Centering rear wheel?
 

Was doing some adjustments on my bike today and noticed something about my rear wheel. I can't seem to get it centered. If I center it in the seat stays then the wheel is off center in the chain stays. If its centered in the chain stays its not centered in the seat stays. It's not so extreme that it's rubbing the frame or anything, but I can tell. Why would this be happening, and is it something that can/should be fixed? I've had the wheel tried recently, so I wouldn't think that was the issue, unless they screwed it up somehow.

I'd check the true by eye. If it looks alright its something else.

It looks true to me, no noticible wobble.

dish? flip the wheel in the dropouts, is it off the same direction, or the mirror image?

Frame alignment issue? Has the bike been crashed?

Shouldn't be a problem with the frame, as its essentially brand new. Build was only finished last month. Will check dish later today and report back.

Just flipped the wheel and the issue is the same (not mirrored). When I center the wheel/tire in the chain stays (since that has the least amount of clearance), I have maybe a mm or two more clearance on the drive side of the seat stay as opposed to the other side. I don't have any accurate way of measuring, but I can fit my index finger inbetween the seat stay and the wheel up to my first knuckle on the not drive side, and up to my second on the drive side. As I said, it's not much, but I wasn't sure if it was something I needed to be concerned about.

Don't worry about it. Making sure that it is strait from the dropouts/track ends to the bottom bracket is the important thing so centering it on the chain stays is the right way to go. A little variance at the seat stays doesn't make any difference.

What frame is it? Sounds like sloppy construction.

I'd return the frame. Alignment issues like that should have been caught at the factory.

It's a Leader 722TS. Returning it isn't really possible at this point.

Then take it to a LBS and see if it can be fixed by cold-setting.

+1

Yes, it's likely an alighment issue with the frame. This happens on budget frames. Quality Control in budget companies will "pass" an item like this where another company will "fail" it and never sell it to customers.

This is one reason why non-budget companies charge more, because they have to "eat" their mistakes instead of selling them.

If you can return it, I would. But, if you bought it online...good luck. This is why buying from a local bike shop costs more, but is worth it in situations like this.

I've contacted the shop I purchased it from (City Grounds) as well as Leader themselves, I will let you know what they say. Assuming I can't return the frame, how big of an issue is it? I don't run rear brakes but I'm not sure what other issues it could cause it the future.

It can't, you can only cold set a complete rear triangle side to side and if it were off center, the wheel would have the same gap on the ss and cs. It could be that one cs is higher than the other or a ss is bowed, or....there's no way to tell what's causing the misalignment without some good measurements.
like Carleton said, this isn't rare for budget frames, but on the bright side it won't cause any problems with the ride, durability of the frame, etc.

Thanks for clarifying. It had not occured to me that cold-setting wouldn't correct an issue caused by an improperly placed weld.

I wouldn't worry about it. My cutter is the same way. Just ride it.

If you had a custom $1000+ frame would be pissed. But anything mass produced for sub $300 won't be perfect.

Anyways, this doesn't affect anything. If one nut is slammed, and the other needs to be pulled out halfway through the dropout you could have a seriously crooked frame. But mine is off a few mm or so.

Also, I would imagine a good amount of frames are like this, but people never really notice. Wasn't until I pushed the wheel 100% forward in the drop outs and noticed.

Just make sure the wheel is centered in the chainstays.

EDIT: I actually read that wrong. Thought you said it wasn't centered in the drop outs. But yeah, just checked and mine is slightly off too in the seat stays.

I've seen a few such frames at the track and it's simply frustrating to have to rig the wheel to be sorta straight.

If he can get a new brand new frame as a warranty replacement, why not? He paid his hard-earned money for the product.

I agree with this to the extent that it is worth it for the OP to spend time not riding his bike because of an aesthetic issue that can only be seen if you have your nose touching the rear tire. If it is noticeable and the OP has another ride and the warranty covers it, then he should have it replaced.

Are you aware that you generally give bad advice?

Nope. I guess I'll stop.

What's with all the negativity? I thought his advice was fine.

ftfy ha?

No, if it is a structural issue, in the sense that it could cause a failure or negatively effect the ride then it should definitely be replaced. Only if it is a minor aesthetic issue should the OP not worry about it. At least that was what I meant before I stopped giving out advice.

It may not explode, but I don't think it's farfetched to say that it will negatively affect ride quality. And it's an issue with the construction of the frame, so I'd call it structural regardless of potential danger/negative effects.