Bought a bicycle recently -for cheap- and have slowly been making it a DIY project. Replaced the gear shifters, the grips, the seat and have plans for other things.

My newest project was replacing the tyres. Got some nice Schwalbe ones which arrived today. Right size and everything. Managed to replace the ones I had without TOO much effort.

However, the back wheel was a problem...removing it was a bugger! Yeah, had no real idea. But got it off. Getting it back on however..has proven to be a snag. I removed the derailleur to make it easier..and now I don't know how to get THAT back on! All the guides on the Internet are obviously for better, less el cheapo derailleurs..

If I'd taken a photo of how it was attached beforehand..that would've been great! But I'm a dumbdumb. So I've instead taken photos of it..now. Along with the fact the wheel is too close to the left than the right, meaning the brakes wouldn't work even if I did get the derailleur back on.


SO! Basically I need help figuring out how to align my back wheel AND put the derailleur back on. Thanks in advance.

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Am I missing something here... you'd actually have to break the chain, or remove one of the derailleur pulleys in order to get the derailleur off the bike, right? You did that?

As to the left vs. right, from the pics I'm not sure I see that. If you're getting to that conclusion by looking at how the brake pads are in relation to rim, don't. Brake pads are not a good reference point, at least not before you have properly adjusted them after putting the wheel back. You have to judge the rim in reference to some convenient part of the frame.

--J

I didn't break the chain or anything.

All I did was loosen that silver screw in the hook and the derailleur was removable. But I can't for the life of me figure out how I'm supposed to reattach it. The screw seems almost superfluous.

As for the brake pads, I did adjust them, but the left one still ends up right against the rim. And when I looked down at the wheel in relation to the frame, it wasn't in the middle, it was towards the left.

You've got a basic clamp-on derailer.
Nothing inherently wrong with those.
The part with the slot in it nestling nicely in your palm in pic one goes between the right side dropout outer face and the axle nut.
When the axle nut is tightened, this is what does the real job of keeping the derailer in place.
The kinda D-shaped silvery washer prominently to the right in pic 3 is slid into the dropout BEFORE the wheel axle is slotted into place. Tighten the screw lurking behind your thumb in pic 2 to keep the derailer in place even when the wheel is removed.

Alignment is pretty much by eyeballing the installation.
Pull the driveside side of the axle back until it fetches up against the derailer clamp, tighten axle nut a bit. Nudge the other side of the axle back&forth until the wheel sits at equal distance between the chainstays up by the cranks. Tighten the left axle nut up a bit. If the wheel stays in alignment, tighten the DS axle nut up a bit more, then the NDS. Repeat until sufficient torque is reached.

Derailleur needs to be reattached before you can put the wheel back on.

With the wheel in place, it IS superfluous. It's only there to keep the derailer in place when the wheel is off the bike.

These are probably two different issues. Brake arms not disengaging equally can have several causes. Try this one:Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Linear Pull Brake Service (V-brake style)

For wheel not centered, that too can have several causes.
And it also depends if it's not centered between chain stays or if not centered between seat stays.
Not centered between chain stays is easier to fix than not centered between seat stays.
If it's off by the chain stays, My first thought is you've simply not installed it right.
It has to be deliberately put in position, it's not gonna end up right by itself.
So try that first.
If that doesn't work, or cause follow-on issues, you need to look at wheel dish, and frame alignment.

Yes,



The nut from the derailleur goes into the slot in the dropouts behind the axle. To do it, the wheel must be off.

Here is a drawing I did a few minutes ago for the chain routing.



It can be a little tricky, but when you put the wheel back on, the chain coming off the upper jockey wheel goes on top of the sprocket. You may have to use the shifters to get the wheel lined up to the dropouts.

What you will find with the horizontal dropouts is that the right dropout will have the derailleur stopping the wheel from going back all the way (it should be bolted on top of the derailleur "claw"). So, the nut on the left side is positioned so that the wheel is centered in between the chainstays, and does not rub.

Once you do it a couple of times... it all becomes quite natural.

Ugh. Duh. That makes sense!

Alright, now that I get where it was supposed to be and with a whole lot of struggle, I've reattached the wheel. Gonna reattach the front wheel THEN figure out how to properly align the back wheel and brakes. Thanks for all your help, guys! Really awesome. Even better with the pictures, but thanks to dabac's guidance I could sorta see it in my head.

UPDATE: Thanks to above guide on brakes and some finangling, I got my brakes sorted. To get my wheel more or less straight, I had to just tighten it in a different way. I dunno. I took it for a test ride and nothing fell off/broke, so I reckon that's a good sign! Gears work...as well as they did before, brakes a-okay.

And with that, that's basically the last major mod I wanted to do to my bike. Now I have smooth, kevlar infused tyres and a dang comfy ride. Thanks for all the help, glad I stumbled upon this place whilst ripping my hair out in frustration.