Originally Posted by
Doug64
There has been only one time that I ever wished I had disc brakes. I was decending a hill down to the Saskatchewan River into Medicine Hat, Alberta when I hit a large piece of metal on the shoulder of the road. It blew my tire and put a large bulge in the rim's sidewall. The rim was still round and true, so I put a new tube in and headed into Medicine Hat without the use of my front brake. I called the guy in Portland, Oregon who built the wheels and asked about hammering the bulge out. He advised against it, and said a new rim would be the best thing to do. And with over 1,500 miles to go, riding without my front brake was not an option. Luckily, there was a bike shop in town with one wheel that would work.
The bulge is at about the 9 o'clock position.
I hit a chunk of concrete on a downhill once, and did the same to my rim. I reshaped it with a hammer and block, like you use for bodywork. Once I finished, I was surprised to find the rim was still true. They were the stock LHT rims. I did have them de-tensioned and re-tensioned when I bought the bike though. I did that in 2015, and the rims are still doing well, even after fully loaded touring.