tightening (or loosening) Mavic Ksyrium hubs?
 

my wife stopped by the LBS mid-ride on Sunday because something in her drivetrain was making a clicking noise. The mechanic did some diagnostics on her bottom bracket (sort of standing on one pedal while rocking the bike from side to side), then spun the wheels, raised his eyebrows, and immediately went to his bench to grab some kind of tool. He stuck the tool somewhere on the left side of the front & rear hubs, and within a few seconds said "try that"

"What did you just do?" my wife asked.

"Tightened your hubs" he replies.

Her ride home was uneventful...but yesterday she notices (in addition to the fact that the clicking noise is still present!) that the rear wheel isn't spinning well at all. Feels like the brakes are on, even though she confirmed neither pad is touching the rim.

Is it possible this sensation of the wheel not spinning freely is due to the mechanic having tightened the hub too much?

And if so, what do we need to know in order to loosen the hub (slightly)? Wheels are Mavic Ksyrium Elites. What tool is required, & is there an easy explanation of what's involved? (I checked the Mavic website but it seemed rather barren.)

Thanks.

If you buy a set of Mavic wheels you should get a set of three plastic tools with the wheels. There is a special spoke wrench for the splined nipples, a puck with slots that holds aero spokes stable when you turn the nipples, and a weird looking wrench that has some tiny round barrels sticking out of it. This last tool is for the hub adjustments. Most Mavic hubs, on one side (the non-drive side for rear hubs), have a circular disc with six holes in it. The little barrels on that tool fit into those holes on that disc on the hubs.

You adjust these hubs just as you would a threadless headset. Turn the disc clockwise until it binds and then back off about one eighth of a turn (or so). It's about as simple as it can get. If you don't back off enough, the bearings will bind and I think that's what you are experiencing. I think your mechanic knows what he is doing, but just got the hubs a bit too tight. Clicks, pops, creaks, and other strange noises often take several shots at diagnosis before they are properly troubleshot. Gotta be patient.

You can surely turn those adjustment discs without the special tool, but it makes it easier. If you bought the wheels at that shop, ask them where the tool set is that should have come with the wheels. It's possible that, if the wheels came installed on a bike that the tool set just did not make it out the door with your bike. I don't know the price for that tool set, but they are just plastic and should only be a few dollars.

As for your clicking noise, that's pretty hard to diagnose from where I am sitting. Sorry ;-(

One important note: the wheels must be mounted on the bike when making this adjustment.

This is actually one of the better features of MAVIC hubs because it eliminates having to compensate for the additional stress put on the bearings when tightening the QRs.

Current Campy hubs have this same adjustment feature.

First the Euro, now this; where will it end?

Yeah, it's convenient, but on my road bike the aero forks don't exactly leave much room to get the tool between the forks and hub! I find I'll adjust it and then not be able to remove the wrench :mad:

Not true. You can do the adjustment on the hub with the wheel off the bike. You just stick a 5mm hex wrench in the axle in the end opposite the adjusting disc. This holds the axle stationary while you do the adjustment. Done it many times. Works just fine.

Yes, you can do it on the bike, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Excellent point ;-)

My bad; I should not have used the word "must".

Of course you can do it with the wheel(s) off the bike; however, my "excellent point" is the advantage to doing it with them on the bike.

but then when you put the wheel in and tighten the qr, you compress the axle and have tighter bearings.