The Tacoed Rim & The Fool

[Chad T]

So this guy at work asks me if I can straighten a bicycle wheel for him and I said "Sure. Bring it in."

Yesterday he hands me this.

This seam is a little worrisome...

Gonna put it on something smooth and try to stand on the high spots.

I told him I'd give it my best try.

 

[ADVHOG]

Holy Crap! Did he run over that with his car?

 

[ChimeraCycle]

Stand on it jump on it, then chuck it in the bin and order a new one jeez louise!

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

 

[Walker]

throw it away. That's no longer a rim, it's a liability..

 

[Fv2]

He must've watched suicide squad and thought this was a good idea.

 

[Chad T]

Thank you fellas...

He said I could play with it so this will be kind of a challenge. I already have shown a bunch of guys at work pics of it so I have to give it a shot to save face. I'll cut it up when I'm done.

 

[horsefarmer]

Check out Bikemanforu's "IBM".

 

[Walker]

So you will fix it and then he will sell it to some body else and when it suffers catastrophic failure...... I could see fixing it only if I was stuck out in the boonies, and I was the only one going to be using it, then I would change it out. It's obviously a low quality part, and now it has been severely compromised. Danger!

 

[Chad T]

Check out Bikemanforu's "IBM".
View attachment 33192

That's great horsefarmer! That vid makes me wish I'd have left the spokes in it.

I clamped the rim in a vise and the seam straightened up a bit.

Was thinking I might be able to put some bolts through the spoke holes and pull the seam together. Spokes would have been good for that but this looked a little extreme to try to do with the spokes in it.

So you will fix it and then he will sell it to some body else and when it suffers catastrophic failure...... I could see fixing it only if I was stuck out in the boonies, and I was the only one going to be using it, then I would change it out. It's obviously a low quality part, and now it has been severely compromised. Danger!

Yes...exactly...I'll def pass that advice on to the owner of the rim and then show him a pic of it chopped up into little pieces...thank you.

 

[Bicycle808]

So you will fix it and then he will sell it to some body else and when it suffers catastrophic failure...... I could see fixing it only if I was stuck out in the boonies, and I was the only one going to be using it, then I would change it out. It's obviously a low quality part, and now it has been severely compromised. Danger!

This is a grim but, most likely, accurate prediction. The responsible thing to do is save the hub and scrap the rim. It's done. You might be able to get it lookin' round, straight, and true again.... but it won't be a safe rider.

 

[1oldbikelover]

So you will fix it and then he will sell it to some body else and when it suffers catastrophic failure...... I could see fixing it only if I was stuck out in the boonies, and I was the only one going to be using it, then I would change it out. It's obviously a low quality part, and now it has been severely compromised. Danger!

Yeah, I tacoed my front wheel on a big steep dip while mtn biking several years back. I dsconnected my front caliper brake, removed the wheel and beat it against a tree and stood on it until it straightened enough to get me out of the woods. With the amount of wobble I had on that front tire probably doubled my miles ridden!

 

[Walker]

good on you Chad talking him out of saving it. I've found that straightening rims that aren't even that bad ends with 1/2 the spokes wound up way too tight and the other half super loose, which inevitably ends in failure. Fine for last ditch, need to get out of the woods but not so good for something that will be put back into general use. Good luck!

 

[Chad T]

Stand on it jump on it, then chuck it in the bin and order a new one jeez louise!

throw it away. That's no longer a rim, it's a liability..

This is a grim but, most likely, accurate prediction. The responsive thing to do is save the hub and scrap the rime. It's done. You might be able to get it lookin' round, straight, and true again.... but it won't be a safe rider.

I'm so glad I posted this on here now. Thank you guys for opening my eyes. Yeah duh. No way I can give this back to him straightened. I've edited the previous posts to show no intention of letting this wheel leave my sight in one piece.

......but since I told him I'd try straighten it and he said I could do whatever with it. I'm going to have some fun with it. No way he thought I'd get it straight I'm sure.

I already showed my new day shift crew the pic of it bent (been on nights for 3+ yrs) so I want to get a vid of it spinning in the truing stand I made there.

Then I'll chop it up with a hack saw or some other form of destruction and post that up. Will be a good way to have fun with this guy. He brought me this Hello Kitty rim too. I'm not touching that one. I'll set it on his toolbox while he's off this week and maybe get some yuks out of that..

I did rescue a tacoed rim on my 1990 Giant Iguana. I tried to ride it down the stairway of my brother's apartment and got it wedged. Tacoed the front wheel horribly but to my shock and amazement it straightened right back out. Doesn't take much on a single wall alloy rim to straighten it. (or bend it)

OK so just for giggles we're going to find out how straight this rim could be made before it gets destroyed by me because I now understand how foolish it would be to pass this on I'll show it chopped up...unless I get another suggestion for the destruction.

Getting hot again but it was nice this morning. The main thing I wanted to try was this foot straightening technique that's in the vid horsefarmer posted. It works great. You need something to lean against though.

Then a little crescent wrench Kung Fu in the vise.

The responsive thing to do is save the hub and scrap the rime. It's done.

The hub's a real beauty too......but I probably will snag the axle + hardware before I toss it.

 

[Chad T]

good on you for Chad talking him out of saving it. I've found that straightening rims that aren't even that bad ends with 1/2 the spokes wound up way too tight and the other half super loose, which inevitably ends in failure. Fine for last ditch, need to get out of the woods but not so good for something that will be put back into general use. Good luck!

Thank you for opening my eyes. I was just seeing the fun of straightening it for a parlor trick more than anything else. I would never put it on anything in it's undamaged state so destroying it will be just as gratifying as giving it back to him.

The guy that usually points this type of thing out to me at work didn't see this yet so you guys kind of took his place. thanks.

 

[horsefarmer]

 

[Bicycle808]

Gotta love those Shunfeng hubs LOL!!!

 

[Chad T]

Gotta love those Shunfeng hubs LOL!!!

I was hoping you would enjoy a close-up of that awesomeness..

Well here's how this sad tale ends. Instead of listening to wisdom I proceeded to try and repair this mostly to teach myself a lesson.

Got it re-laced and the spokes tension-ed a bit. Tried a little bit to true it.

Interesting thing was the seam closed up nicely once the wheel had some tension.

After a bit of fiddling in the stand I decided to try the "stand on it with the boards" gimmick again.

As soon as I got my weight on it it popped back in a taco .

Then I stood on it again and it popped back into it's previous form.

That's when I put the spoke wrench back into the toolbox....

A rim that's tacoed this bad will just shape-shift right back into a taco. Lesson learned.

 

[RustySprockets]

I like your ghetto truing stand...it gets the job done.

 

[Bicycle808]

I like your ghetto truing stand...it gets the job done.

I think that's classy, compared to some guys who use a spread fork or rear triangle with some zip-ties for calipers. @Chad T has a nice, solid DIY rig. I'm jealous, but i got a pretty nice Park stand so i manage....

 

[ChimeraCycle]

That truing stand is boss.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk