Today's work:
I took the wheels off to inspect the bearings closer (I have another thread in the mechanics forum on bearings, I'll leave the details there -
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...-bearings.html). While I had the wheels off I inspected the brackets.
What I am sensing is that the wheels are getting looser and looser with each use. My assumption was that the holes in the brackets I made that hold the stub axles were deforming under load and stress. The brackets are made out of mild steel (A36) so as far as steels go it is "soft".
However, when I inspected them closely there was minimal distortion. There was some - you can see where the paint is worn in the higher-stressed areas - but very minimal wear.
So I held the axle rigid and rocked the wheel to see how much play there was in the bearings. Lots of play.
From what I am seeing is the bearings are getting looser and looser.
My intent with the bearing thread was addressing the low-quality bearings that I suspected - and with them getting looser and looser that just seals the deal on that.
On another subject - I gave the wheels a good round of spoke tensioning. If you look close at the hub you can see some of the spoke bases popping up from the hole in the hub = no tension on them. I did not get them banjo-string tight. That is a really bad idea. I just made them taught so they didn't feel so loose. The spokes on the other side of the hub did tighten up a good bit more, but they still aren't banjo string tight so that is a good thing. They are just taught.
Pictures are from last week. I didn't take any today - but the point is they show how loose some of the spokes were.
