Moving from bolt-on wheel to quick release?
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NW
Posts: 881
Bikes: Trek 4500
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Moving from bolt-on wheel to quick release?
i've been helping my dad fix up an old bike. it had a bolt-on rear wheel but the front is quick-release. his rear wheel had a busted spoke and someone rode it for a long time with the broken spoke apparently and the wheel was tacoed beyond reasonable repair, 2 different LBS's said it'd be better just to get a new wheel. he wanted the new wheel to be QR too, so we had his freewheel moved to a QR wheel.
the problem is the wheel is kinda loose. when putting on QR wheels i was always told to not overtighten them, to finger-tighten the nut with the QR arm straight out and then close the QR, and the arm should leave a small indent in your palm if it is the right tension. but when I do that and then sit on the bike and start to pedal the wheel turns left and hits the frame. to get it to not do that i have to tighten the nut with the QR almost all the way open and then close it really really hard and then it is tight enough to ride without the wheel turning into the frame.
is something wrong with the wheel or is it sometimes normal to have to really really tighten a QR?
the problem is the wheel is kinda loose. when putting on QR wheels i was always told to not overtighten them, to finger-tighten the nut with the QR arm straight out and then close the QR, and the arm should leave a small indent in your palm if it is the right tension. but when I do that and then sit on the bike and start to pedal the wheel turns left and hits the frame. to get it to not do that i have to tighten the nut with the QR almost all the way open and then close it really really hard and then it is tight enough to ride without the wheel turning into the frame.
is something wrong with the wheel or is it sometimes normal to have to really really tighten a QR?
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,653
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 380 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 106 Times
in
80 Posts
The ends of the axle are longer than the thickness of the drop outs your bolt on frame. The QR is tightening against the axle not the frame. You need to grind the axles off so the do not stick out any more than the thickness of the drop out. Roger
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,442
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
I concur. I never tighten QRs as much as they tell you and they never come loose... The properly-sized axle should sit just inboard of the outsides of the rear dropouts.
#4
Cat 6
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Mountain Brook, AL
Posts: 7,482
Mentioned: 27 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 500 Post(s)
Liked 183 Times
in
118 Posts
It sounds like you bought a new wheel - [nominally] designed for vertical dropouts - and you're putting it in a frame with horizontal dropouts.
Do check the axle length, but if that's not it:
1. Skewer may not be up to the task. Internal cam is better than external cam.
2. The "grip" surfaces on the wheel (locknuts) and/or skewer may be lacking as compared to the "old days".
Do check the axle length, but if that's not it:
1. Skewer may not be up to the task. Internal cam is better than external cam.
2. The "grip" surfaces on the wheel (locknuts) and/or skewer may be lacking as compared to the "old days".
__________________
72 Frejus (for sale), Holdsworth Record (for sale), special CNC & Gitane Interclub / 74 Italvega NR (for sale) / c80 French / 82 Raleigh Intl MkII f&f (for sale)/ 83 Trek 620 (for sale)/ 84 Bruce Gordon Chinook (for sale)/ 85 Ron Cooper / 87 Centurion IM MV (for sale) / 03 Casati Dardo / 08 BF IRO / 09 Dogma FPX / 09 Giant TCX0 / 10 Vassago Fisticuff
72 Frejus (for sale), Holdsworth Record (for sale), special CNC & Gitane Interclub / 74 Italvega NR (for sale) / c80 French / 82 Raleigh Intl MkII f&f (for sale)/ 83 Trek 620 (for sale)/ 84 Bruce Gordon Chinook (for sale)/ 85 Ron Cooper / 87 Centurion IM MV (for sale) / 03 Casati Dardo / 08 BF IRO / 09 Dogma FPX / 09 Giant TCX0 / 10 Vassago Fisticuff
#5
Banned
Yea axle ends have to be less than flush with the out side faces of the dropout .
conic coils spring takes up some space.
Over length ? and perhaps some really grippy star washers may bite in
and take up some space.
conic coils spring takes up some space.
Over length ? and perhaps some really grippy star washers may bite in
and take up some space.
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 8,686
Bikes: 2020 Masi Giramondo 700c; 2013 Lynskey Peloton; 1992 Giant Rincon; 1989 Dawes needs parts; 1985 Trek 660; 1985 Fuji Club; 1984 Schwinn Voyager; 1984 Miyata 612; 1977 Raleigh Competition GS
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1125 Post(s)
Liked 253 Times
in
204 Posts
Why doesn't the LBS that made the wheel fix the problem?
#8
Senior Member
rough up the inside of the dropout of the frame with sandpaper or a file so the QR have something to bite into. Like there to much paint or the dropout is to smooth for the QR to bite into.
#9
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NW
Posts: 881
Bikes: Trek 4500
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
yeah it's a pretty cheap bike so I'm sure it's a manufactured wheel. I like the ideas about the sandpaper and the washers, what size of washers should I get, I could go measure the thickness of the axle but if someone knows what it most likely is I could get some washers on the way home. Do they have that type of washer at like a Home Depot store or do you have to get them at an LBS?