vane171

Yes, the rear end stays and front fork where wheels are attached have metal inserts into carbon frame. At least my bike has them, looks like an aluminium alloy.

Weird that you say scratches, it shouldn't look like its scratched even if you are not familiar with bikes. You will be able to post pictures only after you have ten posts behind your belt. Keep posting

dabac

If the wheel held fast - didn’t wobble as you rode or braked, I can’t see a direct path between your observation and something bad happening. At least not anytime soon.

It’s very common to have metal fork ends. CF is good for a lot of stuff, but cutting threads and repeated clamping isn’t a great idea.

Scuffs on the fork ends are difficult to avoid on a bike that’s ever been handled with the front wheel out.
With the cranks about horizontal, bikes are generally able to stand unsupported, balanced on fork tips and rear wheel. It’s such a tempting thing to do, get the wheel out, set the front end down. The bike stands by itself and you’re free to faff about with whatever you needed to put the bike down for.

Jtsweeep

Ok good to know. Mine's looks like shiny metal. It's more of scuffs rather than scratches. Two chunks on one side and one on the other.

I'm working on it

Jtsweeep

On my first ride, I went down a steep hill really fast and it wobbled badly a couple of times. It really concerned me so I slowed down quite a bit. It felt like if you had narrow tires and rode through a rut in the pavement or when you're driving your car and there's a surface change and it jerks your car a bit. But then again, it could have just been a rut in the road.

That makes sense. I've never had the wheel off before and when I did to check the wheel, I flipped it over. Maybe the installer did it when he put the bike together.

Jtsweeep

Should bike wheels be perfectly centered? I've noticed that the back wheel is slightly off center as well although not nearly as bad as the front one. It's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch more on one side (hard to get a precise measurement).

Here's a before and after (after I took off the wheel and put it back on). Should I still bring it into the shop or is this ok?

Moe Zhoost

The After photo looks fine to me.

Crankycrank

Hard to tell from the photos if it's perfectly centered but the fact that just re-installing it corrected most of the problem tells me that possibly it just hasn't been mounted properly to begin with. Before clamping the quick release have the bike upright and while leaning forward over the bars use your chest to put some weight on the bars forcing the wheel all the way into the dropouts and clamp. No need to put huge amounts of weight on it, just enough to get the wheel to seat. Same with the rear except use your chest on the saddle. Some bikes need more persuasion than others and if this doesn't solve the problem take it to the shop.

Iride01 

Just because you got them somewhat centered doesn't mean they are correct. We can't see the hubs. Even if we had a picture of the hubs, we couldn't tell if the quick release or thru-axle is secured properly. Nor can we really assess how adept you are about fixing things.

So I still vote and wonder why you haven't gone back to the shop and let them double check and then show you how to properly remove and re-install your wheels. It's something every cyclist needs to know.

Jtsweeep

All very good points. I would say I'm above average adept.

Simply because the LBS closes at 5:30 and I don't get off work until 6:30 so I have to wait until the weekend. It's funny that I got criticized for not fixing it myself and also for not taking it into the shop immediately

Trevtassie

On a new bike, that's still not right. The wheels should be centered.

Miele Man

Is the hub axle all the way in one each fork blade end? If so then it was most likely a case of one side of the hub axle not being all the way in on one of the fork blades before. Thus it'd be nothing to worry about. However if now one side of the hub axle es is NOT all the way in the fork blade end then yes it should go back to the shop.

Cheers

zacster

When I read about the Trek Thru Screw I thought that there is the problem. Trek put something out of the ordinary on their bike and the shop does not have enough experience to do it right. We all know how to do a QR properly, bolt on is pretty easy too, thru-axle has become common. But Thru Screw? Never heard of it. A Trek dealer should know how to do it, but was the mechanic that assembled it trained to do it in any way? Or is it some kid that knows how to work on bikes that was just hired and never saw one before?

I rented a Specialized Roubaix for a ride in San Francisco a few months back. It was a great bike. But at some point up north from Sausalito about 25 miles from the rental shop I looked at the bike and saw the thru-axle hub. It also had disc brakes. I realized at that point that if I got a flat I wouldn't know what to do with either of those as I've never dealt with them before on my QR/Rim brake bikes at home. It also had a few other things that were Spec specific.

So yea, maybe the shop kid hadn't seen this before, thought that all you had to do was tighten the skewer like all the others, and missed a part in assembly.

And one other thought. Without ever having seen this Trek thing, is it so specific that nothing else will fit? Good luck getting parts in 10 years if it is. Trek makes decent bikes, so don't worry too much about that.

Jtsweeep

Just an update: I ended up returning the bike but not because of the wheel issue. I was ok with it the way it was and was going to wait until the 30 day check up from the LBS to address it. I returned it because I couldn't get comfortable riding it and think I would prefer a bike with a more upright seating position and wider wheels. I've never been much of a road rider so instead of trying to buy more things to make it more comfortable, I'd just start with a more suitable type of bike. It also may have been the wrong size.

For those that are interested in the Trek Thru Skew, it's like a combination of a normal QR and a thru-axel. It's a narrow skewer with a QR release handle on one end that goes through a hole in the fork on one side and screws into a nut like bolt on the other side that's held onto the fork. It's really hard to do it wrong but there is some room for the wheel to wiggle and be off center, which is what I think caused this whole thing. It's a really simple thing to look at the wheel after putting it on so I don't think the bike mechanic should have missed it. Some pictures of it below:

Gresp15C

Actually, I like the concept.

Moe Zhoost

Thanks for posting the through-spindle pics. Seems like it would work great. I wonder why they just didn't adopt a true through axle system. Or just stick with a traditional QR.