buckled wheel on sons bike

Euphoria1z

Hi


My 10 year old sons junior mountain bike (Apollo sandstorm, 24" wheels) has a buckled rear wheel which I noticed yesterday.


The bike is only 2 months old bought from Halfords.


its buckled quite a bit as in its quite obvious whens he's riding it, rubbing against the brakes.


I took it to a bike shop (I assumed Halfords wont fix it under warranty) and the guy took one look and said it needs a new wheel (cost £45) .


what I really want to know is how this has happened. the man at the shop said it would have taken some force for it to buckle and simply falling of the bike wont have done it.


1- is it possible that kicking the wheels can buckle it? my son says nothings happened out of the ordinary, he hasnt fallen off, no ones kicked it according to him, he hasn't crashed etc.


2- is it possible that some one bigger has rode it and damaged it? he has a friend who is 2 years bigger than him and is a bit big? could a bigger person riding a junior bike (8-12 yrs, friend is 12) cause the rear wheel to buckle that bad? the bike has full front/rear suspensions.


I really want to know how it happened so it can be avoided in the future...my son is of no help and just says don't know...the bike doesn't look damaged in terms of scratches. he only rides it on the pavement round the block near our house, doesnt go very far.


any other reason?


Thanks

The_ICT_Engineer

Like all things cheap, it has been built down to a price. A wheel poorly built will always fail. The wheel spokes may have been adjusted for tension incorrectly. One possibility for the buckle is that it arrived at the shop in this state and the shop staff then tried to true the wheel, taking the buckle out, but leaving the spokes incorrectly tensioned. If a wheel has a bad buckle, as in your case. The rim is passed the point of no return. As to pull the rim back in to true will place far to much stress on the spokes pulling the rim in and would quickly fail. That is why the cycle shop advised you to replace the wheel.

Wheel size has no bearing on the case, there are many bikes on sale designed for adults with wheels as small as 14 inch.

Truing a wheel is a Art, which requires skill and experience

dandelionclock30

If its a cheap wheel it could have buckled through your son doing jumps and things like this on it.? If thats the type of riding he does then he needs a stronger wheelset.
It could be a variety of different reasons really, I get him a new one for now and if it happens again then get him stronger ones.Appolos are cheap bikes and you get what you pay for at the end of the day.

Norman_Castle

I would take it back to Halfords. If it was poorly made initially a buckle could develop through use. They may be able to adjust it.
How does it compare to this wheel?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YqpZg_-FIM

Euphoria1z

Norman_Castle wrote: »

I would take it back to Halfords. If it was poorly made initially a buckle could develop through use. They may be able to adjust it.
How does it compare to this wheel?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YqpZg_-FIM

its actually quite similar to that wheel in the video...I had already seen that video and thought they could fix it, but the guy ( Raleigh bikes) took one look and said no...(maybe he was inexperienced and replacing was much easier for him???)


ive already replaced the wheel at a cost of £45.


I didn't know Apollo were cheap. thought they were a good make going by the reviews! the bike was £108 down from £220ish, it was on sale.


my son doesnt do jumps, though he has admitted to riding off the high kerbs rather than the part that slopes down.


any way, for future reference, what kind of make is good for a mountain bike in the £100-£150 range?


thanks

Richard53

I've heard it said that the bicycle wheel is the strongest structure weigh for weight anywhere in the world. But only if it's used as designed. It will take vertical loads almost for ever, and jumping off kerbs is hardly likely to bend it. However, it is very vulnerable to side pressure. The only times I have ever buckled a wheel have been when I have (for example) fallen off sideways and hit the wheel on something, or got it stuck in a tramline and twisted it.


Presumably the hub is OK, so all you need is a new rim and spokes, laced on by someone who knows what they are doing.


And, to be honest, everything in the £150-£200 range is going to be built down to a price.

photome

Euphoria1z wrote: »

its actually quite similar to that wheel in the video...I had already seen that video and thought they could fix it, but the guy ( Raleigh bikes) took one look and said no...(maybe he was inexperienced and replacing was much easier for him???)


ive already replaced the wheel at a cost of £45.


I didn't know Apollo were cheap. thought they were a good make going by the reviews! the bike was £108 down from £220ish, it was on sale.


my son doesnt do jumps, though he has admitted to riding off the high kerbs rather than the part that slopes down.


any way, for future reference, what kind of make is good for a mountain bike in the £100-£150 range?


thanks

Apollo is Halfords budget range

£108 is tooo cheap for a full suspension.

there is no need for a full suspension bike, and a cheap one may put you off cycling for life as they are hard work

A decent front suspension bike could be £250 plus

Have a look on the decathlon website
the rockrider500 reduced to £239 gets good reviews but is still cheap for a MTB

If you want a very good suspension bike but dont want to pay several hundreds then a good brand bike, second hand is the way to go and is the only way to get a good mountain bike for less than £150

having said all that he is only young and with the bike being fixed it should be ok until he grows out of it or wrecks it

fred7777

Hi

I know it's a bit late now but why did you assume that Halford's wouldn't fix it under warranty?

Euphoria1z

fred7777 wrote: »

Hi

I know it's a bit late now but why did you assume that Halford's wouldn't fix it under warranty?

because I assumed that a buckled wheel couldn't happen due to a manufacturing issue, rather they will blame my 10 year old son on riding carelessly, plus hes fallen off the bike a few times and I figured they will blame him.


I probably should have taken it to Halfords I suppose.

thescouselander

As these things go this is a cheap bike. Unfortunately at this price point the wheels will have been machine built to fairly loose tolerances causing the spoke tensions to be all over the place. This means the wheels will take very little use before getting out of shape.

I imagine your son has given the bike a good workout but I don't think he would have needed to really abuse it to buckle the wheel. Bottom line - a bike this cheap is false economy.

forgotmyname

Get a spoke adjuster and have a go at adjusting it yourself. You can usually pul even fairly badly damaged wheels straight enough not to be an issue.

If all fails buy a new wheel or buy a used bike and swap the wheel over.