Front wheel disc allignment problem
 

Hi,

I've looked and looked but not seen information on a problem I have with my Schwinn mountain bike I got a couple years ago at Cost Co for $299 plus tax.

The front tire went flat. Now when I reassemble it, there is no way I can get the wheel tightened and be alligned with the disc brake on the front wheel. The bike will role, but with resistance, not good.

I have not touched the disc break assembly with any tools. A friend is bugging me to take it to any local bike shop. I'm on SSI and don't like hitting him up for $$.

Any direction toward a URL for getting me back on my bike would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bill Horn
In Sunny Southern California
about 20 miles south of the HOLLYWOOD sign
billhorn@hotmail.com

You should get more response here in MEchanics

The most common cause of this is that the wheel axles are not fully seated in their notches at the end of the fork. The easiest way to get them to seat right is to loosen the wheel again, and install the wheel while the bike is upright and sitting on the wheels. Then tighten it up again and see if its right.

If not, then I would guess that the brake caliper needs to be readjusted. They do get knocked out of alignment sometimes. It is not a big deal to do this yourself, so let us know.

jim

The best resource for this stuff online and free is www.parktool.com/repair . Hover your mouse over the bike around the brakes and click. Follow the links to disc brakes.

Consider too that the kids Costco hires to assemble the bikes could very well have set up the brake caliper to the rotor with the front wheel not actually seated in the dropouts. So now you come along and put the wheel in correctly and now you're chasing your tail wondering why the brakes are not running smoothly. Bite the bullet and re-align the caliper.

The easiest way is to clamp the lever so it locks the caliper to the rotor. Now loosen the caliper bolts and give the caliper a bit of a wiggle so it finds it's "happy place" then lightly pinch down both bolts and then work back and forth tightening each a bit at a time so one bolt being tightened doesn't try to make the caliper walk. With that done you SHOULD have decent brakes.

Also note that since these will be mechanical disc brakes there is only one moving pad. The other pad is adjustable. To get the brakes to work their best that fixed pad has to be adjusted super close to the rotor. The slight waviness in the rotor will kiss the pad and sing it'll be so close. Some careful flexing to flatten the rotor can reduce or eliminate this brushing.

Open the QR and straighten the axle.

As other have said, it's likely that either the wheel is not completely seated, or was never seated right when it was built.

That aside, if you're not in a position to pay a bike shop, you might want to check around and see if there is any sort of bike co-operative in your area. If so, I bet you could get some free assistance there, as well as gain some knowledge of how to deal with things like the brake alignment. http://www.bicyclekitchen.com for example, appears to be near you and do that sort of thing.