John W T

When replacing disc pads on my Giant Boulder I noticed that the front wheel didn't spin freely. Releasing the quick release allowed it to spin thus confirming brakes not binding.

I took the axle out, checked everything, and put it back leaving the bearings looser than I normally would. At first the problem seemed not as bad but still there but within an hour it was as before.

My guess is that the quick release hollow axle isn't strong enough and is bending.
Is this likey?

Should I get a better quality of axle (anyone suggest a good brand?) or should I change to a solid axle?

Is this a common problem? On investigation I found that the back wheel is similarly affected though not as badly.

Bill Kapaun

The axle WILL compress when you tighten the skewer.
You have to set up the bearing pre-load properly and then tighten the QR the same amount each time.
You can fudge a bit with how tight you cinch the QR.

FBinNY 

Before you blame the axle, make sure your dropouts are parallel. Otherwise tightening the QR causes the axle to bow, and therby binding the bearings.

There are tools for checking dropout parallelism, but you can DIY with 6-7" of threaded rod (or a bike axle) and some nuts and washers (or axle cones and locknuts). Roll the rod on a table to confirm it's straight. Tighten it in one dropout so it reaches just shy of the opposite dropout. Look through the dropout to see if the end of the rod lines up. Repeat on the opposite side.

If you use heat-treated axles they can be used to lever the dropout into alignment, but a non-heatreated rod won't be strong enough to be used as anything except a gauge.

oldbobcat

And make sure the lock nuts on the axle ends are tight. I know this goes without saying for most of us, but the symptom sounds so much like loose lock nuts I had to say it.

jolly_ross

You should actually set QR axle cones *just* too loose - in the knowledge that the QR will cinch the axle making it bow a little - bringing the cones into correct adjustment. This is really hard to guess and always takes me a couple of attempts.

If you do a lot of cone adjustment then you may like to make yourself a clever and cheap tool like the one Sheldon Brown made - https://sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

(search page for "Special Tool")

DannoXYZ 

I've found that optimal adjustment for ball & cup bearings requires backing off the cone about 15-20 degrees after you've found the perfect setting for no play and smooth spinning. You can feel this extra play when the wheel is barely held in by the QR by moving the rim back and forth sideways between the brake-pads. Then tighten the QR all the way and the play disappears.

Kimmo

Quickest way to set the bearings is with one cone/locknut properly tight, and the other side snug enough to turn as a unit when you turn the back one (cone to loosen, locknut to tighten).

Then you can grab the tight side by the cone or locknut and quickly find the point where there's the most barely perceptible rattle when you wiggle the end of the axle radially, hard. Then just fully tighten the locknut against the cone to finish.

Miles quicker than faffing about loosening the locknut for each adjustment. Mind you, it doesn't work for hubs with slotted axles and keyed washers of course.

cny-bikeman

If it changed after adjustment then you probably did not properly cinch down the locknut, or there is a problem with the bearing itself.

John W T

Problem fixed. Some of your replies were helpful. In the end it was this (I had already covered the ground of setting the tension on the bearings so that there was just a tiny bit of play and yes, I did tighten the lock nuts against the tensioning nuts): The quick release was in the wrong way round. I didn't think it would make any difference which side the release lever was on but the guy at the local bike shop (Ashfield Cycles - the best I've found in inner west and I've tried a lot) said "no the lever should be on the opposite side to the chain". Turning it around fixed the problem. I guess the ends weren't seating properly and the QR was pulling on an angle.

DannoXYZ 

Hmmm, you were actually correct in that it doesn't matter which way you have the QR, it's the tension of the stretched skewer in the middle that pulls the ends inwards. This then generates friction between the outer nuts and the drop-out face.

I would find another shop in a hurry if you got that kind of advice.

Does it matter which way you string the laces through your shoe?
When hanging a plant from ceiling-hook, does it matter which end of the rope is up?

The only "wrong way around" thing you can do with QR skewers is to have the spring reversed. With the big-end inwards, it can bind up over the axle and make it difficult to get the wheel into the dropouts evenly.

cny-bikeman

Correct. the only reason the q/r is typically put on the left is that it's somewhat awkward to tighten with the rear derailleur the way, and also gives a cleaner look to the drive train side of the bike.

John W T

Well, my experience shows that you are both wrong and the guy at the bike shop was right. Obviously the two ends of the QR are not identical, one has the release lever and the other does not. Clearly they were not seating properly when the QR was the wrong way round. I'm a bit fascinated with the quirk of human nature that makes us all instant experts on any subject we know a little bit about. We hate to have to learn that there's more to something than we already know in spite of the fact that the world is full of evidence that human knowledge on any subject is very limited.

Airburst

Er, no. The ends of the QR are functionally identical in as much as the fact that the tension is equal regardless of which way round it is. Even if the QR was at an angle, it wouldn't be by enough to distort the axle any more in one direction than the other, because the diameter of the skewer is only very slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the axle, so it's not like the skewer can be compressing the axle at anything other than a very small angle.

Even if the dropout faces weren't parallel, the orientation of the QR wouldn't matter.

Also, FB has a considerable talent for working out what's wrong with a bike, not from having seen the issue before (although he usually has, he's seen most stuff that can go wrong with a bike in his career) but by using logic and reasoning, which you and the guy at your bike shop didn't do in this case.

DannoXYZ 

Heh, heh... I guess the following experience isn't up to "the guy at the bike shop":

• 35-years wrenching on bikes, from BMX to building my own carbon-fibre bike
• professionally built 14 custom-frames (10 crit-bikes & 4 track-bikes), too late in the market for torch-wielders.
• 10-years working in a shop
• built over 1000 wheelsets, sometimes having to custom-cut and roll my own spokes
• 3-years in Mavic support-van, doing everything required of a shop-employee, but 10x faster. Heck, I don't know of many shop-employees who can pull out a torch and replace bent/broken dropouts in a frame from a crash, then have it all cleaned up, painted and re-assembled by morning for the next race.

By the way, if you put a little ink/grease on the contact-surfaces of outer-nuts of the QR to mark where they touch the dropouts, you can see that the "footprint" of the QR is exactly the same on both sides. From the wheel, axle & dropout's viewpoint, they have no idea which side the QR-lever is located.

jsharr

TO the OP, you have just insulted some of the most knowledgable, helpful, and industry experienced members of this forum. Funny how your knowledge and the advice of one guy at a shop trumps the combined knowledge of everyone in this thread telling you that perhaps you may be wrong. I would go with FB and Danno and Kimmo and CNY if I were you. Perhaps an apology is in order. Just saying.

Burton

That wheel actually uses the INSIDE of the dropouts to seat properly. A QR or bolts or whatever just holds it in place. So if you just reversed the QR and think that solved the problem - relax - it'll undoubtably be back. Could be something as simple as a bent axle which always seems to be OK in at least a couple positions.

And I'll agree that everyone here that tried to help you out is not only a lot more qualified than you give them credit for, but also more qualified than a lot of shop mechanics.

FBinNY 

I can't speak for the others, but I have pretty thick skin, and don't need an apology.

I agree that the QR is backwards sounds like BS, but nothing succeeds like success. The dealer solved the problem, and it might have nothing to do with the QR being in backward, but possibly something else was affected when he reversed it.

Who knows, and I, for one, avoid challenging someone who has the advantage of actually seeing the part in question.

For me problem solved, usually means discussion closed.

jolly_ross

It's a Southern Hemisphere QR accidentally delivered to the North. Nothing surer.

To confirm - put it back the way it was and then try riding the bike upside down.

John W T

I'm pleased you don't require an apology; I don't think any reasonable person would, and one isn't forthcoming.
I appreciate your wisdom in declining to pontificate when you haven't seen the part in question. Indeed the seat for the ends of the release mechanism may not be the same on both sides. You'd have to have seen every such part ever made to know that it's not possible.
I can't actually be bothered to look and see.
I agree that "problem solved" should make an end to the matter.
I'm honoured to have been able to upset some highly respected masters. I humbly admit that I'm a disrespectful sod by nature.

Airburst

If you just want to argue about something and continually assert you know more than everyone else, I can put you in touch with plenty of other like-minded people...

FBinNY 

John,

I hope your post offered you some sense of satisfaction. I'll venture that you won't like this any more than the other free help folks willingly gave you help on your first visit to this forum, but as a general rule; when you bite that hand that feeds you, it's likely to stop doing so.