How to alter a sports cycle to avoid wheel bend I have a Hero Hawk Nu-Age, which I bought it two years back. In India, this cycle was mostly used for sports. As this cycle has very thin wheels 27 * 1-1/4, I could not ride this on bumpy roads for long time. Whenever I drive on a bumpy road, the wheels bend and had to be corrected. So now I decided to get the cycle replaced with Shimano tyres and get the drop-down racing style handlebar replaced with straight handlebar. Can anyone please suggest or guide me on this.
If your rims are bending under normal loads there are a couple of things you should check and maintain:


Tire Pressure: Running at the higher range of pressure for your tires will help you avoid bending the rims when you hit holes or other obstacles.
Wider Tires: If your brake clearance supports it, you can run slightly wider tires. This will give you a smoother ride at the higher pressures you are running in (1).
True the Wheel, Tension the Spokes: Have the wheels professionally trued and the spoke tension equalized. When the wheel is out of true and the spoke tension has marked differences, you are far more likely to break spokes and bend the rims.


You should not have to switch to a different size rim, and doing so may not work with your brakes anyway. Riders for decades used 27" rims and if maintained well, do so with few problems. Note however, that if your current rims are in bad shape, they may not be able to be trued, and in that case, new wheels of the same size are recommended. 

If you are riding on bumpy roads a lot, learn to true and tension the wheel yourself to save money. Constantly riding cobbles or bad roads may require you to true the wheels every few days or weeks.