speks22

Ok so here is the back story. I had an older, like 99-00, aluminum Fuji Team SL. The seat tube was cracked, at this point Fuji still had lifetime warranties, so I sent it back and they sent me a newer frame, what looks to be a leftover 05 or 06 aluminum Team SL (this all happened about a year ago). After riding it for only a short time I noticed that my back wheel would not seat quite properly and looked to be rubbing the inside left chainstay on occasion. The best I can do has it just shy of rubbing the stay. (I'm wondering if they sent me a factory second or something or maybe it got bent in shipping, i dunno). So recently on a ride my rear hub started making a terrible creak. Basically just wondering if anyone thinks this might be due to the slightly bent stay or hanger is part of the problem or if it is just time for a hub rebuild (these are stock Alex wheels that came off a specialized roubiax couple years back) I do fair amount of riding and am looking to do more so i was actually thinking of getting new wheels.

Ok if you managed to get through that mess, thanks, let me re-sum up my questions:

—If I get new wheels, do you think the slight bend might f-up the new rear hub i get?
—or do you think it was just a coincidence the rear hub needs to be rebuilt and the frame thing isn't really an issue (this would be the ideal answerhttps://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)
—Is this frame worth keeping or getting straightened if you think the bend is an issue? (I had planned on trying to ride it for another year)

Thanks!

noglider 

Your dropouts may not be parallel. There's a tool to check and straighten them which costs about $90. Have your local shop do it for you.

speks22

Ok, do you think this might be causing undue wear on the hub or its just time to get rebuilt/replaced?

MrPhil

Dropouts out of alignment put a bending force on the axle. So yes, this may be causing excessive hub wear. Have a shop check dropout alignment.

speks22

ok thanks guys!

Road Fan

You probably should have the hub bearing overhauled as well. I've never heard shrieking from a bike bearing. It sounds like a bad thing.

Road Fan

Have the shop check overall frame alignment, too. This frame has vertical dropouts, where the rear axle fits in really only one location, right? If the wheel is true and dished right, and it hits the inner chainstay on one side, then one chainstay is effectively shorter than the other, and the rear triangle is distorted in some way. Being aluminum, this probably means you can't ahve it aligned, and Fuji sent you a bad frame to replace your other bad frame.

DannoXYZ 

Quick check for correct centering of the rim between the locknuts is to flip the wheel left<-->right. Put the cogs on the left side and see if it still rubs on the left chainstay. If so, the frame's dropouts isn't in alignment. If the wheel not rubs on the right chainstay, it's not dished properly.

speks22

I hope that's not the case

I will try this, thanks, quick question, by "dished properly" what does this mean? I'm assuming it's totally different than being in "true" because when I spin the wheel there is no wobble. I did a quick search but didn't come up with anything that seemed to be a simple definition-thanks

Well, if the other things pan out and can be corrected, I was just going to use this as an excuse to upgrade to better wheels/hubs, which I have been wanting to do anyways

noglider 

Dishing refers to how centered the rim is over the hub. It's a misnomer, but it's the term we use. If your wheel isn't dished, it can be fixed; you don't need to replace it, unless it's one of those one-piece wheels, though I doubt it is.

speks22

Ok, so I got a chance to flip the wheel last night. So it seems to be more centered this way, it doesn't lean towards the right chainstay now, its just more in the center. I hope this is a good thing because it might mean the problem is with the wheel, probably it's dishing?, and maybe not so much with the alignment of the rear triangle/dropouts?

Probably a good idea to get it looked at anyways to be safe, but this is a glimmer of hope right?

noglider 

Right. This is a good opportunity to learn to true your wheels.

Here is a video clip showing you how to dish a wheel. It assumes you have a truing stand and a dishing tool, but you don't need those. You can use your bike as a truing stand and three stacks of books as a dishing tool.

In my view, and based on my experience, I feel the mechanic in the video left out two essential steps. First, is after adjusting tension on one side, you must true the wheel again for right-left trueness (truth?). If you don't, your dishing measurement is inaccurate.

Second, I always overtighten by a quarter turn and then loosen by a quarter turn. This helps ensure that spokes are not twisted. In his example, he tightens his left spokes by a half turn. I would instead tighten by three quarters of a turn and then loosen by a quarter turn.

To improvise a dishing tool, make two stacks of books of approximately equal height. Lay the wheel down on the two stacks. Make a third stack under the axle and measure the distance between that third stack and the axle face. Or you could rig something up on your bike, such as a pencil attached to your seat stay with a rubber band or something.

roadfix

Yes, flipping the wheel is the first thing you should do if you suspect frame mis-alignment or need to check wheel dish.