Road Bike Racing - ugh

So last night I was doing a sprint workout on my trainer. After a few intervals something wasnt feeling right so I hopped off and took a look. My rear tire is rubbing against the non drive side chainstay :eek:

My wheel seems pretty true. Its not rubbing against the brake at all. For the next half hour or so I tried to work out what was going on. I kept taking the wheel out and resetting it thinking maybe it was in crooked or something but no matter what the wheel came way too close to the stay. I didnt have any other wheels with tires on to try out but I did throw another wheel on and it still looked like it was too close.

Now I am worried I damaged my frame on the trainer some how. I am sneaking out of work this morning to take it to a shop to get thier opinion on the matter but in any case I get way too frustrated when mechanical issues interrupt my training.

i really really really hope my frame is ok for so many reasons.

Damn. I thought 'ugh' was some cool new doping technique we could learn about here.

Damn. I thought 'ugh' was some cool new doping technique we could learn about here.

You're thinking of GHU. WADA still haven't developed a test for it. Fantastic stuff. Bumps your TSS/hr by at least 13 kN and never will your know that your PFT has dropped below whatever your VSM was when you started your season. The best part is that your HCTA stays in range.

So last night I was doing a sprint workout on my trainer. After a few intervals something wasnt feeling right so I hopped off and took a look. My rear tire is rubbing against the non drive side chainstay :eek:

My wheel seems pretty true. Its not rubbing against the brake at all. For the next half hour or so I tried to work out what was going on. I kept taking the wheel out and resetting it thinking maybe it was in crooked or something but no matter what the wheel came way too close to the stay. I didnt have any other wheels with tires on to try out but I did throw another wheel on and it still looked like it was too close.

Now I am worried I damaged my frame on the trainer some how. I am sneaking out of work this morning to take it to a shop to get thier opinion on the matter but in any case I get way too frustrated when mechanical issues interrupt my training.

i really really really hope my frame is ok for so many reasons.

One trick is to try putting your rear wheel in backwards. Just shift the rear to the small cog, and it should be out of the way enough to try it.

Other than that, make sure your dropouts aren't closed up somehow, or maybe contaminated with some gunk, preventing the axle from fully seating.

Try loosening the qr and pushing the wheel so it's centered. Which way to the axle ends move to allow this to happen. Does that give you any more clues?

It's not like one chainstay got shorter on the trainer or something. if the wheel still fits in the dropouts cleanly, I can't see how it could be the frame (other than the dropouts).

Try loosening the qr and pushing the wheel so it's centered. Which way to the axle ends move to allow this to happen. Does that give you any more clues?


When I was messing with it last night I could get the wheel centered if I didnt have both ends of the axle sitting flush with the back of the dropout but I dont think I was ever able to tighten it down like that.

your wheel is probably not "seated" correctly in the dropouts, it's probably crooked. loosen the skewer and re-seat the wheel, it should straighten it out.

have you checked the skewer?

i snapped one in a race once, and my tire rubbed the frame right off the paint.

even worse, with all of that rub i placed just outside of the money.

i took the wheel out like a million times and reseated it thinking that was it but it didnt seem to make a difference. I even took one end of the QR completely off to make sure it was in all the way.

cracked frame?

Last time this happened to me I neglected to notice a huge gap in the right chainstay. Okay, it wasn't huge, but it was flexing like mad and caused all sorts of odd "alignment" problems and eventually I noticed there was a 1-3 mm gap in the chainstay (halfway through, on the bottom, the top wasn't completely broken, so it looked okay when I looked down at the bike). Could also be things like a loose dropout, cracked seatstay or something, even cracked bb (unlikely given the symptoms).

A less exciting but more preferable outcome - broken axle?

They don't happen often but it would cause the hub to move around a bit. Might be noticeable between freehub body and hub body. Campy's freehub design doesn't support the outside of the axle on the freehub side so the axle is a bit more vulnerable. Dunno if you have Campy or not. Shimano's does so broken axles are unlikely.

hoping it's a careless thing, not a significant thing,
cdr

I had a similar situation once (not on a trainer), where a spacer thingie on the skewer ended up on the wrong side of the dropout, and although it appeared that I was able to get the wheel all the way on, I couldn't get it to line up right and it kept rubbing.

I highly doubt you could pull your frame out of alignment just by sprinting on a trainer, or bend your dropouts at all for that matter. If you did, there was something wrong with the frame already. I would start by trying a different wheel, just to isolate the problem to the frame or the wheel. If it's the frame, check everywhere very carefully for cracks/buckles/dents. Do you have any sort of carbon/metal bonding going on back there (like an aluminum bike with carbon seatstays)? things could be loose if something un-bonded itself. This would be a warranty issue as well.

turns out the frame is slightly out of alignment and the wheel's dish got all effed up from riding the trainer too much.

its all worked out now

That happened to me once and it turned out to be a broken axle.

edit: oh, you already figured it out.

turns out the frame is slightly out of alignment and the wheel's dish got all effed up from riding the trainer too much.

Please explain to me how this might happen. I'm not trying to be a d*ck, but this doesn't make sense to me and I'd like to know what is going on.

i dont know dude. thats just what the guy told me. He said something about the trainer allowing you to ride diagonal or something.

Please explain to me how this might happen. I'm not trying to be a d*ck, but this doesn't make sense to me and I'd like to know what is going on.

If it was slightly crooked due to the frame being out of alignment constant pressure could cause the wheel to just keep getting more and more out of true. Just a guess.

I think it's more likely to be a concentrated point of contact on the wheel. If the pressure is more localized than it is on the road (dunno if it is or not), then the rolling tension changes in the wheel would be exaggerated. If (poorly built) wheels have a tendency to go out of dish over time due to failure to adjust spokelines and stress relieve, then this process would be accelerated.

I guess if you ride crooked, this would be even more of a force concentration on the spokes of one side of the wheel.

This is the first I've heard of any trainer effects on wheels though...

Since this thread seems pretty close to what my issue is, I'm bringing it back from the dead. I got my KK trainer a week or so ago and began riding it as soon as I got it. I noticed it was ridiculously difficult and just figured I was completely out of shape and needed to HTFU. I also noticed the strong smell of burning rubber and after my rides, I'd have large rubber shavings all over the ground in front of my rear tire.

Turns out I had my rear wheel mounted crooked and it was rubbing against the non drive-side chainstay. I rode it like this for an hour. This was on my carbon Felt F5 and when I finally realized what was happening, I got sick to my stomach. I took the wheel off and there is a noticable (by feel) indentation where the wheel rubbed the chainstay. It doesn't feel weak and I've hammered on the bike during some more recent trainer sessions and all seems normal. I'm kicking myself for not just hooking up my old Aluminum OCR2 like I'd planned but I was in a hurry to get on the trainer and my Giant was somewhat taken apart. Anyway, my question is, has anybody else had this happen to them and did it cause any long term problems? Thanks.

have you checked the skewer?

i snapped one in a race once, and my tire rubbed the frame right off the paint.

even worse, with all of that rub i placed just outside of the money.

Or the other way around.:thumb:

Makes me worried about putting a nice bike on a trainer.

Since this thread seems pretty close to what my issue is, I'm bringing it back from the dead. I got my KK trainer a week or so ago and began riding it as soon as I got it. I noticed it was ridiculously difficult and just figured I was completely out of shape and needed to HTFU. I also noticed the strong smell of burning rubber and after my rides, I'd have large rubber shavings all over the ground in front of my rear tire.

Turns out I had my rear wheel mounted crooked and it was rubbing against the non drive-side chainstay. I rode it like this for an hour. This was on my carbon Felt F5 and when I finally realized what was happening, I got sick to my stomach. I took the wheel off and there is a noticable (by feel) indentation where the wheel rubbed the chainstay. It doesn't feel weak and I've hammered on the bike during some more recent trainer sessions and all seems normal. I'm kicking myself for not just hooking up my old Aluminum OCR2 like I'd planned but I was in a hurry to get on the trainer and my Giant was somewhat taken apart. Anyway, my question is, has anybody else had this happen to them and did it cause any long term problems? Thanks.

Can't tell unless you clean it up and check. If you just went thorough the pain and not into the frame then you should be fine. If not then you may need to have a repair done. Take it to a shop if you are not sure.

Makes me worried about putting a nice bike on a trainer.

Don't be. Follow the instructions and quit worrying.

If you hear sounds that don't sound normal or feel things that feel different (other than the feeling of wanting to puke during threshold intervals) then stop and figure out what's going on.