Poenster Posted November 6, 2008 Posted November 6, 2008 Hey guys, I managed to smash my backwheel into a pavement a while ago, and now I have a "flat-spot" on the rim. Can I still ride with it like this or should I rather buy new rims? That said, I have a GT Avalanche 2.0 and I do not feel like spending millions on a new set. Any cheap options you can help with? Thanks!
MintSauce Posted November 6, 2008 Posted November 6, 2008 Depends how bad it is. It shouldn't be a problem, especially if you have discbrakes. If you have v-brakes you just need to make sure the pads are making proper contact with the braking surface all the way round.
Poenster Posted November 6, 2008 Author Posted November 6, 2008 Flat spot ? does it bounce up and down ? Yeah... if you spin the wheel you can see where it dips... I havent had it on the bike yet, because the smash also buckled the rim. I took it in yesterday for repairs and this was when the guy showed it to me. He also said I would still be able to ride, and I wont feel a difference...
turtlek Posted November 6, 2008 Posted November 6, 2008 that dude that told you that it wouldnt feel difference is a chop firstly if you have a "flat spot" on your rim there is more than likely a bit of mushrooming on the edges of the rim or a bulge of some sorts to check this run your fingers along the braking surface and where the flat spot is you will feel a slight indent or bulge then take it to that clown show him he was wrong because it will affect your braking and the "sealing" of your tires on your rim possibly causing your tire to roll of on a tricky corner or downhill the best idea would be for you to contact johan bornman and get his opinion on what rim to use for a re-build i can suggest the DRC range of rims they are good value for maney and very reliable and wont cost your arm or your leg or if you dont want to go through the worry of building a new rim onto that hub and spokes look for a decent pair of wheels here on the hub you might find a great bargain
Gert Janse v Rensburg Posted November 6, 2008 Posted November 6, 2008 I might have a cheap set of wheels for you jus pm me and we can talk.....
MintSauce Posted November 6, 2008 Posted November 6, 2008 that dude that told you that it wouldnt feel difference is a chop firstly if you have a "flat spot" on your rim there is more thanlikely a bit of mushrooming on the edges of the rim or a bulge of somesorts to check this run your fingers along the braking surface and where the flat spot is you will feel a slight indent or bulge then take it to that clown show him he was wrong because it willaffect your braking and the "sealing" of your tires on your rimpossibly causing your tire to roll of on a tricky corner or downhill the best idea would be for you to contact johan bornman and get his opinion on what rim to use for a re-build i can suggest the DRC range of rims they are good value for maney and very reliable and wont cost your arm or your leg or if you dont want to go through the worry of building a new rimonto that hub and spokes look for a decent pair of wheels here on thehub you might find a great bargain Nice of you to make such assumptions and accusations without even seeing the rim, eh...? If you knew anything about bicycle wheels you'd know that a rim canhave a very slight flat spot that can be seen with the naked eye whenyou spin the wheel and look at it from the side. If it's perhaps 1 or2mm it will be quite clearly visible but WILL NOT affect the brakingperformance or feel or strength of the wheels. In such cases the wheel can still be used and it will in most cases not in any way affect the longevity of the wheel. At the same time, yes, in certain instances it can affect performance.Right now however, I'm going to go with the opinion of a shop mechanicwho has actually seen these wheels and could've made some money byconvincing the owner to replace the rim....but didn't How many times have guys come onto the Hub and complained of shopstelling them to replace parts in order to make an extra sale when thetruth is that the component could very easily still have served theowner for a long time. Here we're faced with a mechanic that tells his customer not to worryas it's fine and we then we get some internet wise-ass tell the ownerthat said mechanic is a chop....without having seen the wheel himself....?! Get a life turtlek! To the original poster, the most drastic step I'd tell you to take now is to get a 2nd and/or 3rd opinion. I've ridden 'flat spots' for years on some rims without a single problem!
turtlek Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 that dude that told you that it wouldnt feel difference is a chop firstly if you have a "flat spot" on your rim there is more than likely a bit of mushrooming on the edges of the rim or a bulge of some sorts to check this run your fingers along the braking surface and where the flat spot is you will feel a slight indent or bulge then take it to that clown show him he was wrong because it will affect your braking and the "sealing" of your tires on your rim possibly causing your tire to roll of on a tricky corner or downhill the best idea would be for you to contact johan bornman and get his opinion on what rim to use for a re-build i can suggest the DRC range of rims they are good value for maney and very reliable and wont cost your arm or your leg or if you dont want to go through the worry of building a new rim onto that hub and spokes look for a decent pair of wheels here on the hub you might find a great bargain Nice of you to make such assumptions and accusations without even seeing the rim' date=' eh...? If you knew anything about bicycle wheels you'd know that a rim can have a very slight flat spot that can be seen with the naked eye when you spin the wheel and look at it from the side. If it's perhaps 1 or 2mm it will be quite clearly visible but WILL NOT affect the braking performance or feel or strength of the wheels. In such cases the wheel can still be used and it will in most cases not in any way affect the longevity of the wheel. At the same time, yes, in certain instances it can affect performance. Right now however, I'm going to go with the opinion of a shop mechanic who has actually seen these wheels and could've made some money by convincing the owner to replace the rim....but didn't How many times have guys come onto the Hub and complained of shops telling them to replace parts in order to make an extra sale when the truth is that the component could very easily still have served the owner for a long time. Here we're faced with a mechanic that tells his customer not to worry as it's fine and we then we get some internet wise-ass tell the owner that said mechanic is a chop....without having seen the wheel himself....?! Get a life turtlek! To the original poster, the most drastic step I'd tell you to take now is to get a 2nd and/or 3rd opinion. I've ridden 'flat spots' for years on some rims without a single problem! [/quote'] Mintsauce yes fair enough assumptions and accustations are a very good cause for your post but with the term "Smashed" used in his first post that makes me post from my personal experience i have also gone through minor potholes on my road bike and then gone home and realised that my rim has mushroomed from that pothole and then i have also smashed my rim into a pothole at close on 50km\h which caused a bigger mushroom on the rim and a very bad flat spot aluminium is not a very hard metal and when it comes into contact with something very abruptly it causes deformities especially with this kind of impact it will not only cause a flat spot but also a bulge or an indent how can you not feel a difference in a rim that has a flat spot it causes the rim to be closer to the brake pads that the other parts of the rim which in riding makes the brakes hop on the rim no matter how big or small the flat spot is which in turn wears the brake pads down and makes for a very uncomfortable ride when you pull brakes so yes i was wrong by making assumptions based on what he said but where did he say anything about length or size of the flat spot?????????
MintSauce Posted November 10, 2008 Posted November 10, 2008 that dude that told you that it wouldnt feel difference is a chop firstly if you have a "flat spot" on your rim there is more than likely a bit of mushrooming on the edges of the rim or a bulge of some sorts to check this run your fingers along the braking surface and where the flat spot is you will feel a slight indent or bulge then take it to that clown show him he was wrong because it will affect your braking and the "sealing" of your tires on your rim possibly causing your tire to roll of on a tricky corner or downhill the best idea would be for you to contact johan bornman and get his opinion on what rim to use for a re-build i can suggest the DRC range of rims they are good value for maney and very reliable and wont cost your arm or your leg or if you dont want to go through the worry of building a new rim onto that hub and spokes look for a decent pair of wheels here on the hub you might find a great bargain Nice of you to make such assumptions and accusations without even seeing the rim' date=' eh...? If you knew anything about bicycle wheels you'd know that a rim can have a very slight flat spot that can be seen with the naked eye when you spin the wheel and look at it from the side. If it's perhaps 1 or 2mm it will be quite clearly visible but WILL NOT affect the braking performance or feel or strength of the wheels. In such cases the wheel can still be used and it will in most cases not in any way affect the longevity of the wheel. At the same time, yes, in certain instances it can affect performance. Right now however, I'm going to go with the opinion of a shop mechanic who has actually seen these wheels and could've made some money by convincing the owner to replace the rim....but didn't How many times have guys come onto the Hub and complained of shops telling them to replace parts in order to make an extra sale when the truth is that the component could very easily still have served the owner for a long time. Here we're faced with a mechanic that tells his customer not to worry as it's fine and we then we get some internet wise-ass tell the owner that said mechanic is a chop....without having seen the wheel himself....?! Get a life turtlek! To the original poster, the most drastic step I'd tell you to take now is to get a 2nd and/or 3rd opinion. I've ridden 'flat spots' for years on some rims without a single problem! [/quote'] Mintsauce yes fair enough assumptions and accustations are a very good cause for your post but with the term "Smashed" used in his first post that makes mepost from my personal experience i have also gone through minorpotholes on my road bike and then gone home and realised that my rimhas mushroomed from that pothole and then i have also smashed my riminto a pothole at close on 50km\h which caused a bigger mushroom on therim and a very bad flat spot aluminium is not a very hard metal and when it comes into contactwith something very abruptly it causes deformities especially with thiskind of impact it will not only cause a flat spot but also a bulge oran indent how can you not feel a difference in a rim that has a flat spot itcauses the rim to be closer to the brake pads that the other parts ofthe rim which in riding makes the brakes hop on the rim no matter howbig or small the flat spot is which in turn wears the brake pads downand makes for a very uncomfortable ride when you pull brakes so yes i was wrong by making assumptions based on what he said butwhere did he say anything about length or size of the flatspot????????? 'Smashed' is a pretty hectic generalisation and it, as used in thedescription, has no bearing on the nature of the damage. Plenty ofpeople 'smash' into all sorts of obstacles at speed and it does notalways lead to damage, nevermind the specific damage you assumedoccured. As for the damage caused, let's just quickly get our facts straightbecause I suspect you're confusing the terms 'flat spot' and 'dent'. You, I suspect, are thinking of a 'ding' or a 'dent' in the rim...like this one that has graced my MTB for several months. Firstly, it's not always the case that a rim is both dented and flat-spotted at the same time. They can easily occur independently of each other. A ding is usually pretty easy to detect with the naked eye or byrunning your fingers over the rim as the 'mushrooming' you speak of canbe easily felt. Aflat spot is what happens when an impact causes the rim to be ovalised.In other words, the rim is no longer perfectly round. This type of damage is not easily visible. As I've mentioned before, it'snormally only visible by spinning the wheel and looking at it from theside. It will look like the wheel is bouncing while spinning. Here's a clip....don't look at the rimtape, look at the edge of the rim in relation to the trueing stand: A flat spot is virtually impossible to correct via normal trueing of the wheel ie tightening or loosening of the spokes. If it is in fact visible without spinning the wheel then it is most likely bad enough to need to be replaced. In the case that it is not clearly visible, whether the rim needs to bereplaced can be decided by asking the following questions: If the bike is fitted with rim-brakes, will the deformity affect the braking performance? If not, or if the bike is fitted with disc-brakes, we have to ask whether a difference can be felt while riding the bike? If no difference can be felt, the final question is simply, does it bother the owner enough to warrent replacing the rim?
Poenster Posted November 10, 2008 Author Posted November 10, 2008 I think I just found my answer... and before the guys here start "smashing" each other, let me say this: The wheel has not mushroomed as shown in the pics by Mintsauce, it has in fact gone oval. Thank you for the imput from everyone, I did not mean for it to become a flame war. Thank you for the explanation MintSauce, it is exactly what I have been looking for... Now to find those rims one of the fellow hubbers wanted to sell me!
Poenster Posted November 10, 2008 Author Posted November 10, 2008 And I have to add... I thought I spoke to a mecahnic, but it seems it was a salesman when I booked my wheels in. Phoned the shop, spoke to the Mechanic, and he basically grunted and asked me what exactly I did to mess the wheel up so badly. Not gonna do any repairs on the rims as it wont help...
turtlek Posted November 10, 2008 Posted November 10, 2008 mintsauce thank you i learn something new everyday i was obviously confused between the two and i apologise for assuming but now after eading poensters last post i think my assumption was pretty accurate have a great day poenster and mintsauce
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now