Wheel Dilemma! Buckle!

whodafunk

Hey All,

So I bought a single speed bike for communting about 10 miles to/from work each day. The original wheelset were pretty good in all fairness - the rear wheel lasted about 5000km and then had to be replaced (hub issues). I got the rear wheel replaced by my local bike store (€90 odd for a brand I'd not hear of which I thought was a little pricey...)...anyway last week went over some sort of pothole and that same rear wheel has now buckled somewhat. I heard a serious clunk as I sat on the saddle when I went over it. I visually inspected all the spokes and they all seem intact but there is definitely a slight buckle I can feel it when cycling. Bit annoyed about it as I've had the new rear wheel less than 6 months and feel like contacting DCC as I know the exact spot and it's actually pretty bad as I had a good look at it this morning.

So my question is from previous experience repairing a buckled wheel will never be the same again. Should I just cut my losses and invest in a decent wheelset? It's only ever the rear wheel that buckles for me.

Could anybody recommend anything here? I run single speed like I said earlier and at the moment a flip/flop hub.

Many thanks guys

TonyStark

Why not get it trued in your local bike shop and see how it goes from there? It costs about 10-20 quid at the most. I wouldn't write it off so quickly.

whodafunk

Thanks Tony.

In the event the wheel is bunched in a few months I'd rather invest in a good wheelset.

Any recommendations for single speed, nice, not too pricey and most importantly bombproof

Thank you

doozerie

I disagree on several of your conclusions, and based on that I'm not sure you'll be able to find exactly what you are looking for. In my opinion 5,000km is not long to get out of a wheel before having to replace it, 90euro is a modest price for a rear wheel, a repaired buckled wheel can be just as good as the original (and even better actually, if the original build quality was poor), developing a buckle from hitting a bad pothole does not necessarily reflect poorly on the wheel, and there is no such thing as a bombproof wheel.

Personally I'd look to repair the buckled wheel as the first option. Assuming it is repairable that is, depends on whether the rim was actually damaged by the pothole.

doozerie

If you do opt to replace your wheel then there is a wide range of brands and models of fixed/singlespeed to choose from. At the top end you have the likes of Phil Wood, they come with a great reputation and have a price tag to match. At the bottom end it's likely you get what little you pay for.

Somewhere in the middle you have the like of Goldtec. I have a Goldtec hub on a second-hand wheel, I have a thread-on single speed on one side of it and fixed on the other. It was well used before I bought it, the (fixed) cog was worn away beyond use and the rim split within a few months of my starting to use it, but the hub bearings are still running smoothly so I since re-built it with a new rim and I expect the hub to last a long time yet. I don't know how much Goldtec hubs are to buy new but from what I've read they are probably in the higher end of the middle price range.

whodafunk

doozerie wrote: »

If you do opt to replace your wheel then there is a wide range of brands and models of fixed/singlespeed to choose from. At the top end you have the likes of Phil Wood, they come with a great reputation and have a price tag to match. At the bottom end it's likely you get what little you pay for.

Somewhere in the middle you have the like of Goldtec. I have a Goldtec hub on a second-hand wheel, I have a thread-on single speed on one side of it and fixed on the other. It was well used before I bought it, the (fixed) cog was worn away beyond use and the rim split within a few months of my starting to use it, but the hub bearings are still running smoothly so I since re-built it with a new rim and I expect the hub to last a long time yet. I don't know how much Goldtec hubs are to buy new but from what I've read they are probably in the higher end of the middle price range.

Thanks for the detailed reply on this. Much appreciated.