Bicycle Mechanics - Cone wrench for front Shimano WH-R550?

I have a WH-R550 (Shimano) wheelset that came with my '06 Cannondale R700. Not the kind of wheel that normally is my cup of tea but I'll ride'm until I have a good reason not to.

Some 700 miles in, the front one feels a little rough (weirdly, this is soon, never rode'm in the rain, etc) and I decide it's time for a repack. I have cone wrenchage for 13 - 16mm but these seem to be 17mm. I measure, 17mm cone flats for a front hub.

But that seems just.... whacky. I mean, ok, the calipers don't lie. But before I go and shell out for cone wrenches, can anyone confirm that yeah, chapter & verse is that 17mm is the size?

Oh yeah - rear wheel seems to be 15mm. Thanx Shimano!

My bike came with the Shimino R-550 and while they are supposed to be decent wheel I found the same thing as you. I only had about 200 miles on my wheels but the front seemed kind of rough when I spun it. I replaced them with Velocity Areoheads with the Velocity hubs and have never looked back. They are now my back up wheels.

I'd double check what you're measuring. I had a set of WH-R550 wheels and the front wheel used a 13 mm cone wrench.

OK I think I remember the trick and I don't own the wheels any more to double check. The lock nut is 17 mm. The cone nut is standard 13 mm. Some wheels use the same 13/15 cone wrench for both the cone nut AND the lock nut but not the R-550 wheels. There is a cone nut hiding in there which needs a 13 mm cone spanner.

Regards, Anthony

I'd double check what you're measuring. I had a set of WH-R550 wheels and the front wheel used a 13 mm cone wrench.

OK I think I remember the trick and I don't own the wheels any more to double check. The lock nut is 17 mm. The cone nut is standard 13 mm. Some wheels use the same 13/15 cone wrench for both the cone nut AND the lock nut but not the R-550 wheels. There is a cone nut hiding in there which needs a 13 mm cone spanner.

Regards, Anthony

Not these. The cone and the locknut are both.. well, my eyeball can tell the difference in the wheel in front of me between two 17mm things and one 17mm and one 13mm thing, and that there is not a 4mm difference. How do I know it's not a 13mm thing? Well, my 16mm cone wrench won't fit it. Too small. I know what a cone looks like.

Exploded view at: http://bike.shimano.com/media/cycling/techdocs/en/actionsports/WH/EV-WH-R550-F-2336A_v1_m56577569830578028.pdf


Point of my question was mainly to find out whether anyone knew if it was actually a pathological 17.3mm thing or whatever. Hub's already pretty whacky - 11 balls, what's up with that...

Well the exploded diagram looks just like the wheels I had and part 5, the cone nut on my wheels used a 13 mm cone wrench. I don't understand why yours would be different.

Regards, Anthony

The cones on my WH-R550 front wheels measure 17mm accross the flats. I use a Park tool SCW-17 CONE WRENCH for adjustment/rebuild.