TheRef

This may be a bit of a silly question but I wanted to know what you guys do.

This came up after a group ride when a friend and I noticed some different habits from members of the group.
Some carry their bikes in the car trunk and will remove the wheels when doing so. When it's time to put the wheels back on we noticed that some guys just slap on the drops and close the QR while others will spend some time making sure that the wheels/tires are properly centered.
I've been riding for about a year now and since I don't have an extra pair of wheels and use a bike rack on my car I very rarely remove the wheels but when I do I noticed that the wheel can be a little bit offset if I'm not careful.

My friend seems to think it doesn't matter much. But other than make the wheel rub on one of the pads I believe it could cause uneven tire wear and even affect the shifting since it can cause the cogs to be misaligned.

What do you guys think? Also any tricks to just throw the wheel there and in proper place?

JTGraphics

If the wheels are dished correctly you can and should be able to just put the wheel in the drops front or rear and clamp the skew.
You should not need to do anything as far as centering it, it should fall into place on its own.

I might add that centering the wheel in the pads is not done at the axle the wheel should be all the way down in drops if the brakes are off center thats adjusted with the little allen screw for most good brakes.

Sdjclevland

Every time I take my wheel off I check it cause sometimes the pads will rub. I actually check this before every ride. If they are rubbing I hold on to one side of the caliper and pull the brake to fix it.

rpenmanparker 

Dropouts. And yes, it is very important for the wheels to be centered in the dropouts. If the wheels are properly centered on their hubs and true and the frame is not misaligned, it is easy to center the wheels. Simply pull the wheel up tight against the top/back of the dropouts evenly and tighten the quick release while pressing the axle tightly agsinst the dropouts. If the wheel isn't straight, loosen the quick release a little and adjust, then retighten.

JTGraphics

Just last week my buddy asked me to do some work on his bike and I showed him that little allen screw on the brakes and what it was for, he had no idea what it was till I showed him, and he's been riding for well over 15 years.

BoSoxYacht

Not really. Usually if you need to center the brakes after installing wheels, that is done by rotating the whole caliper. Often the caliper gets knocked out of alignment when installing the wheels.

silkroad

I don't really pay attention on how centered they are after I align the brakes from initial setup. But I do check them when I am doing some routine maintenance. Whenever I install the wheelset when I transport the bike to do some group ride, I make sure to put on some weight on the bike before I lock the QRs.

Looigi

Basically, no. The dropouts need to be bottomed out on the axle stubs, then the quick release clamped. If the wheel isn't centered when doing this, fix what's wrong, don't rely on the friction of ends of the axle and the QR or the drop out ends to hold the wheel in place.

JTGraphics

OK if thats how you like to do it thats fine, everyone has their own way of doing things.

rpenmanparker 

I disagree. Not every frame is perfect. That friction is what holds the wheel in anyway. It is proper for the wheel to be bottomed out against the dropout, but if that yields a crooked wheel, it is not at all necessary. On a steel frame, it could be fixed, but not on carbon. Practicality trumps pride here.

silkroad

Lol! So thats what its for! But its much easier to just rotate everything by hand.

rpenmanparker 

But that compromises the performance of the brakes, not to mention how bad they look when canted to the side. The brakes need to be properly centered, then the clearance adjusted with the top screw.

JTGraphics

Not my method but the correct one if its to be done using the correct method take note of # 5 & 6 Parks Tools info not mine
Every one has their way enjoy your day.

BoSoxYacht

Thank you.

Phantoj

I think ideally, you would want to have the setscrew adjusted to ensure that both pads retract the same distance, and then rotate everything to keep it centered.

TheRef

Thank you for the link,
This picture illustrates exactly what I mean.

If I'm not careful the wheel can get like this picture even though it's all the way in the dropouts.
I envy the ones that can just throw the wheel and it gets perfectly aligned.

Phantoj

The trick, IMO is to keep some weight on the wheel while you tighten the skewer.

redlude97

Thats fine and dandy, but what happens when the axle slips when you hit bump? QR skewers, especially open cam designs cannot provide enough friction to actually lock a wheel in place as the primary mechanism and were never designed to do so.

chaadster

Are you sure? If so, what you've got are misaligned dropouts, because if the axle is fully seated in the fork dropouts, it's not possible to be misaligned, because the dropouts are hard stops. It's more likely you're not getting the axle properly seated. Try loosening the skewer more so that the axle seats cleanly, without the skewer ends interfering, which may be causing a hangup (on the "lawyer tabs" perhaps) that makes it feel like it's seated.

You can get misalignment despite being fully seated with horizontal or adjustable dropouts on the rear, but not at the fork.

chaadster

Absolutely correct. Axles need to be hard seated in the dropouts. No doubt.

datlas 

You are kidding, right?

Ever hear of horizontal dropouts?

Homebrew01

Either your dropouts are not perfect, or your wheel is out of dish. Once those are fixed you should be able to install correctly first time, and flip the QR closed in a few seconds.

redlude97

The weight of the bike is still on the dropouts. You certainly aren't holding the bike up by the dropouts

mercator

There was a time when this thread would need to be prefaced with some statement about the difference, but now everyone assumes vertical dropouts.
From my experience, if you have horizontal dropouts then centering is something you need to check every time you install the wheel, and make sure your skewers are tight!
If you have vertical dropouts and the wheel doesn't center when fully seated, you have a problem that should probably be fixed.

gsa103

The disadvantage to rotating the whole caliper is that over time you can loose the caliper bolt, leading to brake chatter.

As a practical matter, some people run there brakes with a huge gaps and if the wheel is little off it hardly matters. Then there are those who run <2 mm gaps and proper alignment is critical. The behavior you see is likely a result of choices about brake pad gaps.