Thursday I’m riding home from work and come up to a section of road near my house where contractors had been working installing sewerage lines. They had dug a 2-˝ foot wide trench across the road, laid in a pipe and refilled it temporarily with sand & gravel.

Since it was a temporary fill, it was not level with the road; there was a greater than 2 inch drop off on each side of the trench affecting traffic in both directions. They had quit for the day and placed 2 orange cones off to the sides of the road as a “warning”.

I hit it at about 35 mph. I didn’t see that it was not filled level until 2 seconds before I was on it. I had time to slam on the brakes, but couldn’t scrub off enough speed to prevent a 2” asphalt edge from slamming into my front tire with enough force to bottom the suspension and send a shudder through the entire bike.

I immediately thought “bent rim” and checked the front wheel. Still spinning true. Got home and did a quick visual inspection. Tire looked okay. No immediately apparent damage. Called the company doing the wastewater project (I had a run in with them previously regarding unauthorized digging on my property). Let them know they are about to get someone killed (“well, we put some cones out…” -- whatever).

This morning I did a closer inspection of the front tire & wheel. The rim appears to be slightly bent near the valve. I’m talking “very slightly” -- I only noticed it by looking at variations in the distance between a rim bead molded around the tire and the rim edge. But definitely there and looks like it’s more so on one side than the other.

Tire (brand new Avon Venom) looks undamaged. No evidence of delaminating, cracks or otherwise.

However, my front air pressure is around 20 PSI, which I think is a little low (to be honest, I haven’t checked it since I had the tire installed so I don’t know what it was before -- but that tire is rated up to 40 PSI).

So, having complete OCD when it comes to my bike, I’m thinking I have one or more of the following:

* compromised front wheel rim
* compromised tube
* compromised tire

Picturing catastrophic front tire failure at 75 MPH on the interstate. Ugh.

Going to ride it today, check it out and think about it. Wanted to get an opinion in the meantime. Worthy of replacing the entire front wheel, tube and (nearly new) tire?

At least if I have to replace the front wheel it’s an opportunity to upgrade from 40 to 60 spokes

 

40 Psi on the tire is the MAXIMUM pressure for the tire, not the RATED tire pressure. I think rated for the front tire is 35, that's with the stock front tire.I would call Avon and see what pressure to run in their tires.
I hit a pothole so big 3 years ago my gas gauge doesn't work anymore but my tire, tube and wheel are all fine. I was in absolute shock that my wheel wasn't damaged.

 

I'm guessing it's probably the float that's stuck but HD gauges are inaccurate anyways, I digress.

 

get the air pressure corrected... runnin that low will cause the tire to wear irregulary on the edges(cupping).... low pressure would make tire bottom out quicker... bent rim could be your fault as well

 

1st they should of had warning sign's up on each side and placed a steel plate over the under filled hole. As they would have known that the fill is going to settle as traffic runs over it. I'd get pictures and raise hell with the company not a custmer service rep but the person that is in charge of construction. I'm sure they just got lazy as quitting time was nearing and they wanted to go home. Darn sure you got lucky and that is all that happened to you could have been much worst.

 

Yeah, for sure. Get on it before its too late. All too often Iv seen this happen, people call, then miraculously the hole is topped up when they go back, or there IS a plate or Detour setup.

Your basically warning them that they are going to be sued, and go right away and fix it before you can get any REAL Pictures. Do it, like... NOW!! I live in Quebec, wich is SO bad for its roads, that I DID buy the tire and wheel replacement insurance from the dealership. I don't want to loose out on something that's not my fault.

 

Things like that irritate the crap out of me. I hate to hear horror stories like this. But at least you didn't go down.

Jack your bike up and spin your front wheel. You should be able to see if it is bent. The correct tire pressure is 32 PSI. If you had that in the tire, it may have saved your rim. Your tire and tube should be fine. Any damage would be cord damage, and it would show with a bulge in the tire with correct tire pressure. If the tube was damaged, your tire would either have a slow leak, or just go flat, so it is probably OK. TJ

 

LOL, they came and filled it in with asphalt about 30 minutes after I called. Glad nobody was hurt (namely – me).

Aired the front tire back up to 30 psi and it looks fine. Need to check my air pressure more often (lesson learned).

Regarding my front wheel – pretty much decided I am going to replace the original 40 spoke with a 60 or possibly 80 spoke. Front tire is an Avon 21” MH90 which I believe is a what – 2.5” rim width? The rim measures 3.25 from edge to edge but the equates to around 2.5” inside dimension which is what matters, correct?

Any suggestions on good places online to buy spoked wheels at decent prices appreciated.