Bent wheel after crash. Repairable?
 

I have a slight bend in the rim of my rear tire. I put it on a truing stand and loosened all the spokes and removed the tire and it is still bent. It is not a dramatic bend I would say it’s displaced maybe a half an inch side to side. The wheel appears to be in good shape otherwise. I’m wondering if this is repairable by re-trueing or if I have to bend the rim to get it straight with the zero tension in the spokes and then True it

thanks for the help

Honestly, to me it sounds like time for a new rim a 1/2" (0.500") lateral movement is pretty far out. If Aluminum check for cracking if you think you want to play with it, but I'd get a new rim.

It depends on how 'strong' the bend is. I've trued bent wheels that required so much tension on some spokes and almost none on others: they'd flex and break spokes - it was a waste of time. I've trued others that required not so much, were rideable. ½" sounds like a lot.

There is always the get down dirty method. I did this with a wheel I thought I was going to trash and then got another 5 years out of it. But it was a steel wheel...

I agree with an attempt at bending and truing, if the rim isn't dented or cracked. The wood blocks on the floor isn't a bad technique. Put a tire on to keep from damaging the rim more.

If it’s a half inch from one spoke to the next that is a much different thing than a half inch across a quarter of the wheel rotation.

The times I’ve had to save a wheel that far out I dropped tension, gently bent it straight with blocks on the floor, then retensioned and trued. It’s much harder to fix out of round bends than out of true bends.

I should also point out that for reasonably inexpensive wheels it is never worth it if you have to pay someone else to do it. Every time I’ve done it has been helping a friend who didn’t have the money for a new wheel at a moment when I had the spare time. I suppose it also keeps some parts out of the recycling heap.

If you're not good at or comfortable with wheel truing, simply bring it to a reputable shop and have them give you an opinion. Seriously, getting a wheel trued is cheap and quick by a shop.

I ran over a front wheel when I leaned it against the car while I was loading the bike onto a fork mount in the back and forgot about it when I turned into it in reverse when I left the parking lot. Didn't notice until I went to put the wheel on when I got to my start point. Found the wheel when I returned - imbedded in the gravel where I was parked (that was probably fortunate). I thought it was hopeless, it looked very bad. Instead of following my initial inclination and looking on EBay for a matching wheel, I sheepishly took it to a LBS. The shop replaced one spoke and trued it to what they told me was not perfect, but to my eye, it is well within "not noticeable" condition. I've been riding it without any thought for 15 years. Being a front wheel, I would certainly be bothered by any visual clue of imperfection, but it is not noticeable. Oh, I had to replace the front skewer, it was ruined.

All this is to say find out if it's ruined or not, don't hypothesize or ask people who can't even see it.

It might be trued to a reasonable degree but the major problem is an imbalance of spoke tensions which could result in the wheel failing at some point. Shmaybe/Smmaybe Not. It also depends on how "heavy" the rider rides the bike with the wonky wheel. Some riders ride their bike like they are on a snow plow, pounding over the roads and all obstacles while others ride like they are a leaf on the wind. Heavy riders suffer more bike problems so don't be a heavy rider.
Start preparing to replace the rim or wheel itself...it's not a bad idea to have a spare wheelset.