Straightening wheel?

[Bianchi Boy]

Couple of weeks ago came off by hitting a deer and going over the top. The bike looks OK except that the front wheel has quite a buckle.

Now I have build my own wheels for about four years and have only had to sort out buckles caused by loosening spokes. Will it be safe to straighten the wheel, or should I replace the rim?

[border-rider]

If the rim's kinked then it may not be possible to true it.  But if it's just seriously out of true then it'll be OK

Have a go - there's no reason not to.  There's no safety issue as long as there's no cracking o the rim - the wheel wont suddenly fail after you've trued it.  I suppose that if you are unlucky it might start breaking spokes if they've had a real beating, but that's not going to be catastrophic.

Rims are tough things; they don't even have to be stuck together for the wheel to stay together. 

[andrew_s]

Straighten it as normal, and check what the differences in spoke tension are like when you've got it true.
Provided there are no really major differences in left/right tension the wheel will be safe enough to ride.
Major differences means a group on one side are nearly at the rounding off the nipple stage, whilst the matching spokes to the other flange are still fairly slack.
If the differences are smaller, you will find that the wheel won't stay true very well and that you have to fiddle with it fairly frequently to keep it from rubbing on the brakes. The same is the case with tight/slack spokes that are correcting an egg-shaped rim.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Rims are tough things; they don't even have to be stuck together for the wheel to stay together. 

I reversed my landrover over a hybrid front wheel. the disk brake disc got bent but the wheel is still true.