Broken Rear Axle??
 

I recently noticed my rear tire was wobbling side to side. I took my bike to the LBS and the guy yelled at me saying that I don't take care of my bike? The rear axel is cracked & needs to be replaced. My bike is 8 years old and my question is did I go down a big curb too hard or does the part slowly break down over the years. I decided to take my bike to another LBS to have fixed.

Thanks

I ride quite a lot of hard city miles and I've never broken an axle but I have seen it happen to friends. The bigger issue for me is your LBS mechanic yelling at you. I would find different shop to deal with. Let your dollars do the talking and take your business elsewhere. Depending on the hub you have many of them can easily be serviced with minimal tools/skills.

Personally, I've never broken a hub axle, but I've certainly bent a few.

Hey, it happens, and now I'm replacing a lot of them for customers. Usually it seems to happen because a bearing lock nut gets loose, the balls run out of their race and start running on the axle on one side, and the weakened axle snaps after a seemingly insignificant hit. The quick release skewer holds the hub together until the grinding, squeaking, wheel wobbling, and poor braking drive the cyclist to the shop to "fix the back tire."

The best solution is prevention. Examine your wheels regularly and get them adjusted or overhauled at the first sign of trouble. And there's no reason to tolerate getting yelled at by a shop mechanic.

Axles (Not axels BTW) break. It could be from a single big impact, but usually is the result of metal fatigue that happens over time.

If you look at a schematic of a rear hub you'll find that the axle is supported at either end, and subject to loads inboard of the ends (depends on hub design). The loads are both the axle weight and from the chain pulling the hub forward. That flexes the axle, and eventually it'll fail at a thread - usually the first one inboard of the right cone or bearing.

It's been eight years, so hopefully for not a lot of dough you can go another eight years, if something else doesn't fail first.

Check the rear dropout alignment. The tools to do so look like T-handles with adjustable cups on the ends. It's a 5 minute job.

Better yet, have that same mechanic at the same LBS do it for you:

If it turns out they are not parallel - or close to parallel as they should be, yell back at him:


"You've been servicing my bike for 8 years? What am I paying you for?"


A "payback is a *****" opportunity awaits...

Wheels installed in quality BUT misaligned dropouts are going to end up with bent axles - and accelerate the eventual - a snapped axle.

=8-)

If your bike has a freewheel then broken axles were fairly common from either abuse or long term fatigue. Freehubs, particularly Shimano's design, support the axle far better on the drive side and broken axles are now quite rare.

And the nature of the steel and it's heat treatment, processes,
there is a range of hardness and/or ductility, that can be made ,
by controlling the process of that heat treatment.

hardening, OK for some purpose, is inappropriate for others.

I think Axel is some guy that fronts Guns And Roses.
or is it a particular style of spinning jump in figure skating..

...or a FPS gamer I used to hang out with at Dwango-SJ and H2H-San Jose.

=8-)

A few weeks ago I had to take my Trek Multitrack rear wheel to the LBS. Rear wheel wobble. Used mainly on an asphalt paved MUP with no riding off curbs or anything like that. Replaced the axle while I waited. No big deal and not expensive. According to the guy at the LBS, this happens. Just from mileage. About 6,000 miles on it before it broke.

If an owner or worker at an LBS treated me as you comment I would look for another LBS. I deal with one local bike shop and one in Trappe, PA. Nothing but good things to say about both of them.

Really, the wrench "yelled" at you? Or did he (or she) just say that this is probably a case of neglect but we can fix it for you?

MN, he said that I'm not taking care of my bike and need tune-ups ect... I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode or something.

That is a very early failure for any decent hub, particularly if you aren't a abusive rider. Does the bike have a freewheel or a freehub?

+100 but not being there we really don't know how harsh the exchange really was.

Last/only axle I broke was on a '94 C-dale hybrid that had a freewheel hub. Broke after about six years and lotsa miles.

Similar experience here. The only broken axle I've ever seen was on a friends '88 Trek 1100 with a Maillard 7-speed freewheel hub and a ton of miles under his and the previous owner's use.

It has the typical Shimano 7 speed Megarange freewheel.
According to the LBS this axle failures are not frequent but than not unknown. I weight 180 and am carrying roughly 25 to 35 pounds on a rear rack on most rides. We ride year round except if there is snow on the trail. Freewheel and chain replacement around every 2000 to 2500 miles.

The two local bike shops I frequent have me spoiled. I go in knowing exactly what I want and what the going rate for it is. So I don't try and haggle prices. I get our bikes and repairs through the closest one but they don't stock good clothing. So the shop at Trappe gets our clothing business. Both treat the wife and I like friends when we walk in the door.

I am always amazed at the low cost of parts for our bikes and how durable they are. Compared to car parts the bikes are the best bargain going. So if a part breaks occasionally I don't get bent out of shape. Compared to bowling or golfing the bikes are dirt cheap based on hours of use.