jsdavis

The freehub on my gf's bike failed such that it would no longer engage. She took took the bike to the shop. They sold her an $80 wheel plus $25 labor which I thought was fair. Today I saw the wheel and it has a Claris hub...Problem is that she has a Kona Dew hybrid and I highly suspect the frame is spaced for 135mm hub. Claris hub is most likely 130mm.

What effect is there with the 5mm smaller hub?

Bill Kapaun

Did you actually remove the wheel to see if it's 5mm short?
Possibly they swapped in a longer axle, 5mm spacer and redished?
$25 sounds steep for just swapping the old cassette to the new wheel.

jsdavis

I have not measured the new wheel. I just met her to have dinner tonight and I saw the new wheel had a Claris hub on it which does not seem right to me.

The $25 labor includes the cost to move the cassette, tire, and tweak brakes and RD.

Kontact

Open the QR. That will make it pretty obvious if the wheel is the wrong width or not.

SkyDog75

According to the specs on Kona's web site, current Dew models are spaced at 135 mm, just as you suspect.

Like Bill mentioned above, it's possible that the shop added a longer axle and spacers to the Claris hub to effectively respace it to 135 mm to match the frame.

If you've got a 130 mm hub installed in a 135 mm frame, the frame would be flexing more than its designers intended when clamped down on the smaller hub. The stays would be flexing along their length, plus the frame would tend to flex at the dropouts because the clamp force of the QR against the axle's locknut would attempt to pull them into parallel. In a worst-case scenario, the flexing could eventually lead to cracks in the bike's frame -- especially since it's aluminum and the aluminum alloys used for bikes don't generally like to be repeatedly flexed like that.

If the new wheel is 130 mm and the frame's 135, definitely contact the shop. I'd see if they're willing to do an axle swap and add spacers to respace the wheel since that would be a quick & simple fix.

dsbrantjr

A couple of quick measurements could confirm or refute your suspicions.

ThermionicScott 

+1, measure your stuff before you accuse the shop of anything, @jsdavis.

desconhecido 

It seems to me that axles are typically 11mm longer than the OLD dimension -- about 5.5mm extra length on each end. Of course, it might be a bit less. In any event, if the OLD is 130mm and the frame expects 135 mm, adding a 2.5 mm spacer on each end would get you right to 135 mm and you'd still have about 3mm of axle on each end to engage the dropout and 3.5 mm should be sufficient.

Perhaps the bike shop did this already and everybody's good to go.

If the shop did install a 130mm spaced hub in the bike spaced for 135mm and didn't make the proper spacer adjustment, particularly on an aluminum framed bike, well, that's just not right. Even if they did make the adjustment, it's my opinion that it should have been made clear to your girlfriend, by the shop, that the adjustment had been made. Even though replacing an entire wheel and putting the bike back in riding condition for $125 doesn't sound too bad to me.

Kontact

If they did put a 130 wheel in a 135 frame, that's a mistake and the shop should fix the problem.


But there is no evidence that happened - and it is SO easy to open the QR and look at whether the frame springs open or not. It isn't hard.

AnkleWork

+1
Human nature loves emotion and hates first hand knowledge of the truth.

CliffordK

Or forget about measuring, and just make sure the parts fit.

tFUnK

2.5mm on each side. I guess it's all about risk tolerance.

wheelreason

I can't even get a bucket of chicken with sides for that... $20-35 is the going rate, depending on where you are.

shelbyfv

Seems as if the "I highly suspect" and "most likely" should have been in the thread title....

TimothyH

I agree that we should not be quick to judge and measurements are in order. That is the first step.

If it does turn out to be an incorrect wheel however, then I would return the wheel and ask for my money back. They certainly would not be relied upon to do any further work such as replacing an axle in a hub.



-Tim-

rmfnla

Measure twice, accuse once...

jsdavis

Ok...so I confirmed the wheel and frame are mismatch. Sorry I didn't take calipers to dinner. It's not something I normally carry around.

Mainly wanted advice ahead of time on how to proceed when I confirmed they were mismatched and whether or not it was safe...

trailangel

So call up the bike shop. I agree with others... not good on aluminum frame to have the wrong wheel spacing.... 130 in a 135mm dropout. Will break a weld or tube, shifting not as good and won't track as well.

Kontact

You didn't need calipers to see if they were spaced differently.

Take the bike to the shop. They may try to explain how the mismatch is "okay". Don't accept that from them or any sort of respacing of the current wheel. Tell them they can install a wheel of the same quality but correct specifications, or they can refund the full cost and provide you with the tire, tube, rim strip and cassette so you can go to a bike shop that isn't attempting to damage your bicycle frame.

(I don't really think that anything was damaged, but the shop can't really prove it has, so it works against them.)

Either the shop will admit error and fix the problem, or they will refund and bow out.

Ghrumpy

FWIW, the JIS tolerance limit for rear dropout spacing is 1.5mm/side. Max. 3mm total. Obviously 5mm is outside that spec. And you'd have to measure to know how that 5mm is distributed. You can't assume it's evenly split; it might be all on one side. If it's all on one side, that's especially bad.

Why the JIS tolerance is important is that the JIS are more concerned with conformity to safety standards than any particular dimensional standards like threadings and such. Seems like half the book is safety test procedures. Any tolerances they settled on are based on results of those tests. Compromise spacings like 123, which lets you use 120 or 126 axles, or 128, which lets you use 126 or 130, are at or inside of that limit.

WRT the frame material properties, on a steel frame, 5mm total is still too much. On an aluminum frame, 5mm is much too much.

Kontact

How could a self centering wheel system not be evenly split between both sides?

Ghrumpy

One side of the rear triangle may yield more easily than the other. IME it's more likely than not.

Dan Burkhart 

Anyone who has ever cold set a steel rear triangle can attest to that.

Kontact

If one side deflects more easily than the other, I don't know if that is actually particularly worse than most sides moving equally. If one side is more flexible, it is probably better if the flexible side flexes.

Not saying any of this is good or ideal, I just don't see the danger.


I've cold set several frame by just pulling the dropouts apart with my hands. So far, all of them spread equally and remained symmetrical.

Dan Burkhart 

Some do, some don't. Chain stays that are dimpled to accommodate a chain ring will usually have a different resistance to bending than the other side.