fietsbob

In the Team Pro mechanic's tool kit was a set of dropouts just like the teams bikes used,

so all the spare wheels got properly adjusted to be the way they would be installed, with the QR closed..

Racing Dan

Im well aware that preloading bearings is mentioned many places, for various reasons, but from what i have seen no one can tell you -how much- preload to apply to a cup and cone bike hub. Every technical document, that I have seen, seem to apply scenarios way outside the scope of bicycling. From my experience, if you maintain your bearings with fresh grease every year, or every other year, they will last longer than you care to to own the bike, and that goes for even supermarket level bikes with no name or the lowest level Shimano hubs. It is not lack of preload that kills hub bearings. Its lack of maintenance, dirt and water ingress, aggressive cleaning and possibly over tightening. Reading through the JB article, I will mention that a wheel that is adjusted like I said, with a tiny bit of play at the rim once mounted, often feels exactly like JB says it should when you turn the axle by the thumb and index finger. There is a slight firmness to it. I will however argue that its very hard to gauge by the axle alone if its too tight or too loose. Thats why I believe gauging at the rim is better.

JonathanGennick 

<heresy>If the wheel spins freely, it's good enough </heresy>

ToiletSiphon

The general consensus seems to be that there should be a little play when preloading the bearings and that this play will go away when clamping the wheel with the QR skewer.

Does this still applies to Shimano Dura-Ace (and RS81 / Ultegra) hubs? I've read in a few places that they have oversized axles, which do not bend under QR pressure, and that leaving some play when adjusting the preload is no longer necessary. Does anyone have some experience with them?

ToiletSiphon

Anyone?

davidad

The nonsense comes from those crazy engineers.

davidad

My understanding is that oversized axles don't need the play in the final adjustment.
This is from Park, Adjust bearings using cone wrenches on left side. Adjust hub bearings in small increments so the bearings are as loose as possible without lateral play or knocking. Axle have very little effective flex when loaded by the quick release skewer. Allow only a very slight amount of play when the bike is out of the dropouts.

sknhgy 

I'm going to try this. Thanks for the clear explanation.

SylvainG

Here's what I did and it worked pretty well. I always had trouble locking the cone and nut together without having the axle turning and messing up the adjustment. I leave a bit of play and don't care if the axle turns a bit and lock the cone and nut together but not not real tight. Then using two wrenches, I tight both nuts until it is just right (the cone/nut will turn together), then tighten the cone against the nut one last time and since it was already pretty tight, the axle didn't move. Only take one try to have it perfectly adjusted.

Dan Burkhart 

The new design in the high end Shimano hubs makes bearing adjustment dead simple.Screw the left side cone down finger tight, or maybe I should say snug, fit the locking cap. (Might have to fiddle a bit to get the teeth to mesh), and snug down the fixing bolt.
Doing a lot of these lately, and I love 'em.
Shimano claims this design diffuses the skewer tension so it does not change the preload significantly when the QR is closed.

ToiletSiphon

After some tinkering with mine, here's what I actually found out: The front wheel axle is almost not affected by QR pressure. Leaving play when tightening the cone resulted in play when mounted on the bike. My ideal preload is to stop the tightening just as soon as feel contact between the cones and bearings, no more than that.

As for the rear wheel, I need to leave some play (maybe the equivalent of 2 notches on the digital adjuster), and it disappears when closing the QR. Maybe the longer axle is more affected by its pressure.