parkbrav

I have many learnings to share here.

So the comment by RR about alignment is exactly right. There are multiple issues with Trek FX wheels, especially rear wheels. I was doing a deep-clean the bike and detached the rear wheel to do this. When I reattached the rear wheel, it was not in alignment, so it was rubbing up against the left rear brake pad. That resulted in a loud noise and increased friction that slowed me down.

The second issue that tends to explain more is that, as the mechanic was explaining to me, the clasp on Trek FX wheels is an older technology that has been updated on newer Trek bikes. That older clasp is more brittle, more easily damaged and easier to get wrong. When that clasp fails to close all the way, that can cause the wheel to be out of alignment and start rubbing against the brake pads. I tried for 45 minutes to tighten that clasp on the old wheel (since replaced) to get it back in alignment, and I failed each time. It was very frustrating.

And I will note that Trek has online tutorials that give misleading advice as to a possible solution.

So, I give up and go to the mechanic the next day and got a new wheel (it needed one anyway).But, a few days later, when I was inserting the winter rear tire, I had another Out of Alignment rear wheel. Luckily, this time I was able to tighten the clasp of the new wheel appropriately and I fixed it and I was on my way.

Why insert the winter tires so early? Because I had a secondary problem related to that new rear wheel. I was using slightly advanced schwalbe marathon anti-puncture tires for the summer tires that are really nice and I never had a flat all summer. But the tires are also known for perforating the valve stems of the tubes. Apparently, the anti-puncture schwalbe tires are a bit narrower than normal schwalbe marathon tires and, if the tube is improperly (e.g. in a rush) placed in these tires, they can pinch the valve stem, causing the valve stem to perforate and start leaking.

Well what do you know, after I return home from the mechanic with the new rear wheel, the rear tube started to leak randomly and I could not keep a charge of air pressure no matter what. I was coming home with a flat rear tire, charging it with air pressure in the pm and by morning it was flat again.

So, seeing as how it's October and the temperatures are dipping (no snow yet) I figure I'll just remove the dead tube and try the winter tires, and voila, it kept the the air pressure overnight for the first time with the new wheel. So it was probably just the anti-puncture schwalbe tires (and just a bad tube) causing the tube to perforate .