After a close run in with a cat (lives = n -1), my everyday commuter bike is broken. Unfortunately I can’t afford to redress the natural balance with a n + 1 so what’s the easiest/cheapest way to fix?

Original bike spec here

I’d just buy a replacement, cheap wheel..that looks foobar’d. Did the cat also steal your front wheel? 😉

At a guess, the wheel is completely toast. How did you crash? If the rear of the bike took some impact then I’d be wary of riding the frame again too tbh.

I’d buy a 2nd hand wheel.

You’ll need a new wheel. Decathlon sell cheap wheels, not sure if they’re in pares or not though…

If you don’t have tools, it’ll take a bike shop 2 mins to swap your cassette and tyre over to the new wheel.

I’d prioritise and sort out the bin with the dead tree in it first.

Then buy a cheap wheel out the classifieds.

How Decathlon can sell a wheel this cheap is beyond me!

Edit: Actually, I think you need this one.

The crash was just a swerve up the kerb, managed to hop the front wheel up, back wheel got unlucky and stuck on the kerb at speed. Thought all was ok til I tried to ride away!

are there any specific things I need to look for when buying a new wheel (old skool 26″ obviously!) but are there any different types of quick release/rim width etc to look out for or are they all standard?

The dead tree in the bin is there to muffle the noise of the aforementioned cat which is currently serving a 6 month sentence for dangerous road crossing.

How Decathlon can sell a wheel this cheap is beyond me!

‘cos it’s [probably] crap.

Buy a basic Mavic on a Shimano Deore or above hub. Crap wheel are a drag, and crappy hubs are a waste of spokes/rim [fixing usually more expensive than a new wheel]

Standard QR dropout there, pretty much any cheapish wheel will fit that. Any* 26″ wheel will be an MTB wheel so the tyre will swap over OK. The only thing to know really is if it’s a screw on ‘block’ or cassette/freehub**. A shop will be able to ID easily enough.

*Well not any, but you’d probably have to specifically look for any weird French roadster rim.
** I’m going for cassette/freehub from the picture.

Could be either a screw on freewheel or a standard cassette- Boulders are bottom of Giant’s range and it’s hard to tell. Something tells me these were screw on from when I worked on them but don’t quote me on that.

Can you get a photo of the cassette?

take the wheel off and put it on the kerb/step and push against the two highest sides until the wheel straightens, done this to great effect loads of times 🙂

Will get a pic when I get home, obviously had to ride my other bike today!

Lawmanmx – Member
take the wheel off and put it on the kerb/step and push against the two highest sides until the wheel straightens, done this to great effect loads of times

Tried this – it’s too far gone, keeps popping back into it’s “new improved” shape!

slightly over do it and do a quick check for loose spokes then

Had 3 decathlon rear wheels – first 2 pretty good for the price – died because braking surface had worn out. 3rd had a massive spoke tension failure, but been ok since I ruined it tightened them up. 🙂

“Tru build” Wheels seem to pop up all over the place as cheap reasonable wheels for commuters, Shimano Hubs, Mach 1 rims, not super light or sexy but they’re round and functional and strong enough for the job IME…

where are you? Someone will have a worthless 26″ wheel in their shed nearby. I’d post you mine but I just gave to someone else…

I’m in taunton, if anyone nearby has an unwanted, unloved wheel, I’m happy to collect and chuck a few quid your way – I promise it’ll go to a happy home 🙂

Halfords used to be able to order Raleigh ProBuild Mavic/Shimano wheel relatively cheap.

I could be wrong about cheap Decathlon wheels, but I really doubt they’re anywhere near as good as branded ones mentioned.

Mach1 rims aren’t bad, I suppose. They’re French, right? I wonder if they’re a value-brand name for Mavic.