Is there a way to straighten a slightly bent bike rim?

Question

it is for a 26" mountain bike.

Answer 1

Yeah, dont touch it with pliers or a hammer, take it to your local bike shop and pay 10$ for them to straighten it, I have not met a person yet that can straighten wheels with no training.

Answer 2

Yep....it's a very normal part of bike maintenance and it's called "truing"..making the wheel "true" and round.  

Wheels can go out of true when the spokes bend, stretch, or start to loosen up a bit from the stresses of riding.  Most of the time a simple adjustment is all that's needed, but it depends on what caused the wheel to go out of true.  If the rim metal is actually bent, then it might be able to be trued, depending on how bad it is.

When you try to true an actual bent rim, the spoke tensions will be all out of whack and it may not hold for long, requiring frequent re-truing.  Sometimes they're just too damaged to true well, and in that case you just buy a new hoop and have it relaced to the hub.  You can re-use your old spokes sometimes, but be sure to use new nipples.

Most shops will charge from $5 to $20 for a basic wheel true, more if you need any supplies or if they have to work at it longer to get it right.