Bike service, things to look at, especially truing wheels

jamski

Hi all.

So my bike is getting it's 6 week service at the weekend, and I know there are a few bits that need looking at as well as a general clean up. The cable to the front mech has stretched quite a bit, and the gears generally need indexing again.

Brakes seem fine.

The biggest thing is the front wheel doesn't seem quite true anymore. It sits slightly to the right in the forks as I look at it from the front. I can compensate by pulling the wheel straight then tightening the QR, but I know this isn't right. It hasn't always been like this and pretty sure its the wheel not the forks.

Is it normal for the wheel to do this after a few weeks of riding? I don't think I've hit anything particularly hard to cause it. The spokes do feel quite loose in some places, so hoping tightening those will pull it straight again.

Any advise on the wheel would be great, and anything else I should look at before it goes in?

Thanks,

James.

Chunkers1980

Sounds like the wheel has gone out of dish. You give no spec details though. Take it back and get them to look at it.

PS cables don't stretch really - they settle - a few clicks on the barrel adjuster should sort it.

The Rookie

As above, the usual reason they need re-indexing is slight compression of the outer (settling of end caps for example).

If the wheel were out of true it would move side to side as you spin it, what you describe is either out of dish (try the wheel the other way round as a trial fit) or an issue with the dropout (could just be some crud trapped in there).

jamski

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19667777#p19667777]The Rookie[/url] wrote:

As above, the usual reason they need re-indexing is slight compression of the outer (settling of end caps for example).

If the wheel were out of true it would move side to side as you spin it, what you describe is either out of dish (try the wheel the other way round as a trial fit) or an issue with the dropout (could just be some crud trapped in there).

I tired the wheel the other way round last night, and it seemed to possibly correct it totally! It certainly didn't lean in the same direction. Although it wasn't easy to get the wheel to fit nicely the wrong way round.

So I've taken the wheel right out, removed the skewer too. To be honest I think some of the spokes are loose. I have another bike with 26" wheels so will pop one of those in and see what it's like. I also think I'm probably expecting a bit much from a cheap bike! Don't get me wrong, I love it and it's getting me back into riding which was the aim, I just like perfection!

I can see the cycle to work scheme bringing me a larger budget in the future.