Wheel distorting

simonp123

After some questions were raised (in a thread about purchasing new wheels) about the apparent distortion in my front wheel (the tyre moves towards the left fork stanchion) if I hold the front brake and compress the fork I thought I'd post here for some further advice.

Bike is a Kona Blast Deluxe 2008 with the stock Alex rims and KK front hub

I have checked for play in the wheel axle, and it feels fine, no apparent play at all, just a hint of rumble on the bearings as you spin it, but after 18 months on a budget hub with no maintenance :oops: that it no surprise. This leaves 2 possible causes I suppose:

The wheel is physically distorting

or

The wheel is moving in the fork

I do know that if I do not set the quick release mechanism so that you can only just flip the lever over the wheel can be moved around. Having pulled out the quick release skewer I did notice the shaft is very slightly bent, but I don't see how this would stop it tightening.

I "pinged" the spokes to check the tension, curiously although each side the spokes had a similar pitch to each other one side was rather lower than the other, is that normal? The wheel runs straight as a die by the way.

nicklouse

tension could be low.

fork could be flexing

as said before get the wheel looked at.

then at least you will know it is not that.

what is the fork?

simonp123

nicklouse wrote:

tension could be low.

fork could be flexing

as said before get the wheel looked at.

then at least you will know it is not that.

what is the fork?

You'd think the wheel would have collapsed if it is that low in tension by now, maybe I've just been lucky!
I'll pop it in to my LBS (as they're so friendly :evil: ) at the weekend.

Fork is a RockShox Tora 318 Solo Air, would it flex that much just by pushing on it i.e. no rider weight?

sailor74

assuming your wheel is sitting properly in the dropouts and they are not damaged/worn it would sound like the bearings on one side of the hub are wrecked or even missing.

It is unusual though for the skewer to be bent as its under tension rather than compression during normal use, this to me would again point to a problem with the hub.

I would try a mates wheel and see if it does the same. If it does then its either a flexy/damaged fork or worn drop outs, if it doesnt the problem is the wheel.

simonp123

sailor74 wrote:

assuming your wheel is sitting properly in the dropouts and they are not damaged/worn it would sound like the bearings on one side of the hub are wrecked or even missing.

It is unusual though for the skewer to be bent as its under tension rather than compression during normal use, this to me would again point to a problem with the hub.

I would try a mates wheel and see if it does the same. If it does then its either a flexy/damaged fork or worn drop outs, if it doesnt the problem is the wheel.

Hmm, the bearings feel OK if I spin the wheel in my hands, but then I have seen some really knackered bearings that feel fine at first check, so could be that.

The QR skewr is the cheapy one that came with the bike, and is looking quite worn on the plastic surface thelever cam runs on, so will probably replace that. It is a pain to get the wheel out with it anyway as even with it unscrewed a fair bit you still need 2 hands to pull the mating surfaces away from the dropouts, which leaves no hands to hold the bike.

I'll drop it in to my LBS just for a quick check on the spoke tension.
I'm thinking of new wheels anyway, so will probably just run it (as long as it checks out safe) till I get thosa, then strip down an check/replace stuff.