As above, when getting to work on my 29er this morning I had to repair a puncture to the front tyre. I found the tiny piece of glass ok and patched the inner tube but when trying to reseat the tyre it would not go on the rim (yes I know I am not running it tubeless but it is my commuter). The rims are Syncros/DT Swiss XR tubeless ready 29ers and the tyre is a Continental X King. A colleague assisted and together we got it reseated and pumped up, all good. When riding home there is now a kink in the wheel each revolution which wasn’t there before. It isn’t the tyre because I have checked that. Now my colleague did use plastic tyre levers to help get it back on the rim but is it common to damage wheels in such a way? And, assuming it is the sidewall of the rim that is bent, is it possible to repair or not?
Trevor.

Check that tyre bead is seated correctly first – deflate and reinflate tyre. Also check that wheel simply is out of true. If the rim sidewall is bent, You can use an adjustable spanner to ease a bent sidewall in by a mm or two – any more and it’ll likely crack.

here is now a kink in the wheel each revolution

what doe this mean?

1) there is one bit that just sticks out more – ie a kink in the actual rim?

2) the entire wheel is out of true and as it spins some part of it drifts out a few mm?

Former covered above
Later true the whe by adjusting the spole tension

3) tyre is not seated properly has been twisted needs sorting though

Use brake or zip tie to fork of disc to see whether its the rim – option 1, the wheel – option 2 or the tyre – option three that is kinky

It’s not the tyre, deflated and reinflated that several times. I think the force of the tyre levers against the rim has bent the rim sidewall, it wasn’t bent before sorting the puncture and isn’t out of true.

Not unless you’re using cheese rims and/or the toughest tyre levers ever. I doubt a plastic lever could bend any rim.

Are you certain it’s not the tyre? It’ll have a fitting line a few mm above the rim sidewall, check it’s even all the way around. I’d be surprised if it’s anything else. Blindly reinflating a few times won’t fix it if it’s a very tight tyre and hasn’t seated.

Remove tyre and tube, get tyre levers or something and strap them either side of your forks so they are touching the rim. Slowly rotate the wheel so you can see if there is an actual kink or bent rim (the side with the kink would be pushing the tyre lever while the other side hasn’t moved from the tyre lever) or the wheel is out of true (the rim will be pushing against the tyre lever and moved away from the other side).
If all is good, put the tyre and tube back on and apply very soapy mixture to the beads before reinflating.

Kind of did that with my hands. It’s the rim that is bent, no doubt. The tyre is seated and the fitting line is even. It wasn’t bent before removing and refitting the tyre so it can only be as a result of using the tyre levers. I’ll get it checked and hopefully straightened again by Matt at 18bikes.

. I doubt a plastic lever could bend any rim.

Are you certain it’s not the tyre
THIS

No way will plastic tyre levers bend alloy rims. I am not sure it would be that easy to do with metal ones either as i doubt you have enough leverage to do it.

Some tyres are just a bit wonky. I’ve had two Maxxis tyres with wobble in them despite the bead being properly and uniformly seated. Could be that.

No way you can damage the rim with some plastic tyre levers.

My guess is you hit something on your ride while the tyre was soft and that’s put a ding in the rim.

Defo not the tyre! My ride to work consists mainly of smooth cycle paths. No bumps at all. It was all in order prior to the puncture and I only noticed the flat after arriving at work so it wasn’t ridden with a flat. The tyre was a bitch to get back on, hence using the tyre levers. It can only be as a result of their usage (tyre levers) or my own hands! I will check it all again based on what has been said.

I’ve snapped an entire collection of plastic tyre levers on one particularly hateful set up but I’m another in the chinny reckon camp on you bending a rim with a lever.
If it is the rim was the puncture also a pinch flat which dinged the side wall? An adjustable spanner is ideal for taking dents out – wide flat jaw faces so doesn’t mark or put a stress point on the rim.

More likely that you’ve stretched the tyre bead whilst trying to get it back on, and its gone baggy.

The rim is bent. When spinning the wheel in the fork with my fingers running along each side of the rim wall there is obvious movement one side to another where the buckle shows in the revolution. It wasn’t bent before removing part of the tyre to fix the puncture. It was bent after the repair and after using tyre levers (plastic Park Tools levers) to get the tyre back on. It was a small piece of glass that caused the puncture, no bumps, dings or drop offs. It can only have been caused by removing and refitting the tyre, with levers.

So is it just one side of the rim that’s bent (a ding) or both sides so the whole wheel wobbles (a buckle)?

The rim is bent

What does this mean?
1) there is one bit that just sticks out more – ie a kink in the actual rim?

2) the entire wheel is out of true and as it spins some part of it drifts out a few mm?

Is it this pic or just out of true?

Most likely done when the tyre had lost pressure allowing the rim to be damaged by road surface.

Ok, it’s not a ding! To look at the rim there is no visible damage. It’s only when turning the wheel and riding that there is an obvious wobble or kink to one side. I never noticed a loss of pressure when riding in to work and I’m sure I would have. It was only after parking the bike and about one hour later I noticed it had gone flat.

Maybe just trying to force the tyre onto the rim has pushed it out of true? Will find out when a bonafide wheel builder takes a look, wheel building and repairing is a strange science to me!

Unless he used a crowbar that ding is not from changing a tyre.

It’s only when turning the wheel and riding that there is an obvious wobble or kink to one side

Its either the tyre or the rim

You can go all high tech on this but i just but my finger close and spin the wheel slowly to see if its the rim that is moving or JUST the tyre
Do rim first.

If the rim goes obviously the tyre goes with it but you will at least know whether its a poorly seated or knackered tyre or you just need to true the wheel

For clarity the picture was a random pic of a ding.

You haven’t got a broken spoke have you ?

No, spokes all fine. It’s the rim.

You’ve not buckled your wheel fitting or removing a tyre. You just haven’t.

It’s possible you’d not noticed it before. This is unrelated to the puncture. Unless by ‘used plastic tyre levers’ you mean ‘jumped up and down on the rim’ those two events are unrelated.

The course of action is the same, but truing wheels is no dark art.

You are wrong. I absolutely would have noticed it before.

is your wheel back in the dropouts properly?
if its not, it could be running off axis.
This is assuming you hve a 29er with a QR front hub. This is not a possibility with qr15.
Really though, this thread is useless without pics/vid
if you stood on the rim while reefing on tyre levers, you could have given it a bend.
Is the bike brand new to you? I ask as I’ve seen people true out a snapped tyre casing by distorting the rim to suit. If you had the tire all the way off, and mounted it differently then thats another unlikley theory for you.

It wouldn’t have been the tyre levers but I guess with enough force at an angle (e.g. all your weight, possibly bouncing) you could have caused a buckle (not that I’ve seen that but I have seen someone remove a slight buckle with force rather than adjusting spoke tension).

dirksdiggler – Member

is your wheel back in the dropouts properly?
if its not, it could be running off axis.
This is assuming you hve a 29er with a QR front hub. This is not a possibility with qr15.
Think about what you’ve said. Putting a wheel in a frame pissed is not going to affect the truth of the wheel is it?

The op needs to put up a pic of the affected area.
Unless you have metal tyre levers there is no way you’re going to damage a rim with them.
Are you sure the “mate” who helped you didn’t cause the damage by accident?

my guess is that as you or your mate were trying to lever the tyre off, the rims been leant on and your body weight may have caused a buckle on the rim.

take the tyre off and spin the rim in the fork to figure out the exact location of the buckle and then depending on which direction the buckle moves out towards..add tension to the spokes on the opposite side to pull the rim back in line

Most likely that!

I take it all back, I should have listened to the Singletrack masses. It would appear that it was the tyre after all. Popped into 18bikes today and the rim is pretty much true and all spokes tensioned. In my defence apparently conti tyres have been known to suffer with sidewall failures and this is most likely what I was experiencing. Hopefully get a replacement under warranty. Also figured out why it was so hard to get a tyre on, removed the old dt swiss tubeless rim strip (not running tubeless) and replaced with standard rim strip, tyre went on easily. The dt swiss strip was quite thick, old and tacky and was obviously stopping one half of the tyre from moving across the rim bed in order to get the other side onto the rim.

😀

Credit for the update though.