One of the occupational hazards of country roads in South Africa (apart from farm animals, wildlife and jaywalkers) is potholes. On the way back from a day-trip to a nearby coastal town, I couldn't avoid a rather bad pothole, but the bike handled it well and afterwards there was no degradation in handling, so I thought nothing of it until the next day, when I got down to the business of valet cleaning the bike. It was while I was busy degreasing the the flung-off lube from the chain (the dealer obviously uses a cheap chain-lube for services because my own has minimal fling-off) that I noticed a small buckle in the left rim of my rear wheel. Cursing, I checked the otherside to find it was OK, and a close inspection of the front rim revealed no flaws. The buckle is not bad but is visible and a little worrying. The bike handles fine and there is no visible damage to the tyre, surprisingly. After chatting to a couple of my biking connections, they said to just send the rim to a repair company. There are companies that specialise in bike rim repairs and removing the small buckle is no problem. My only concern is whether this buckle has stressed and weakened the rim in any way that could manifest itself later. Anyone had similar experiences?
Ya I did and I had the rear rim fixed professionally! But one thing to ask them before their done, make sure they magnaflux it just to be on the safe side so you can have a peace of mind! Thus then you won't have any worries when riding on it! Cheers...
bent wheel I have a friend that repairs wheels for a living and it is expensive.It may be more cost affective to replace with used.
Magnaflux? Had to Google this process and Wiki revealed all. Thanks CdnVffer, will definitely check that out. :thumbsup: :frown: Sigh, now for the removal of the wheel....
I had the same thing happen in a pot hole infested run I made a while back. After I researched and compared getting it fixed vice replacing with a straight used one, the used rim won. The difference, at least in my neck of the woods was only $40. Small price to pay for piece of mind. For what its worth, you only have two wheels do you really want one of them in questionable condition?
Used Rim The problem with a used rim is that you don't know what knocks it's been through. But as CdnVffer mentioned, have it tested. Thanks for the feedback, all.
And then the other option is to.... :doh: .... claim a new rim from my insurance!!!! Pothole damage is valid grounds for a claim here. Assessor checked it out and reckons it's no problem. So just waiting for authorization from insurance and then bike is going to the dealer. :biggrin: Wonder if insurance will let me buy the old rim from them?
