I am trail riding on a 2007 K2 Mountain bike with Rox Shox in the front. Im pretty much abusing this thing on the trails, going over logs, roots etc. I have already had my wheel balanced once, and the guy asked me what I hit. He said next time it goes out of balance that I should probably rebuild the wheel with new spokes. Will stronger spokes make a difference or should I just buy a stronger wheel altogether?
You might need to improve your riding skills. Unless you are crashing in to the logs, roots and rocks what you have is probably fine. Stronger spokes and rims only allows you to crash into the objects harder. Once you develop good bike handling skills this wheel problem should go away, unless you have a major accident.
MtBikr speaks for me as well. I ride very hard/race XC on rooted, log strewn, rocky trails and my wheels stay quite true through the year unless I crash (not often). I ride on pretty lightweight rims and 1.95 2.00 tires as well.
Ride the rims you have until you trash them. By that time you will have gotten skillful enough not to crash into everything you want to go over – then buy some new wheels.
I think what the guy must have meant was ‘replace the rim’. You always replace the spokes when doing this. If the wheel was unbalanced or ‘out of true’ after a severe knock, it is very likely that the rim is damaged and will be very difficult to ‘true up.’
The rim is likely to be slightly oval and maybe have a flat section on the perimeter or even a dent. This makes it really hard to get true and round again and it will become unbalanced again very easily.
You would notice a dent as a ‘blip’ at the brake lever once each revolution when braking. It can also snatch and skid during severe braking.
So on most occasions like this it is probably best, and certainly safest, to replace the rim.
I used to build my own wheels until the good factory built ones got to be so great.
Unless you’re breaking spokes I wouldn’t worry about it. Then put some new ones on. Try adjusting the suspension to be softer and use lower tire pressure. I rode urban free ride for awhile. I had the fork on maximum softness and the tires at max pressure. I used to plow into stairs at 15mph and do 4ft jumps onto concrete. I slit my rear rim, but never had a front wheel problem. You could also try to shift more weight to the back for big hits.