Because I've taken apart hubs on bikes like this, I know that they are often not greased enough, the cones are too tight, and the rims are just so so.
But if stuff is well adjusted and greased, yes it would be fine for a bike tour. My commuter could be taken on a trip confidently, but I know the bike intimately so know all is working well.
Excellent point.
When I got my Dahon Mariner (20" folder, ordered it online) it came in a box pretty much assembled. There is an option from a lot of vendors of bikes like this that will include set up of the bike by a mechanic before shipping to you. I am not sure how that would work, because in my case the bike wouldn't fit in the box it shipped in if a mechanic set it up prior to shipping.
In any event, the cones were exactly as
djb mentions - not set up properly. I gave the bike a good go-through when I set it up.
I had some cone issues with the hubs. The metal of the cones was flaky for some reason. Over time (under 200 miles on the bike if I remember right) the wheels began rolling "stiff". I got the hubs cleaned out, new balls, and new cones before much damage was done to the hubs themselves (internal races) and all has been fine since.
Moral of the story - even if you get things "set up" properly you could still run in to problems. If you are on a tour that will be a few hundred miles you could easily develop debilitating mechanical issues after a good while on your tour. In the case of the flaky cones - catching it early was good. That goes right back to what I said earlier:
Originally Posted by
KC8QVO
Last comment - stay up on maintenance and inspect the bike routinely. If something is wearing funny and you catch it early that is a lot better than letting it go and get worse before you do something about it. This is especially true if parts are hard to come by - I would scrutinize maintenance and inspections, even if it takes good time away from your down time in camp or wherever you stay.
Proper set up and quality lube is key. If you are going on a trip I would recommend anyone take apart their hubs, give them a good cleaning, and re-grease. When you degrease the parts (races, balls) it gives you an opportunity to inspect them in detail. Balls and cones you can replace. If you have excessive damage on the hub races its best to replace the hubs.
If anything, when setting tension in a hub, having a slight amount of play in the bearings is better than setting up too tight. If you are on the trail and have to mess with the tension keep this in mind. Been there, done that. If you feel something is "off" and you need to check hub tension on a trip the very best time to do it is in camp when you can inspect the bike's parts without unloading all your gear to do so. The best way to feel the resistance is with holding the wheel and spinning, with your fingers, the axle. If you feel resistance with the wheel on the bike and spinning the rim by hand there's something quite wrong. If you feel any gritty'ness spinning the wheel like this you are in a pretty big predicament that should lead to a tear-down to check things out inside. You can feel gritty'ness spinning the axle with your fingers when hub tension is too tight, but when you spin the wheel on the bike you can't sense any resistance. However, it is easier to tell if your tension is too light (loose hub) with the wheel on the bike trying to wobble the rim/tire. Again, if you are on a trip trying to do this - if you tweak the tension to where you get the wobble out - triple, quadruple check the wheel off the bike, spinning the axle by hand. It is very very easy to go too tight on the tension and, again, you can sense the wheel being "perfect" on the bike, but when you go to spin the axle freely with your fingers you can feel it too tight. If you are too tight - keep the jam nuts pretty tight and screw out the cones against each other (pressing them against the jam nuts). Don't loosen the jam nuts. The reason is if you do this, then tighten the jam nuts afterwards - you risk throwing off the tension setting you just got to. By adjusting the cones when things are "tight" you are tightening the cones against the jam nuts = the tension will hold. It isn't an easy on-the-go adjustment, so therefore keep the thought that it's better to be too loose (slight amount of play) than to ever be too tight.
Tight = added resistance and you can grind a hub apart, loose = feel a bit of rattle. I'd rather take the latter.