fix bent wheel?

[gmcn1965]

hello peeps,
george in crawley, got a wee bent back wheel - summat to do with hitting a kerb at speed straight on!
i got fab advice last time i was here, can anybody help me wiv this?
the wheel is bent so that the brakes are not working, but slight rubbing of brakes when moving along.
if it was bent the other way it would be....buckled?
also the pin that holds the handlebars to the frame cant be loosened and raised because the allen keys just jump out when i try to loosen - a bit rusted on an old all terr bike.
and another wee thing or two......good repair shops in brighton?
anywhere i can find a good set of diagrams for modern bike anatomy?
sometimes i read topics and responses and i don't even know where the bits being discussed reside on pushies,
thanks muckers!
george

 

[the snail]

repairing/truing wheels is a skilled job, and if the damage is more than minor better to get a new rim fitted, or just buy a new wheel if it's a cheepo one. Try penetrating oil on the stem, make sure you have decent quality allen keys of the correct size, and that the nuts aren't chewed up already. I have the Haynes bike book, which is pretty good imo. Oh, and avoid kerbs and potholes, expensive!

 

[HLaB]

gmcn, It depends how baddly it out of true; if its not too bad its not to hard to fix. Bicycle Tutor might spread some light on it; he's also good for other info regarding bike maintenance. Another lazy way (which I'm guilty of with the old hybrid ) where the buckle is not too bad is just adjusting the brakes by a few mm.

 

[accountantpete]

I'd take the wheel to the LBS and see if they can straighten it out.

It could be that the spokes have just been stretched and it can be re-trued with a few twists of a spoke key - but if you hit the kerb full on then most likely you have bent the rim and a new wheel is required because no amount of spoke truing will correct the fault. (in the old days the LBS would take the spokes off and bash the rim back into true but with modern materials and labour costs a replacement wheel is the way to go).

By "pin" I think you mean either a stem(which clamps round the bars) or top cap which fits on top of the stem- again I'd see what the LBS can do.

Don't know of a book that covers everything - you just pick things up as you go along.

 

[PpPete]

If a decent quality allen key just spins, get a Torx bit of a size where it won't quite fit in the rounded-off socket - hammer it in. This will in most cases give you just enough purchase to get the damaged bolt turning. Replace it with a decent stainless one thereafter.

For the wheel - get a Spokey nipple wrench, not one of the toy ones with multiple slots. Have a go at truing it up. Think of the spoke as a long bolt and the nipple as the nut. Spokes can give a surprising amount of sideways pull as they go to either end of the hub. You may not get it right first time, or indeed ever achieve a perfect wheel, but with a bit of patience you may well get it so that it doesn't rub on the brakes.... and you will have learnt a skill that will be useful in future.

The bicycle tutor site has some excellent videos for all sorts of components, and you'll pick up the nomenclature along the way.

 

[gmcn1965]

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thanks mucho people! this site is spookily good.....happy biking!!
gmcn.