Posts: 5
Joined: 1/9/2018
Location: Glendale, AZ USA
Im trying to true my front wheel but the rim has a slight dent that is pushing outward in two different spots that makes it seem impossible to true. How do you go about truing a rim that isnt perfectly straight like they are out of the factory?
2006 Kawasaki KX450F
2006 Kawasaki KX100
2002 Kawasaki KX250
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Location: Mansfield, OH USA
Posts: 5
Joined: 1/9/2018
Location: Glendale, AZ USA
I was hoping that wasnt what I had to do. Im riding in the desert and doing hill climbs and already dented this rim within 5 rides. This is getting real expensive, quick lol.
2006 Kawasaki KX450F
2006 Kawasaki KX100
2002 Kawasaki KX250
Posts: 1731
Joined: 8/25/2015
Location: Mansfield, OH USA
Still less expensive than medical bills after your wheel blows apart.
2009 Kawasaki KX450F
2009 Kawasaki KX250F
2002 Suzuki GSXR 600
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Location: San Diego, CA USA
Edited Date/Time:
How tweaked are we talking about here? Is it like the center line of the rim will roll
straight but there's a little smiley on the side? If no cracks, hell, I'd run it.
If it's tweaked through the center line, you should be able to get it back.
Might have to loosen everything up and kinda start from the beginning.
Most rims I've pulled out of the box are nowhere near perfect. It's
the lacing and truing that straightens them out.
Posts: 5
Joined: 1/9/2018
Location: Glendale, AZ USA
Acidreamer wrote:
Still less expensive than medical bills after your wheel blows apart.
Yes that is true I suppose!
2006 Kawasaki KX450F
2006 Kawasaki KX100
2002 Kawasaki KX250
Posts: 5
Joined: 1/9/2018
Location: Glendale, AZ USA
FWYT wrote:
How tweaked are we talking about here? Is it like the center line of the rim will roll
straight but there's a little smiley on the side? If no cracks, hell, I'd run it.
If it's tweaked through the center line, you should be able to get it back.
Might have to loosen everything up and kinda start from the beginning.
Most rims I've pulled out of the box are nowhere near perfect. It's
the lacing and truing that straightens them out.
Its not really twisted up or anything. I dont know how to describe it but if you were to remove a brand new rim from the box, stand it upright and smack it with a metal hammer so it was a flat spot on the rim and slightly bows it out.
If I were to put it on a truing stand 80 percent of the rim would ride perfectly against the pointer but then it would hit a flare on the rim due to damage so it would never show true on a stand. If that makes sense...
2006 Kawasaki KX450F
2006 Kawasaki KX100
2002 Kawasaki KX250
Posts: 1992
Joined: 5/25/2014
Location: San Diego, CA USA
So if you had the pointer on the opposite side of the rim, that side stays even?
I'd probably just run it.
I've seen guys do a little squeezing with hydraulic press. Also heard of guys using a large crescent wrench.
Tighten it down onto the lip and massage it back into shape.
Yeah, you're out in the desert; you
going to put some smileys in some rims! 
Add a couple pounds of air pressure. 
Posts: 2497
Joined: 12/16/2010
Location: AL, USA
One trues a wheel, not a rim. You sound like you are asking how to repair a dented rim. At some point, it is too bad to try to run it as - is or bend back into shape vs. just buy a new one.
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Location: GBR
You either need to find another point on the rim to set your dial on, or repair the dented areas back to flat so that you can true of the rim edge.
Sounds as though you could benefit from running mousses or a Tubliss system!
@russ_69
Posts: 925
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Location: MA, USA
If you can, put a 2x4 in a vice as an anvil and put the rim against it. “Massage” it with a plastic dead blow or rubber mallet; try to just shape the worst of it out.
If you're not mixing gas, you're not haulin ass.
Posts: 5
Joined: 1/9/2018
Location: Glendale, AZ USA
I was able to true the wheel as best as I could side to side only to find that the rim had some damage on the up and down movement. I took the bike around the block and it could definitely be felt. I decided to buy a tusk impact rim with spoke kit and a new mx52 front tire since it was past due.
2006 Kawasaki KX450F
2006 Kawasaki KX100
2002 Kawasaki KX250
