Anyone else bending rims?
 

Dang, got home and found another big dent in my rear rim.
Shinko 705 120/90-17 with 28 lbs. Got two big ones now. Anyone using a different rear rim? If so what brand? Thanks

Excel have rims for you but if you want chrome its not the correct size. EXCEL WM4 (2.50) x 17" ALUMINUM RIM

Big dents
 

No rust, Colorado bike (dry climate). Is this common?

All mine chrome rims for rear seems to get rust in that bend where water stays, front rims never get rust. You have the 3tb with chrome rims?

Yes, chrome.

Yes they are like 400dollars new, you can find used on ebay Germany, but hard to find without rust. Looks good before you get them close up, maybe best for you buying new Excel front and rear. Then you can chose color and easy to swap later if damage, price are about half of the original.

Are the Excel rims any stronger? Thanks

No i wouldnt say, its alu rims. You have steel rims original and they cant break, just bend.

So a piece of wood and mallet to whack them back into round?

Sounds a bit unlucky. Also, the Shinko 705 is a pretty soft tire, especially side wall. I've used them in Baja ... carefully and mostly On road.

Does your XT have steel rims? Since you guys are talking about rust ... I assume steel? Maybe you can find other Excel Alu rims that would fit your bike? Might save a few lbs.

The Alu Excels on my DR650 are pretty sturdy ... I've only dented the front a bit ... hitting embedded rock at about 70 MPH. OUCH! Hit so hard i'd thought I'd busted the frame in half! But just a very small dent in front rim. But I was running a Pirelli MT21 at about 20 PSI.

In Baja, off road, I run 18 psi front, about 22 PSI rear. 22 - 25 psi on road.
Works well at my mostly moderate pace.

With 28 PSI ... you must have really hit something hard?
That's very high pressure, no?
bier

Hit an embedded baby head at about 50. Saw it at the last second, jumped off my pegs to unload suspension. If steel is stronger I'll beat them into submission.
:thumbup:

Yes you can fix the steel rim, if you undo all the spokes i quess you will get the shape back.

There are wheel specialists who can straighten you rim without breaking it.
Steel or Alu .. although ALU can crack. You can do it yourself but it may end up wonky, out of alignment? A small dimple OK, but more, maybe let a pro fix it?

I'm just leaving my dent ... I don't feel it at all ... so works for me.

Ive got a small bend in the rear rim, but its not too bad. Chrome wheels, says DID on it, dunno if stock or not. Front is perfect. And yes, both are rusty.

I've bent my front, hit a pothole in Tajikistan about 3000miles ago. At low speed you feel it, but above 50mph it gets absorbed into normal XT vibration. I've about 4000 miles left, can I just beat it back to approximate shape or is it best to just leave it until I'm home?

It sometimes appears to be getting worse, bits its hard to judge!

I would leave it for now, for best result you must loosen spokes and try to get it back in shape. Its not easy to fix back to normal, but its possible with alot of work. What you can do is take wheel of and get it balance like it is, it will get much better.

I agree ... leave it alone for now and ride it the best you can. A wheel specialist can most likely straighten your bent rim to near perfect. If you beat on it, you may get lucky and straighten it up a bit ... but you could also CRACK it ... which would not be good, or you could make it worse than it is now.

Good luck, ride safe! Have fun! bier

Thank you. I had taken the decision to leave it (hence the 3000miles!) so it's nice to know that was the right one.


With all the spares on eBay I'll probably buy replacement rims and re-lace with updated spokes. My philosophy is now to always replace with better.

:thumbup1:

The benefits of steel rims. You can t*at them straight again if you have to.

Possible on an Aluminium rim too but with far more caution. With Alloy rims, if it's only light bends or dings, it's best to leave them alone unless you have a tubeless wheel and are leaking air.

Obviously you inspect them whenever you get off the bike for make sure it isn't getting catastrophic.

Just my opinion.

You can get the alloy straight with heat, and if there is a crack or some part missing its possible to fill and grind.

Anneal it.... ?

I rub soap on Alloy. When the soap turns brown it means it's annealed and at a better bending temperature. Then you can bend it.

Annealing usually does harden aluminium alloys though. As does hammering.

Sorry dont know the word and cant get translate on it. Ok found it on the amazing internett, yes.