Dude. I did not think this was even possible, amazing work.

A great demonstration! Thanks for demonstrating the 'old school' principal of repair rather than the new school throw away and replace. On a five star chart this is a six star performance.

Very nicely done! I did this when I was 13 ..rim was worse..bent nearly in half! Got it to where I could lay it on the ground and be able to stand on both of the bent sides..that got it straight enough, that I could spin it back in the wheel stay! Then used the brakes as a center guide..with tire off..used a flathead screwdriver to turn the spokes until she was straight ! It collapsed b4 the summer ended..spokes were too tight to one side! But what'd I know..I was 13..and that was my first bent in half wheel repair! Never thought I'd see someone else straighten one from that badly bent! Very cool!

Really great work, and it's clear that you have thousands of hours doing this, which made it fun to watch! I have zero experience, and just "saved" a bent rear wheel on a used bike that I purchased a few weeks ago. Same type of double walled mountain bike wheel with disc brake hub. It had a good dent into the side in one area. I straightened that using the jaws of a large crescent wrench. I don't have a truing stand, so I did the truing with the wheel mounted in the bike. I taped a ball point pen to frame, in order to check side-to-side, and put a long piece of tape across both chain stays, to check how round the rim was. It had a large flat area, making it oval. I used a cargo ratchet strap around wheel to give it a squeeze that would push the high spots of the wheel inward, and the low section outward. It wound up truing up pretty good, and with a 27.5" x 2.4 mtb tire on it, it looked even better, and rode perfect. It even held air, tubeless! It was a fun little project, and I learned a lot. Wish I'd found your video prior to doing it. I'm not sure what your spokes looked like on their end that pokes through the rim, but mine were DT Swiss brand, and were actually a male 5mm Torx head. DT Swiss sells a special T-handle tool that allows you to rapidly do all the trueing, through those deep openings in the rim, rather than from the inner area of the wheel with a traditional spoke tool. I didn't want to wait for the tool to arrive, and found that Harbor Freight sells a deep well Torx socket set for $10.......and there's 5mm in that set!! I put that socket into my 12v Rigid brand drill, zipped all the spokes loose, did all my major bending and whatnot, and then zipped all the spokes back to "sort of snug," and then trued from there. It saved a ton of time and with the clutch tension set really low on the Rigid drill, it seem to allow me the "finesse" needed so as not to damage the spokes or spoke nipples. I gave them all a little shot of TriFlow prior to starting the work.

You have given me hope, I was in an accident tacoed my rear wheel

The more videos I watch about wheel building, the more I'm convinced I need to leave this to a professional. Thanks for the videos, keep them coming.

Thank you so much for making this video. New wheels are hella expensive. I've got a mountain bike with a wheel that was previously very warped. I was about to give up on it and just go buy another used bike (because you can get a used bike for almost the same price as buying a brand new wheel). After watching this video, I went and tried the techniques that you demonstrate. After working the wheel carefully for about 2 hours, I managed to get it almost completely straight again! I am absolutely amazed that these techniques you demonstrate actually worked so well. Using a 2x4, some clamps, and some elbow grease, then truing the wheel after, I was actually able to get this wheel straight enough to be usable again. Can't thank you enough. Awesome video.

It’s a totally different story when it’s a vintage rim that isn’t made anymore! At the moment I have hopes I can straighten out the rims on my vintage Raleigh thanks to watching this, thank you for showing what is possible.

Worked out perfectly so thank you for the demo. I had a rare alloy antique rim that I wanted to preserve and I was surprised at how easy this was. You don't put much force on the wheel at all. Spin the wheel and mark the wobble with a sharpie on the rim. Acetone washes off the marks after you've trued up the wheel. Piece of cake!

I never thought this could be done. Nice work as usual!

I worked at a bike shop in the eighties. One of our work benches had 2x4's mounted horizontally between the legs of the bench. We would put the rim between the boards and bend the rim where it was bent. Amazing what you could repair on a wheel that you thought was gone.

Very nice. I did the same bicycally :) I used a cargo strap, tensionable by a lever and a square piece of wood though, not so advanced and elaborated. End result: usable as well. Mine also did not have a rim-brake, but a hub-brake. I settled with a lateral-runout of about 0,5 mm and a variation of the spoke tension of +/- 20 %. Workable for a front wheel in the case, used for shopping food or other lightweight goods by a reasonable light person.

I volunteer at a bike workshop restoring bikes, I came to this video as yesterday I had a taco'd wheel I was trying to fix. In my case i was unable to repair it. I tried a similar process to yours by loosening the spokes first, then tried with a rubber mallet to reshape the rim. I like the idea of clamping the wheel down and bending it back, if I get another I might be able to try this next time.

amazing workmanship. thank you for uploading.

Joey, AWESOME! I had a fairly expensive aluminum frame mountain bike given to me that a car ran over the rear wheel. It looked similar to yours. I took the hub off with the spokes still attached. I stood on the rim using wooden blocks under it to straighten the rim and have the spokes reinstalled. I wanted a video exactly like this one. Most of the truing videos have such a small amount of run out that they didn't apply to my situation. The dish is really way off now. Your video is what I needed. I subscribed to this fantastic bike repair site. Pat Reilly, Rockford, IL

I watched both your videos on truing and straightening wheels. I think what you said about the wheel in this video being structurally not that sound even after fixing it is fair. However this video has shown me I can repair my only slight wheel variation when I thought I'd have to buy a whole new wheel. Thanks for making the videos, I learnt a lot

at the beggining I was like... man buy a new one!!.... but then!!! ohh boy !!! awesome work man!

That was a awesome story about Hoffman’s wheels. BMX is crazy. Thanks for the help.

Possibilities at the extremes is always nice to know !

Having since watching a couple of Park Tool videos, I have learnt a few basic skills, I have also quite fancy fixing or restoring bicycles. However for this, I would say it depends on how severe the damage of the bicycle. Anyway, having the tools and equipment does it well. 💪🏼💯👍🏼

awesome skill - hats off to you sir !

Thanks Joey. my rim was not quite as bad as yours but still rubbed on both sides. as soon as I slackened all the spokes the rim ran 90% straight then carefully following your advice I have a serviceable wheel again. Thanks again you have a new subscriber

Love the Matt Hoffman story in the middle :)))

Thank you Joey Mesa for taking the time to do this :)

That is so awesome , Great work.

Some great tips. Thanks for sharing

Thank you for this video, I'll now attempt to true my tacoed MTB wheel.

Thank you for helping me decide to replace a kid's bike wheel and not try to repair ;). Great work here.

After thousands of videos, this is definitely the one😭 Thanks!!!

Great vid - amazing to see all that work 👍

Great job - I had a pretty bad one myself 12+ years ago - i bought a 1988 Specialized Rockhopper Comp on craigslist , i could see from the pic the front wheel had been changed - i asked them if they had the original , luckily they did - i got home with 2X4s on the ground and went to work - it's been on the bike ever since.

Awesome work dude🤟🏻 i'm also very thankfull for all the additional informations and tips while you're truing the wheel, saved me from thinking that i needed to buy a new rear wheel (or at least the rim).. 🙏🏻👏🏻 Unfortunately some idiot(s) were trying to steal my bike two nights ago.. had the bike locked, fairly tight, an evening before around a tree (facing at a ~90° angle towards the main road, dropper post down, right pedal farthest back- leaning towards against the tree)... Afternoon at the next day: bike was torn a quarter around the tree (I didn't notice the paint damage until later), dropper up and pointing left at 10.. Tree soulful hits to centered it back, hop on and ride... Not even 2 meters😅 the wheel was tacoed kinda half way as yours in the vid.. (The lock was going trough the right rear triangle portion behind the seat-tube and a small brace which goes across in front of the rear wheel..) so no damn way to get more than 1 cm play in the chainlock around the tree or get more accessible area where its routed trough. So they tried to break the chainlock by tensioning and leaning the upper line as much to the tree and the rear side as far away as possible and must kicked a few times pretty damn hard onto the rear frame or wheel by itself to bend it that much (Probably the lifted dropper/saddle was leaning onto the tree and turned left caused by the forced from this action).... 👿😤 So just another story on the topic "WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS" 😪🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ PS: hopefully next time Karma will knock there kneecaps of🤝🏻😇

The "Taco" title got my attention. Good job and thank for the info.

wow... that is amazing from before and end.

Amazing what can be fixed but I wonder just how safe and reliable the restored wheel will be. I suppose the real skill is knowing which wheels are worth the effort and which should go straight into the trash.

tis is it. I found a bike that is the same as yours and I thank you for showing me how to do it without the stand. I live in remote community up North of Ontario where shippong costs dearly.

does bending it like that weaken the rim ? I just had my brake track split at the seam. also does the wheel alloy have a memory i.e. It will return to taco over time. couldn't you also just delace wheel and put it on a flat surface and step on it to get it straight? relace and rebuild?

That’s amazing!!! You can’t even tell that it’s been damaged!

Congrats on the new place.

Thanks for the great instructions - I started working on my my tacoed rim without much success. Im going to try these tips and techniques to see if I can get it back into rideable condition.

Brilliant ! Great technical exercise !

That's a good work. Thanks for the tips boss. I got a problem in my bike and the same problem. So I have an idea right now how do I fix it. Thank you.

Amazing video dude!

That wheel was a piece of art... Now it's just a wheel...

Thats great you worked with Hoffman - must have been some crazy days with all the stuff he did

Thank you for that 2x4 methid that save time right on

Magnificent. Thank you so much, sir.

That's awesome. So glad I watched this .

You are the man. thanks for your video

Wow, I would have never thought! Recently bought a size 12 for my magic Ksyriums and I hit the learning curve pretty well. Except on the radial, almost close to round but I've hit a wall. Definitely ridable but I'd like to see near perfect round if possible

Awesome video!

You're such an expert

Great video. I learned alot. Thanks

Great touch... Master

This fella was great in Jurassic park but this video is much more helpful.

This man is the GOAT🔥

wow your amazing good work i hope to one day soon be decent with tuning and building wheels

SO WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT THIS MAN NEVER DISAPPOINT US WITH HIS VIDEOS ❤❤❤

Amazing. Turned that taco into a tostada 😅

Amazing skills 👍

Thank you so much for your job, extremely informative, highly appreciated it, have a great day, God bless you.

Brilliant id love to be able to do that,,, Thank you

Excellent result! Just one point about the video, though: at around the 14:00 mark, when you were starting to put some tension on the spokes and beginning to true the rim laterally, some extreme close-up shots of EXACTLY what you were doing with the spoke tool would have been helpful. What I mean is, we could see you manipulating 'something', and the rim appearing to magically come back into line, but... what was going on with the spoke tool? For an inexperienced newcomer like me, it's hard to relate the unseen activity to the positive results. Is the tool given ¼ turn on alternate spokes in order to keep the wheel accurate radially, or is it more a case of ½ a turn just to get the basic wobble removed, and worry about making things nicely round later on? Is it better to tighten all the spokes an exact amount at once, or are you graduating the tension, so that the deepest part of the dip gets a 180° turn, then the next spoke along gets a few degrees less, thus spreading the tension more evenly? Are you adjusting both left-side and right-side spokes at once? (Tighten one, loosen the other, balancing as you go.) Is that something only an experienced professional mechanic would do? I appreciate that a lot of what we're seeing is a blend of skill, art and 'feel'. An expert can't necessarily explain what subtleties are going into the task, so some close-up footage might have made things a little clearer for us amateurs to understand. Life was a lot easier when we made wheels out of great big solid chunks of wood... 😁

Really great. We have a same problem, how we will get the same done.please guide.thnks

Great work. Thanks! 🍎

Thank you. Couldn’t figure out the spoke tension. Now I know to reset to really loose and work from there. 😎

very cool. I used a propane torch to heat my rim up while the spokes were still tight, and that helped soften the rim and adjust itself. I used a laser thermometer to not exceed 350 degrees on the rim. Seems to work ok.

Wow, looking at this. Mine one could be save^ ^

When you say to treat it like a spare tire are you talking about that specific rim or any rim that had been bent? I can't imagine what would happen if you're able to straighten it, besides that you may have to re-straighten it again eventually.

Sir step by step for wheel truing. Thank you From pangasinan,Philippines. 🇵🇭 ❤️

🫢🫣Ahh…man! What the holly molly wobbly Rim❗️ 🤔I never believe that it could be back to true, fix/rideable again perfect save! thanks for sharing bro👍🏼_🚴🏽_ _ _🤟🏼

Nice job!

Good job

Well done!

Awesome man, I'm going through bike wheels.

“ a little wobbly” haha still more stable than my life

I bought a pair of used rear Hollow Hub 26" 144 Fan Spoke steel rimmed Wheels (minus their internal bearings, but that's another story) for my Trike. Unfortunately the rims are fairly well bent. Any idea how to straighten these monsters? Balancing yourself on these to make a start has no effect - strong! (which is of course the idea of having them).

Excellent, thank you

Hello. great work. Please how can I get the straighter and how much will it cost.

i liked that, a customer brought one for me todo today, tomorrow will be bash and twist time. after all anyshape is good as long as it is round.

Impressive!

Should I loosen the spokes before bending the rim back to shape? My rim is bent (bmx bike) but not taco'd

Great vid

Are spokes and hub still worth of saving? I suppose it would be environment friendly, if it can be fixed.

Nice one Joey, but like you mentioned, it's such a bad case that even if you want to waste some time doing it, it would be better to just buy a new rim (instead of the whole wheel). The reason being that the fix will leave the rim in a structurally compromised state, which is very deterimental to road safety, especially if you ride rim brakes. The only reasons i see to use this method, would be because the replacement rim takes too long to arrive, or i'm on a long trip and need to fix it quickly to continue. Or i'm so broke and/or unemployed that i don't want to spend that money on a bike to get around the town (for slow/mundane/grocery rides). So, thank you very much for the info. Keep it up.

One of the few videos on the internet that explains how to fix a taco, most just suggest rim replacement. How does this type of cold bending affect rim longterm durability and can you ever achive spoke tension balance on this type of wheel?

there's nothing more vindicating than having no idea how to do something, taking a wild fn guess, them coming to KZfaq and discovering that you were right, but this did my ego one better, because that's how Matt Hoffman's wheel guy rolls, too. No pun intended. 😅 thanks for the video homie

thank you bro. GOD Bless you

! have been in this situation on many occasions !

Will the same method work on a spoke rim for a motorcycle?

I haven't rode a bicycle in decades. Well now I need to start so my neighbor gives me a 4 year old bike that's brand new never been rode. It apparently had fallen over and the rear wheel got ran over so they put it in the barn and went bought a new bike.. so this video will give me a opportunity to see if the bike still shifts gears and is worth a new wheel or by a new bike.. it's a schwinn midway not no high $brand worth a complete over haul.

youre the man!!!

I saw a video of a guy with a wheel like this, look at the wheel WACK IT on the floor, half of the wheel straight. Look at it again... wack it again, PERFECTLY straight... I was in shock

I need a front and rear set for a mtb don't know where to find em

I took the spokes off, took my 2 tapes or u can use markets, laid the wheel on the floor and laid down to see where the rim is not touching the ground. One tape marks the beginnigs and one the middle of the bent parts.

My bike rack strapped broke and bent my rim. Took it and they told.me.the seem is bent and have to buy a new rim. Anyway to get it fixed?

My wheel looks almost like this, not quite as bad. It was straight but was missing 1 spoke. Added it and decided to buy a tension meter and tighten everything. Front wheel with disc brake. Tightened all to be value 21 on non brake side and all to 23,5 on brake side. I tought the more even the values are on the same side the better. I still see every tutorial to teach so. I have no idea why it turned out so wonky.

That's a perpetual motion desk toy.

When I worked as a Walmart Contract Assembler, whenever we got a rim like that, we'd just order a new one at Walmarts expense. Unless they one in the back somewhere that we could swap out

that is amazing