Bicycle Mechanics - Wheel Trouble

Hi,

I have a problem with my back wheel, it feels as though it always flat and really heavy making it hardwork to get around - yes good for the training, but my legs are starting to get a little annoyed with me!!

The wheel is not flat, always pumped to 120psi, which i check most days before heading out.
The wheel is pretty true, it spins freely when i lift the wheel off the floor, however it stops pretty quickly as though it rubbing against something, but i have checked and it really doesnt look as though it touching anything.

Is this possibly an issue with the bearings?

By the way the bike is a Trek 1000 (road bike) with the original wheels, its about 2 years old, last serviced about 2 months ago.

I can change a tire and no some basic stuff about maintance, but please treat me as a practical idiot when replying as i want to ensure i understand the advice given.

Thanks

Hi,

I have a problem with my back wheel, it feels as though it always flat and really heavy making it hardwork to get around - yes good for the training, but my legs are starting to get a little annoyed with me!!

The wheel is not flat, always pumped to 120psi, which i check most days before heading out.
The wheel is pretty true, it spins freely when i lift the wheel off the floor, however it stops pretty quickly as though it rubbing against something, but i have checked and it really doesnt look as though it touching anything.

Is this possibly an issue with the bearings?

By the way the bike is a Trek 1000 (road bike) with the original wheels, its about 2 years old, last serviced about 2 months ago.

I can change a tire and no some basic stuff about maintance, but please treat me as a practical idiot when replying as i want to ensure i understand the advice given.

Thanks

Sounds like your bearings are too tight. Take it to a shop. Riding for a long time with bearings too tight is terrible for the bearing surfaces inside the hub.

Two possible problems:

1. One of the brake blocks is rubbing on the rim. Look very closely to be sure there is a couple of millimeters clearance between the brake blocks and the rim on both sides.

2. The hub bearings are mis-adjusted or the freehub is not turning freely. These requires a couple of specialized tools to work on so have your LBS or a knowledgeable friend show you what is needed or go to the Park web site for an explanation.

While the shop is adjusting the cones, they might as well service the hub (clean and grease) at the same time.

Bob

give it to the shop to re-adjust your bearings, and if its not much more, service also.

Dude your brakes pads are rubbing just loosen your brakes up a little and it will be fine. Or it could also be that the cups for the bearings are too tight and they to be greased or loosened.

sounds like your brakes are rubbing, but if you're pretty sure they aren't, you could take the wheel off and spin it in your hands while holding the axles, see if you can feel any roughness when its spinning, it should be pretty smooth, also when it stops it should spin backwards at least a little. also while its on the bike try to move the wheel side to side to see if anything is too loose

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a similar problem: Last night, I stripped out the front wheel of my partner's bike, and regreased and cleaned the bearings. I only took one side of the axle apart, so I wouldn't have to mess with centering issues, and put it back together again. It spins fine in my hands. Put it on the bike, and all of a sudden there's a kind of bouncing thing going on. The front of the bike actually moves up and down, several times per rotation of the wheel. It appears to be in the dropouts correctly, and I had the damn thing apart so frequently it's driving me MENTAL.

I'd had to deflate the tyre (big ol' MTB knobbly ones) and re-inflate in order to get it beyond the brake blocks, and it does seem that reducing the pressure makes it happen less, but I'm not convinced that that's what the problem is. Anyone got any bright ideas?

I'd be most grateful (and out of the doghouse!) if you could shed light on where I've messed up.

Ginni, is the tire beaded on the rim properly? Look for an even reveal at the edge of the rim to a point on the tire around the entire circumfrence, both sides. Lots of times there will be a variation there. It's easy to correct. just put a coulpe of pounds of air in the tire and sort of do a pinch/roll with your hands to get things even. Once all is copacetic then reinflate the tire a bit at a time checking things as you go. Should cure the eccentricity problem.

I'll take a look at that when I get home - thanks. It's just the most bizarre thing, though. It's as if it's bouncing on every knobble on the tyre. I had originally inflated to 38psi, and I don't think that's overly much. Bringing it down to 30 seemed to help, but it's still noticable.

Good luck, and let us know how you fare.

So - it's not the bead. That all appears to be fine. I did (finally) have a brainwave though, and figured out to pick the front up and see what the rear tyre did, and sure enough, I get the same kind of vibration from that. Not quite as much, but it's definitely there.

I take it then, that knobbly mtb tyres don't ride smoothly on tarmac? I'm mostly on slicker type, so wouldn't know.

I'd had to deflate the tyre (big ol' MTB knobbly ones) and re-inflate in order to get it beyond the brake blocks,

Ginni, by the way...you don't really need to deflate the tire to get it past the brakes, depending on the brake set up,you just have to move the cable out to release the brakes.

http://www.teamestrogen.com/images/asa/levers_mtbTire.jpg

Um - This much I know. Even with the brakes fully open, I needed to deflate and re-inflate the tyre. Thanks though.