New bike - Front wheel not straight

Guyver

Hey everybody

I need some advice. My Grand Canton AL 6.0 landed at my door on Friday. Being a noob to bikes ive put it together the best i could.....

...but ive noticed that the front wheel does sit straight and when you rotate the wheel you can see a small movement in the position of the rim of the tyre and a hiss as the brake pads catch.

I thought that it may be bent but on ringing Canyon they told me that i should let the bike 'settle in' before any further action is taken. I've really tried to get it right but couldn't. The guy was hopefull and ran though a number of issues that it could be and i should check like the tyre not being on the rim right or a bent brake disc but i dont think it would be that. When i loosen the quick release it helps but not completely.

Ok as the guy said if the problem doesn't go away they will replace the wheel.


Any help or advice you guys and gals can offer will be really appreciated!

BTW i love my new toy and hope this get sorted out.

nicklouse

get it riden and give the brakes a chance to bed in.

Guyver

ok but what about the wobbley rim :shock:

Chunkers1980

The rim is different to the brakes!

If it really is out of true and it's brand new then it should go back and be sorted by the supplier.

bails87

Is it the rim or the tyre. Pretty easy to tell the difference, spin the wheel and use something like a zip tie around the forks to see if the rim is true. then move it up to see if the tyre is wobbling.

supersonic

Not very often a tyre sits perfectly straight on the rim. Take the yre off and spin the rim - is it straight? But tyre back on.

nicklouse

Guyver wrote:

rim of the tyre

tyres wobble.

t0pc4t

this isn't Guyver the hard trance producer is it?

Chunkers1980

If he is, then he's not very good at looking at spinnny things and seeing what going on, must be a CDJ/laptop DJ!

dhobiwallah

You also need to make sure the brake caliper is centred.

Loosen the bolts attaching the caliper to the frame or fork and spin the wheel - there should be little or no rubbing as the caliper should naturally find the centre point around the disc; it may wobble back and forth slightly if there is a slight warp in the rotor. Squeeze the brake lever to apply the brakes - the caliper will now be centred with the brakes applied. While the brakes are applied re-tighten the bolts. You should have got rid of the brake rub.

There is a possibility (unlikely if new) that the rotor is warped and therefore cannot be centred - this should warrant a replacement rotor. As has been said this is different to the rim being warped which will require tightening/loosening of spokes to true the wheel. If it is new this shouldn't be your job. Best way to check the rims is to put a zip tie on the frame or fork so the loose end rubs the rim. Then cut it to allow a small (mm or so) gap. Now spin the wheel and you should easily see if it is buckled by looking at the distance from the ziptie!

Rim and rotor can be buckled independently so it may be either/none/both that are an issue.

Guyver

Thanks for the replies!

I've had another look last night while trying to get my new spd's to work. FM it's is going to take some getting used too. They dont come off to easy, hopefully they will wear in abit. I finally got them clicked in and then face planted the wall to celebrate! :oops:

Back to the OP.

My rear caliper is rubbing constantly which will either bed in(with abit of ride time) or i will adjust the calipar as described.

The front... still does seem right to me. On spinning the wheel, there looks to be a definately a movement of about 8-10mm on the position of the outer tyre edge. I will do the cable tie trick at the weekend.

Cant wait to get out again now! Any body in Derby area know any good runs?

dhobiwallah

You should centre the brake caliper regardless. by leaving it to 'bed in' in this case all you will be doing is wearing down the pad on one side and not the other by allowing it to rub! Hydraulic brakes will allow for this and one piston will protrude more than the other to compensate. It will also only wear till is is still 'just' rubbing as it loses material on the pad - the brake drag will certainly get you fit though!

The actual 'bedding in' of new brake pads is something slightly different and should be done every time you change the pads. A search will throw up differing opinions as to the best way, but essentially what you need to do is build up some speed and then brake hard till you almost come to a complete stop; for the back brake hang right off the back of the bike to weight the rear tyre to allow you more braking without locking the wheel. repeat 6-12 times for each brake; you should feel a noticeable improvement in braking perf before you finish. Of course this will happen to a certain extent if you just ride them fresh - but you may find braking a little sketchy for a brief period!

you still seem to be fixated on the tyre as the part which isn't straight. This may well be the case and it just needs re-seating but the rim is the most important part here - if that isn't straight (by up to 10mm as you say :shock: ) then you may well do some damage to yourself as it folds when it hits a rock or a rut due to a v poor build. (I speak as someone who dislocated a rib and cracked 2 others when my front wheel folded at speed when it hit a frozen rut on a bridleway last year :oops: ) Take the tyre off and spin the rim on its own to check. When you refit the tyre you may well have cured the prob if it wasn't the rim in the first place!

dhobiwallah

Oh, and SPDs may well have a tension/float adjust (my shimanos have a screw with +/- next to it). had been riding 2nd hand SPDs for a year (with tension set loose) with no issues at all - bought a new set (tension set tight) and did the comedy classic of frantically trying to flap my foot with no disengagement :oops:

If you aren't used to them I would set them loose to begin with

diy

As other's have said check the rim/tyre alignment - the easiest way to do this is to hold a white board marker next to the fork, spin the will and gradually push the marker closer and closer to the rim until it just touches. If you get a consistent dash mark on the rim, then your rim is out of alignment and on a new bike you should contact the seller to arrange replacement. If it strikes the rim evenly, but the tyre is wobbling, then it could be down to the tyre not being seated correctly on the rim. You could try increasing the pressure say 10-15psi to see if it will push in to place.

On the SPD issue, they wont loosen up, well not for a long time, so you'll either need to adjust the tension or go for a set of multi-release cleats which are easier to get used to.

Guyver

Just an update... Its all sorted! turned out that the tyre wasn't on the rim straight as had been suggested.

I will have a play at loosening off the spd's this weekend. I've had a vision of me falling in the canal stuck to the bike!

Thanks everyone for your advice.

~Now to go explore!