Dent Rim...

[Dino Brown]

If it's not one thing, it's another. One minute the sidewalls of my tires are being sliced by YUCCA plants, the next minute, I notice a dent in my rim!

While replacing yet another flat, I noticed a small ding in my rear wheel. Wondering if it may be the source of my recent string of flats. Is there a way to repair a "small" ding in a wheel? Just want to push the lip of the wheel out- juuust a little bit. Any opinions would be much appreciated!

[northshore]

Vice grips?? Hard to tell without a pic. Sometimes bending metal back can form stress cracks.

[COLEKO]

Me and you have the same problem.

[Dino Brown]

Here you go.... The pic makes the dent look much worse than it does to the naked eye!

[Sprockethead]

Leave it, don't try to bend it back or else you'll risk cracking the rim. It shouldn't affect the tire.

[Pato]

Originally Posted by Dino Brown

Is there a way to repair a "small ding in a wheel? Just want to push the lip of the wheel out- juuust a little bit.

Dino,

I wouldn't worry too much about a dent in the rim unless it was a tubeless rim. Even then, you can run it with a regular tube until you really trash it. If it's only "slightly" bent you can try to bend it back with crescent wrench or somethng like that. Unfortunately, like Northshore mentioned, aluminum does not take to well to being bent back and forth. Doing this will more than likely cause a stress crack in the metal.

In these days of disk brakes, a perfectly true rim sidewall is no longer required anyway. I would just run it as is and not risk creating a stress crack on there. I've made this mistake before. Not cool when it's a new $90 rim and I had to take it apart and build it up again.

Duc

[Winston]

Time to splurge and get a new rim.

[allison]

Where are you riding, dude?!

The IronHorse can't take much more!

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by Dino Brown

Here you go.... The pic makes the dent look much worse than it does to the naked eye!

Yes you can bend it back. What you want to do is use a punch or something similar and tap it against a solid surface.

We have done this before with tubeless rims and got them to work again.

Then again you could leave it alone and it should be fine. No need to replace it (yet)

[northshore]

Originally Posted by allison

Where are you riding, dude?!

The IronHorse can't take much more!

That can't be an I.H. rim Dino! Say it ain't so!

[speckledtrout]

just use your teeth.

[2wheel_lee]

The Gabes can be hard on rims and tires. I've dented up rims up there pretty badly, and a buddy of mine got a 2" slice in both tires at the same time. That place can be seriously harsh on equipment if you're riding aggressively.

Although the rim has plenty of life left in it as it is, if you want to straighten it, use a block of hard wood (such as oak, not your...) and a hammer (see why the oak?) to beat it straighter.

fortunately, it doesn't look like a UST rim, so the dent shouldn't cause any problems. I've had a few rims that had several dents like that without any problems.

[Dino Brown]

The wheel is a DT Swiss 4.1. I know where and when it happened.
Where= The San Gabriel's. When= One of 100 square edge hits the mountain threw at me! Lots o' rocks! I may even know the (exact) second it happened! Ouch!

Edit: As Lee pointed out, riding the San Gabriel's (aggressively) can be tough on both bike and rider. No matter, still my favorite place (to ride) in the whole wide world!

[socal ridur]

throw some dee's on it so we can go ride!

[ghixon]

Ditto on Lee's suggestion. I did the same thing on a set of Sun wheels. Used a piece of hard wood and a 2 pound rubber mallet.

Worked like a charm.

[northshore]

Originally Posted by ghixon

Ditto on Lee's suggestion. I did the same thing on a set of Sun wheels. Used a piece of hard wood and a 2 pound rubber mallet.

Worked like a charm.

Go to Harbor Freight Dino if you plan to get a rubber mallet.

[spookydave]

you mean everyone's rims don't look like that?

who knew?

[nomad]

No No NO use chanel locks & a rag

& maybe a small piece of wood

[jamesdc]

I usually use vice grips or channel locks or a nice adjustable wrench, if you use something like vice grips that have the jagged metal for grip make sure to lightly sand the area to remove tire piercing burs.

[mtnbikerfred]

"Platypus pliers" with wide, well-rounded jaws...

Seriously, unless the dent is an "outie" that keeps the bead of the tire from holding, Fahgetaboutit. It's just a dent.

My advice is to run bigger tires with much higher pressures (50-60psi). You will have to tweak your shock settings to keep the same feel on the ground as you might have had with 35-40psi, but it can be done.