Davis, I love the loose dropouts idea for adjusting quick release hubs. Much better than the way I do it which is clamp the wheel in the frame and feel for looseness in the wheel. Anybody out there have any loose dropout sets they'd sell/send me cheap? Reply off list please. Thanks.
Drew Ellison Everett, Washington USA
On Oct 2, 2007, at 9:23 PM, Davis Jensen wrote:
>
>
> Tom Hayes wrote: "Yesterday, after fitting a track bike with a rear
> wheel and tightening thelocknuts on the dropouts, I noticed that the
> wheels did not spin smoothlyand stopped abruptly. I surmised that
> tightening the locknutsl onto theframe squeezed or put too much
> pressure
> on the cones, forcing it against thebearings instead of riding
> smoothly.
> I used a different rear with the sameresult. The spacing in the rear
> drop-outs is about 114 mm, and the wheelsare approximately the same
> from
> locknut to locknut. As it is right now, theonly way I can get the
> wheel
> to spin smoothly is to tighten the locknutsinto a position where, when
> riding the bike, I would for sure pull the rearwheel forward or
> make it
> go into the chainstays. Anyone have experience with such a problem and
> might know a ready solution?Both wheels have cup and cone bearings."
> Tom, I adjust cup & cone bearings in the following fashion to avoid
> this
> problem. Add a heavy washer between the lock nuts and the outer nuts
> with the wheel out of the frame. Tighten the outer nuts to the same
> tightness you use in the frame, and feel the bearings for freeplay/
> drag.
> Adjust as necessary. It helps if your locknuts are always kept to a
> higher torque than the outer nuts, so the outer nuts can't over
> come the
> preload. By using the washers, you can spin the axle and get a
> sensitive
> touch. If the wheel is in the frame, you lose the sensitivity due
> to the
> greater leverage/inertia of the rim. You can do the same with a quick
> release hub, but the washers should be close to the same thickness as
> the drop outs to keep the tension in the quick release similar to when
> they are in the frame. If you have some loose dropouts, they would
> work
> great. Davis JensenLomita, CA USA