Bicycle Mechanics - Help with front wheel off and on, Trek 820

Hi all!

I have a Trek 820 bike. I don't often take the front wheel off but every time I have it's a giant production, and I wondered if anyone had any helpful advice.

The front tire has a gizmo like this picture ( http://galleryimage.naver.com/1/2004-11/19/07/36m1721m0.jpg ) to attach it to the frame. My issue is that every time I put the wheel back on, one side of the wheel rubs on one of the brake pads. The first time it happened I thought there was an issue with the brake, that it got knocked around or something. But it ended up being that the front tire wasn't quite centered. Is there a way to fine tune/adjust that? I just got pretty frustrated dinking around with it this afternoon and couldn't get it right. The brakes at the handle bars can't be loosened anymore (and I don't really want them unsafely loose).

Any help would be appreciated! I'm sure it's not supposed to be this difficult, but it sure seems to be for me. :P

Thank you!
daroga

I couldn't open up your photo. In general, a good trick is to tighten your QR with your bike standing upright on it's own wheels. That'll help seat the axle square in the dropouts.

I couldn't open up your photo. In general, a good trick is to tighten your QR with your bike standing upright on it's own wheels. That'll help seat the axle square in the dropouts.
+1

For beginners, it also helps to COMPLETELY loosen the quick release before putting the wheel back into the fork. Once you're sure that the wheel is correctly centered, then you can start to tighten up the quick release.

i always hold the front brakes down and it will center the wheel, then all you do is tighten the QR

Before you remove or install the wheel, you need to release the brakes by unhooking the L shaped noodle from the top of one of the brake arms.