drb01

I have a 10y old Trek 7.4FX hybrid with a 9 speed Shimano Deore rear wheel. I just bought a new Shimano WH-RS100 9/10/11 speed but it seems to be 5-10mm too narrow for the bike. The inside distance between the bike's rear forks is c135mm.

Am I missing something? Can I adapt the new Shimano wheel to fit? I thought all 9 speed wheels were interchangeable!?

HillRider

You bought a road wheel which is spaced 130mm for the rear dropouts. The "R" in WH-RS-100 says it's a road wheel. Your frame is spaced 135mm, which is the old common MTB spacing. Yes, all 9-speed freehub bodies take the same cassettes but the hubs don't all fit into the same frames.

It is possible to adapt your wheel by adding a 5mm spacer to the non-drive side of the axle, recentering it and redishing the rim. You will have a shorter axle protrusion on each end but it will still be adequate to keep the wheel securely in the dropouts.

drb01

Thank you! I am not sure what I have to do when you say "recentering it and redishing the rim"? Or is that just what the adapter effectively does? Are there any downsides to using an adapter other than a tiny weight increase?

I see there are adapters on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...YVKFN5I9&psc=1

maddog34

you'll need several bicycle specific tools, a longer axle, a 5mm longer spacer or seperate 5mm spacer, patience, and experience to perform the needed work... look at the axle in that tiagra hub.. it has large Chamfers at each end. this is WHY you will need a 146mm axle and to redish the wheel after adding a 5mm spacer.one or two sharp pointed threads is not a great support choice for your bike and you both.

i advise that you locate a bike co-op and ask them for parts and install/redishing.

Tiagra 4700 = Road bike parts
Deore = MTB parts...
many parts of these two very different groups do not easily interchange.

Option 2.. return the incorrect Low End wheel and buy a correct 135mm O.L.D. wheel/hub assembly.... the level choice is yours to make

O.L.D. = Outside Locknut Distance.

drb01

Thank you. Returning it is no longer an option unfortunately.

To ask the really stupid question, if i just stick the 5mm spacer in and the wheel is then off-centre by 2.5mm is that a big deal? I cycle 5-10 miles per day around London, and knock out an 80 miler once or twice a year.

jimc101

By the time you have done all that and invalidated any warranty, and paid for the parts/rebuild, it would have been cheaper to just just buy the correct rear wheel

shelbyfv

I'd suggest selling or otherwise moving the wheel along, buy a correct wheel and enjoy the spring weather.

drb01

You are correct!

So, how do I avoid making the same mistake again? If I look at wheels on various websites they don't specify 130 or 135mm. And of course MTB wheels don't come in 700c. Want to try and keep it < £100 ish if possible.

shelbyfv

I'd suggest you just go to a bike shop. 700 wheels with 135 (MTB) spacing are not uncommon on hybrids but less common otherwise. You didn't say what the problem is with your Deore wheel, maybe it could be repaired?

maddog34

hmmm.. The wheel in question is $174.99 from Jenson USA.... and the OP can't return it at this point....etc.

i'd go to a Co-op and get a longer axle/spacer installed, and the rim redished to suit..

Used 146mm Axle.. $5
Spacer.. $2
Labor to redish.. varies from $25 to $40... only $15 to $20 here, my choice... cash tips gladly accepted!
Being able to ride a beloved bike again with it's shiny new wheel.. priceless.

maddog34

measure inward 3mm from the end of the axle... that is what your weight will be riding on... a 45 degree chamfer and a nice sharp thread or two.

Get The Longer Axle and 5mm Spacer Installed.

if you don't.. An Aluminum Frame will be ruined.. a Steel Frame will ruin the axle and the frame.

Iride01 

I'd think a bicycle shop with a good wheel person would be able to give you the spacers to make that hub fit properly in a 135 wide dropout and then dish the wheel properly for your bike if that is needed. All for not much money.

Might need to find a old small shop that's been around for a while if the newer and bigger shops are worried about liability and such which will make them just say you can't do that.

drb01

It is possible to get adapters that convert the wheel from 130mm to 135mm. The axle slots inside the adapter, and then the adapter sits inside the bike frame.
The problem is redishing etc. Is that really necessary, or can i just ride the bike with the wheel 2.5mm off centre?

maddog34

do whatever you want.. the lessons will be expensive and possibly painful.. good day sir.

Iride01 

If your wheel track is offset from the center line of the bike a tad you might not notice much difference. However it might tend to put the front wheel track and rear wheel track a little bit at odds and possibly you'll get some scrubbing on one or both wheels that will have them wearing out faster.

However, I doubt you have any doom and gloom or catastrophic scenario. You may not even notice at all. But for what little cost the bike shops around here will deal with wheel issues that don't require new parts, you'd get the best results IMO, if you'd just go to a bike shop and let them get you the correct spacers on that hub and also let them dish the wheel if it needs it.

That said, I would send the wheel back and get the proper wheel if it were my bike. Even if there was a nominal re-stocking fee.

HillRider

That's not what Sheldon Brown says. Here is a direct quote from his article on frame/hub spacing:

"Axle Length

Typical quick-release axles are 11 or 12 mm longer than the spacing of the hub locknuts. This gives 5.5-6 mm of axle protrusion on each side. You don't actually need nearly this much, so for respacing hubs to wider spacing, if you're not adding more than, say, 5-6 mm of spacers, you don't need a new axle. As long as you have 2 or 3 mm sticking out on each side, that's plenty.One of my own bikes is set up with the axle cut off flush with the locknuts, and even this is no problem in use, though it is slightly trickier to align the wheel when installing it."

maddog34

I love Sheldon Brown.. And that is the ABSOLUTELY WORST piece of advice he ever gave. And i'd tell him that if he were still alive.

No axle at all? Wow... the OP had trouble just getting a correct hub width.. and you now use second hand advice to encourage him to ruin his frame..

take a CLOSE look at a Shimano Tiagra axle some time soon, ok?
and no.. i won't be debating your borrowed opinion with you.

Go set your favorite bike up with an offset rear wheel and no axle contacting the dropouts.... report back on the lousy handling and rapid wear noted.. i love to laugh!
Just DON'T do it to a Front wheel.. i don't want to see you wind up in a hospital or nice sealed vase.

Wow.

jimc101

Pair or rear only?, in the UK, the rear goes for £65 which is about US$80, at that price, it would make no sense in fixing it, just sell the old one on FB marketplace and get a new one

tFUnK

Get something like this, and put one on each end of the QR axle, and install the wheel. Make sure the washers are on the inside of the dropouts. You'll be off by 1mm but it will be fine.

trainman999

drb01 A lot of interesting and expensive solutions, to your simple cheep problem to fix. If you dont already have cone wrenches and know how to repack the bearings take the wheel to your mechanic ask him to put one standard rear axel washer between each cone and lock nut (they are 2+ mm each, your OLD is now 134 and change, will fit right in). There is no need to get a different wheel ,a longer axel , redish the wheel. If you think Sheldon is wrong on how much axle is necessary, find a friend who thinks Sheldon is right, bet him a 6 pack of beer. Take a bike with a vertical rear droup out, clamp the axel at the bottom of the droupout, You and him go for a ride, some rough pavement, over some rr tracks, a pothole or two if you are on a mountain bike. When you get back and see the axel is still at the bottom on the droupout pay him the beer. Hope he is a good friend and gives you 1 or 2.

tFUnK

Or this; my suggestion is a quick and easy workaround solution that does not involve messing with the hub, but this one is more ideal and robust in the long term.

drb01

Trouble is the axel just isn't long enough.
My local bike shop says they'll put a new axel on it and re-centre everything for £40 ($50). Probably a rip off but better than getting a new wheel.
I am still puzzled hoq I avoid this problem in the future as the websites don't seem to specify the wheel width.

Hondo6

That does seem a touch high, but I don't know your local market so that could be a fair price. If that includes the cost of the new axle/any necessary spacers and you aren't comfortable with your ability to do the job yourself, you might not have a better option.

For future online purchases, if the website in question doesn't list over locknut distance (OLD) I'd suggest sending the vendor a query and specifically asking that question. (They might refer to "dropout spacing" instead, which is equivalent.) Most reputable websites have a "contact us" page.

For a future local purchase, a decent vendor will either know or be able to measure that for you prior to purchase.

I am curious: what type of riding are you planning on doing with the WS-RS100? As noted above, that is designed to be a road wheelset; it has a fairly low spoke count (20F/24R, if I recall correctly). For those reasons I'm not sure I'd personally use it for off-road.

HillRider

You are right, this debate has gone on too long but your harping on "ruining the frame" is nonsense. The axle doesn't take the load of keeping the wheel in place and aligned in the dropouts. Friction between the locknuts and the inside of the dropouts and the qr skewer faces or axle nuts on the outside is what keeps the wheel in place. All you need is enough axle protrusion to make the initial alignment, then its job is done. The only way to "ruin the frame" would be to ride with the skewer or nuts loose and a full length axle would be just as damaging.

Data point: years ago I converted a 126mm OLD rear wheel to 130mm and kept the OEM axle by adding the 4mm spacer, recentering and redishing. This wheel was then used in a Trek Aluminum frame for 10's of thousands of miles with absolutely NO frame damage.

tFUnK

I'll take your word for it that the axle isn't long enough but I have a hard time envisioning that a standard 130mm wheel axle doesn't have enough protrusion to accommodate 2x2mm and still have a bit of the ends situate in the dropouts.

​​​​​​As for listed wheel axle widths, the standard front is 100mm and for rim braked road wheels it's 130mm. 135mm is the old standard for rim brake mountain bike rear hubs and it's not typical to have a 700c wheelset with a rear hub that's 135mm unless it's marketed as a cyclocross or touring wheelset. Those types of wheelsets are usually built with a MTB rear hub laced to a road rim.