Replacing wheels on bike with disc brakes

Hel.harve

Hi

Sorry for the level of idiocy inthis post, but...

I have ended up with a Dawes Discovery Sport 3 which has disc brakes and have got a question about replacing the wheels. All the videos I have found on You Tube so far don't answer my question so I'm hoping some one on this forum will be able to point me in the right direction:

I have found the wheels will go back on fairly easily but my question relates to whether there should be any scope for "balancing" the wheel once it is back on the frame but before the quick release is tightened up.

When replacing the wheels on my old bike (many years ago, before disc brakes on bikes were even a twinkle in some one's eye), I used to be able to fiddle with the wheel to make sure it was sitting straight in the frame before tightening the nuts. I'm finding that there is no scope for this sort of adjustment on my current bike - the wheel seems to go in and there's no scope for adjustment (and I don't want to accidentally damage anything, especially the brake so I haven't tried).

I suppose I have two questions: First, should I be able to adjust the wheel on the bike with disc brakes in a similar way to that on a bike with caliper brakes - or is it a case of once it's back on, that's where it stays. Secondly, if anyone can point me in the direction of a You Tube video which will answer my (extremely basic) questions I would be really grateful.

Thanks very much!

ride_whenever

there shouldn't be any adjustment, when the wheels are in they're in. If they're not straight when the wheels are home then something is very wrong. Once you've done the wheel back up then as long as the qr or bolts or whatever are the same tension then the brake should be perfectly happy,

jomoj

yes the wheel should fit straight into the dropout and be centred. If its not then the wheel or the frame are out of alignment or not fully in the dropout. Sometimes, tightening the QR lever can slightly move the wheel as it closes so make sure there is pressure on the wheel to pull it fully into the dropout as you close the lever.

one other thing - disc braking puts more forces on wheel at the dropout than rim brakes and can move or even push the wheel out if it is not secure. Coupled with this, some external cam QR levers don't tighten the wheel enough unless you really crank them down so if you have this problem then some better QR levers could help. The internal cam type (like shimano) are generally just better in this regard.

The Rookie

For my commuter I use bolt through skewers from Halo, less than £10, slightly more theft resistant and very secure, on my MTB I use Shimano, heavier than others but simply put the best you can buy for the money.