With this Quick Question series nosotros will present fast fixes and collect comments from seasoned riders around specific D.I.Y. mountain bike repairs. While much of this trailside triage is covered in our repair articles and videos, this is a space for longtime riders and readers in the Singletracks community to share their knowledge. Delight type your related experiences and communication in the comments beneath. Practice yous have a quick question? 🤔 Email [email protected]

A mount wheel without scratches and dings is likely ane that hasn't been ridden still. Playing in the rocks tends to add a lot of character to our gear, and rims are no exception. Whether we fail to cheque the tire pressure or are only riding fast on rough trails, nigh anybody somewhen bends an aluminum rim. Information technology can even happen with higher pressures and inserts if you're really pushing the footstep, and frequently the dent makes information technology difficult to then achieve a solid tubeless seal.

Co-ordinate to Dustin Adams at We Are One Composites, bent rims are one area where carbon fiber rims often triumph over blend. Carbon can exist laid up to provide meaning movement during a rim touch, allowing it to compress into an egg shape and spring back, where aluminum will flex to a betoken, and after that indicate, it will not return to the original desired shape. A counterargument is that aluminum rims can often be repaired if bent, where a broken carbon rim needs to be replaced in near cases. We're not hither to help you decide betwixt alloy and carbon hoops, but to fix the dented metallic.

There'southward a practiced gamble that alloy circle can be bent back into a shape that your tire and sealant will accept. In the best case scenario, only the bead-hook bends, and it can easily be pulled dorsum to a tall plenty wall to hold the tire and proceed on rollin'.

Both the Syncros Revelstoke 1.5 and Crankbrothers Synthesis I9 aluminum wheels I tested last year ended up with dents in the rims after I reviewed them that had to be hammered out. The indentations were sharp plenty that they pressed the tire bead out of its channel, preventing a proper tubeless seal. The solution in both cases was establish in a few chunks of medium-hardness wood, a pallet, and a hammer. Consider turning off your perfectionist switch for this one; it'south time for a classic good-enough repair.

Detect a soft surface to lay the wheel on where the hub can rest without applying much load on the spokes. A pocket-size pallet like this i that came attached to a washing machine works well to concur the wheel even so without scratching the rim finish. And so, any piece of woods that's near the size of the dent will exercise well to reverse the impact from the rock strike without creating whatsoever sharp edges inside the rim. Middle the stick and smack away until the bead claw becomes fairly straight once more. Information technology doesn't take to exist perfect to hold the bead seal, and frequently bending it dorsum 50% will be sufficient. And so, true the wheel, mount the tire, and savor!

If you happen to have a demote vice with a soft clapping jaw, that can also do well to bring the rim back to a direct-enough stance. Try not to clamp too much of the rim, every bit you can end up angle a larger portion and then chasing the paring around the wheel and eventually needing to supervene upon the rim.

If you simply need to straighten things out so yous can ride or race, and don't care what the finished production looks similar, grab the bead claw with a set of plumbing pliers like those pictured below and gently tilt it dorsum in the right direction. I similar to wrap the jaws in erstwhile jeans so they don't cut into the alloy and create issues for the tire. Have intendance not to curve too far, every bit it's easy to dent the outer or inner rim profile with the pliers and create new issues. The rim tape may need to be replaced if there are cuts from the impact or pliers.

If you lot've huffed and puffed enough and can't get the bead claw and tire dewdrop to play together at that place is some other trick to try. Before tubeless rims existed, we would take a tube that's smaller than the diameter of the wheel, like a 26″ tube, and cutting information technology forth the outermost edge all the manner around the circumvolve. Then, insert the valve and stretch the splayed tube carcass over the rim like a giant condom band before installing the tire over the pinnacle of the tube. The tube rubber betwixt the tire and rim will take up some space from the dents, typically allowing the tire to seal and exist safely ridden.

The pallet tin can also work to re-round wheels that have been dented in, in the egg-shape direction. I worked at a store in Florence, Italia, where we serviced loads of DH race rigs, and I learned this motility to save customers a petty money and get them back on rails. Identify the part of the rim that's bent inwards (toward the hub) between 2 boards. Then place a striking board inside the rim and blindside on it until things are round enough to ride. You'll typically need to tighten the spoke nipples where the bend is unless yous are magically able to get the wheel dorsum "in round." This is definitely non an ideal fix, but it might salvage your MTB holiday or race day.

What helpful tips do yous have for straightening rims that won't hold a tubeless seal? Please share them with the states in the comments below.