wheels worn?

andyh01

Hi, I have an 2 yr old bike Trek 2.1 with stock wheels reading the specs seems to say bontrage wheels but actually looking at the wheels, seems to have bontrage rims with black alloy high tention spokes with Shimano hubs? Its an 11/12 model brought as last one, shop display with £200 off, so not sure if came supplied with others. Anyway front wheel has a very slight play on the hub, when moved side to side when bike is upside down - I don't feel when riding, also both wheels are ever so slightly out of true, again I don't notice when riding, unlike my old bike that had very buckled wheels and snapped spoke. The question is, should I get trued or "upgrade"? Also how do I know if the rims are worn, as I don't think they have any wear indicators on the braking surface? Not sure how long rims can last I can#t see any marks on them as such and seem to stop ok even with tektro callipers with swiss stop salmon pads, think I'm just looking for an excuse but not sure... Thanks
Andy

slowbike

Sounds like you're looking for an excuse ...

The hubs are either ball & cone - at which point you can service them fairly easily. Possibility that the hubs are worn, but you'd need to take apart to see.
Or they're cartridge - at which point it's a case of getting some new bearings and popping them in (or getting the LBS to do it if you don't want to or don't have a press).

Rim surface - I'm no expert (I'm not on hubs either, but I've dealt with them before) - I believe you need to look at the rim to see if it's concave - if it is then you need to measure the width of the wall ...

A Spare wheelset is very handy anyway .. so just upgrade now then repair your old wheels for spares ...

sungod

these are likely to be 'cup and cone' hubs, play in the hub probably just means it needs adjusting, could be time for a clean/grease too, it's a simple job to do...

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... adjustment

...you just need a couple of cone spanners (thin spanners, cheap) and some grease

you can get an idea of rim wear if you hold a straight edge against the rim, if there's a noticeable concavity then the rim is worn, if it's say 0.5mm or deeper may be time to replace (depends on how thick the rim was when new of course)

gethinceri

i needed to pay some attention to my 2011 Trek 1.1 wheels, probably identical to yours. Replacing the rear bearings was simple but there was pitting to the balls/cups/cones and the result was less than adequate, so I've bought these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing- ... be-bundle/ and they are a big step forward for very little money.

andyh01

Thanks Yeah meant say def cup and cone ggot an Aldi tool kit with cone spanners I have re greased previously not for a while though. I'll check re rim ware but those F7s do look a decent price was looking at the mavic elites but at nearly £400 on the commuter bike... hmmm esp as mrs on merternity leave at mo so may just services the wheels myself and get to next summer before "upgrading" maybe.

sungod

if the cups are ok, greasing and if necessary replacing the ball bearings will be fine

front hubs usually do better than rear ones, on my commute bikes the rear hubs (both shimano) have needed servicing about 4x more often than the front