $75-$95. It might be worthwhile to re-build the wheel if the hub and rim are still good and in good condition. However it may be the case that a new wheel will be cheaper and easier.
...
With a new wheel your bike will be as good as it was before.
* wheel size;
* spacing between the teeth on the gears (so it fits my existing chain) (though I imagine that's pretty universal);
* gears wouldn't need to be exact same size (diameter), but would need to match in terms of number of gears (7 in my case) and horizontal spacing between them.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby ironhanglider » Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:42 pm
A seven speed wheel might have either a screw-on cluster of cogs, or a cassette of cogs held on with a locknut. Sheldon Brown's website shows the difference.
The important dimensions are the wheel diameter and the gap between the rear dropouts. (The over-locknut distance).
7 speed compatible wheels are still around and it is likely that a good LBS will have a suitable wheel in stock.
Cheers,
Cameron
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby uart » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:38 pm
The way it usually happens is that when the first spoke breaks, it puts a lot more load onto the adjacent spokes, and they soon break as well if you keep riding. Just be conscious of small buckles in your back wheel as that's the first sign of a broken spoke. Once you detect a broken spoke you nurse it home (meaning riding gently) and replace the broken one before riding again.AdelaidePeter wrote:OK. On closer inspection it has 3 consecutive broken spokes, out of 36. (Consecutive at the rim). A handful of other spokes feel quite loose, probably due to the buckled wheel.
Three broken spokes will give a sizeable buckle, but if you just replace those three and bring them up to about the same tension as the others the buckle will mostly go. It takes a bit of skill to get it perfect though.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:34 pm
Thanks for the advice anyone. It did not occur to me that spokes might be broken, and the breaks weren't easy to see.
I probably shouldn't ride it until I drop it in later this week, but I enjoy my daily ride home from work too much
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby bychosis » Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:48 pm
There’s a good reason for a new bike, or at least improving diy skills. While a damaged bike is under repair, you can keep riding.AdelaidePeter wrote:I probably shouldn't ride it until I drop it in later this week, but I enjoy my daily ride home from work too much
I like that if I’m commuting and I get to the garage to find a flat tyre, or if I’ve had to nurse a bike home and not had repair time overnight I can choose a different bike and save the repair for later.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby ironhanglider » Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:52 am
Sadly my prediction is that, in a few weeks another spoke will break and you will be in the same boat again. It won't take many seperate spoke replacements to add up to the cost of a rebuild/replacement, with the added aggravation of being off the bike for a day or two each time.
Cheers,
Cameron
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby AdelaidePeter » Tue Feb 27, 2018 2:48 pm
Ha, it wasn't until I booked in the fix that I got a dissenting opinion! Yes, I understand what you're saying. But at the relatively cheap price being quoted, I'll take the chance for now.ironhanglider wrote:Whilst replacing the spokes and truing tensioning the spokes will get the wheel going for now, I fear that the fix will be temporary. Since spokes fail through fatigue, the other spokes will have had the same usage, and are likely to be similarly on the point of failure.
Sadly my prediction is that, in a few weeks another spoke will break and you will be in the same boat again. It won't take many seperate spoke replacements to add up to the cost of a rebuild/replacement, with the added aggravation of being off the bike for a day or two each time.
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Re: riding with a buckled back wheel
Postby am50em » Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:12 pm
Alternatively have all the spoke replaced in one go. Continuing to ride with broken spokes will cause the others to fail more quickly.
YMMV.
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