Smile in Rim

[Coastie3202]

I noticed that my front rim has a slight smile. That is what I call a bend that is straight in, not lateral. You can't really notice the smile until you get the front end off the floor and spin the tire, then it becomes obvious. The smile is not large enough to feel when riding. It is obvious that something was hit, straight on, and caused the smile.

Do you think this can be removed by smacking the rim with a rubber mallet? Should I loosen the spokes in the area first? ?

[grayracer513]

I don't think so, no.

[Coastie3202]

Thanks Gray. Do you think running the rim as is will adversly effect the life of the wheel bearings, steering head bearings, etc? Like I said, the smile is not large enough to feel when you are riding offroad. It may be on the pavement, but I don't ride on the pavement. So.......

[USED YZ426F]

How deep is it dented? My manual says that the radial and lateral runout cannot exceed 2mm, which is about 1/12". If you are 1/16" or less, you are probably alright. If you are 1/8" or more, then you probably need to get that looked at and consider replacing the rim.

I don't think that it will cause any trouble with the bearings, can't really imagine how as long as the wheel turns freely.

Depending on how big a dent you have, it could affect the ability of the tire bead to stay seated on the wheel, or cause instability at speed.

But the way you describe it, you may not have something that requires immeditate action to fix.

[sparkyz]

There are places that do repair them if you don't want to buy a new one. I'm not sure of anything around you but here in Denver we have Woody's wheel works http://www.woodyswheelworks.com/about.shtml

that you could possiblly send your wheel or rim (if you can lace and true yourself) and get it repaired.