Originally Posted by The Great Stonk
the cones are not tight enough. if the axel came like that - leave it like that, alot of the time the cones are set slightly tight - so as the bearings wear in they loosen up just right.
its better to have the cones a tiny bit tight then a tiny bit loose. you wont notice slightly tight cones when riding, but youll notice loose ones.
I'll have to object. Bearings are designed to roll between the fixed cone and the moving cup to minimize friction. The balls are actually only in hard contact with both races at the same time for a relatively short angle of rotation. If you have them set too tightly, they will be rolling pinched between both races the whole way around instead of just at the point where they bear the weight of the bike. This will increase the wear because the bearings are under heavy load 100% of the time instead of more like 10% or 20%. If you go way too tight, then the bearings not only have to support the bike, but also have to physically stretch the axle to turn, which wears them out REALLY fast.
You're far better off dealing with a very small amount of play/wobble in the wheel than having the cones adjusted too tightly. Also remember that QR wheels will need to be set looser than nutted axles due to the pressure of the QR skewer actually compressing the axle slightly. Sheldon advocates modifying an old skewer to grab only the axle so that the cones can be adjusted while under a compressive load for an exact adjustment.
Loose = Fast, boys and girls. Just remember that too loose = wobbly wheel and problems. There is a small but very obtainable margin of correctness where wheel play is minimized but bearing life and rotational friction are at their optimum.