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Post cleaning reattachment issue w/Front tire

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Post cleaning reattachment issue w/Front tire

Old 09-05-22, 09:41 AM
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parkbrav
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Post cleaning reattachment issue w/Front tire

After I did a grand cleaning/lubing of my bike the other day, the wheels (when re-attached) are rubbing against the fenders, causing friction and slowing the bike

I had the best luck by re-adjusting the rear tire. The axles were slightly off center thus the wheel was not aligned and hitting the rear fender. I adjusted the rear tire in about 30 seconds and it is now spinning just fine.

But the front tire (which I thought would be the easiest) is still having this issue. I spent an additional 20 minutes and I had no luck removing the friction.

With these facts, can someone please make a helpful suggestion to remove the friction from the front tire? Thank you.
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Old 09-07-22, 12:29 PM
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heh, I solved my own problem.

The front fender was just out of position. I adjusted it back into position by hand and now the front tire rides freely.

The rear fender was loose due to an out-of-alignment lugnut attaching it to the rear of the frame. I whipped out my adjustable wrench, tightened the lug nut and now away we go!!! Awesome!!!
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Old 09-27-22, 04:39 PM
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was gonna say, wheel alignment takes priority, then adjust fenders to suit. but you got this, of course
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Old 10-05-22, 05:41 AM
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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 .

Last edited by parkbrav; 10-05-22 at 06:02 AM.
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Old 10-05-22, 07:48 AM
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Originally Posted by parkbrav
and voila
well, alrighty then, party on!

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Old 10-05-22, 10:44 AM
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heh it did help to calm my nerves, I was worrying someone was taking out air out from the tires. Or it could just be something simple like a pinched tube. Anyways, thanks for reading lol
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Old 10-06-22, 10:37 AM
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And just to crystalize my thoughts, I am just saying that something ridiculously simple like a broken axle clasp (too easily broken) or a pinched valve can trigger a million different theories as to the causes, each more complicated than the next, and that it turned out the simplest explanations really were the best ones.
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