Back Wheel Problem - Need help

ROK ON

Hi.
I noticed y'day on my way home from work that my back wheel (Shimano RS20) felt funny. The entire wheel felt very unstable and wobbly, as if it was going to give way.

When I got home, I took off the wheel, cleaned the bike, the drivetrain, casette and wheel. Lubed chain.

I checked the wheel for damage, and cannot find any. CHecked all spokes. Visibly checked the rim.

Put wheel back on, and it seems to my naked eye to be true. DIdnt seem to wobble at all, and there was no 'touching the brake pad' that one would get with an out of true wheel.

Cycled into work this morning, and yet again the wheel felt very unstable.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should check for at this stage. I cant find a problem, but it does not feel good. Feels very unstable, but when I freewheel and look down at it, it is not visibly wobbly, even though I feel it to be.

Have never felt anything like this on this bike. Only time I felt like this on other bikes was with broken spokes and an out of true wheel.

Suggestions appreciated.

stuf

did you check for any play in the axle - could be the bearings need replacing

Lumen

Maybe your chainstays are cracked. :pac:

robbie_998

+1 on the bearing.

also...did you check your sit to see if it was your ass wobbling ?

Hungrycol

Have you crashed lately? Thinking your framemay be misaligned, unlikely unless you've crashed. Is the wheel centered between the chainstays?

I was drafting a bus on Tuesday and at 50kph I felt my back wheel feel a litttle unsteady, a little like the way your bike feels cycling on a flat tyre. I put it down to my gitteryness of drafting a bus at 50kph!

ednwireland

yep check the seat adjusted mine and took me about 1/2 hour to figure out it was loose (it onnly moved when i sat on it)
+1 for bearings and broken chain stays

Jawgap

Puncture?

Lumen

Hungrycol wrote: »

I was drafting a bus on Tuesday and at 50kph...

I can picture Tunney shaking his head at that one.

CheGuedara

+1 on the bearings, see if tightening the cones even just a little makes a diffference

ROK ON

Thanks for all advice.

Actually thought it was a puncture until I saw that the tyre was not flat. Then I tought wheel buckled until I checked the spokes.

Bike is new with not a lot of milage, so hard to think that bearings would need greasing, but I will check the axel and bearings.

No for the embarrassing question: How do I check the bearing? Do I just take the skewer out? How would I know if bearings need replacing?

I will also check the seat. Havent crashed on this bike (touch wood), although I was out cycling with Blorg the other night, does that count?

Once again, thanks.

lescol

Spinning the wheel while holding the axle ends with the fingertips should pick up any bearing grittiness. Maybe a broken axle. If you have another wheel then try the bike with the spare to eliminate bike/seat/frame problems.

alfalad

Try lifting the bike up and then from the side push the wheel over and back to see if there is any play that way!

Hungrycol

Look for any signs of pitting in the bearing cups in the hub when you remove the axel. Likewise for any pitting on the cones or the bearings.

Word of warning though, getting the axel back on without any play but not too tight IMO is an art. Only remove the cone from one side of the axel, this will help with spacing when putting back on. Removing non drive side cone is easier.

Lumen

Wheel your bike backwards and see what happens!

sorry, old thread flashback

tomasrojo

Bit of a long shot, but are the walls of your tyre ok? Shouldn't really make you feel so unstable, but when the walls are starting to wear through it's an odd sensation.

ROK ON

Update and request for help.

Wheel is ok, but the parr of the rear triangle that holds deraileur and wheel has come lose from the frame.
Has this happened go anyone else here. Is it repairable?

Bike is new with about 1000k on it. Alu frame orbea.

sy

Guarantee on bike?

ROK ON

sy wrote: »

Guarantee on bike?

Bought bike in June so presume still under warranty.
Am annoyed in that it is supposed to be winter bike. But it will now probably be shipped back to orbea meaning I no longer have a winter bike.

sy

Seems like your only option. At first thought it might have been a tyre wall as indicated by other poster. Very unusual for that to happen. At least you have the Dolan to fall back on? Must be giving it wellie on the climbs.

Raam

ROK ON wrote: »

Update and request for help.

Wheel is ok, but the parr of the rear triangle that holds deraileur and wheel has come lose from the frame.
Has this happened go anyone else here. Is it repairable?

Bike is new with about 1000k on it. Alu frame orbea.

Got a pic of it? You're not talking about the hanger are you?

blorg

If it is the hanger that should just screw on or off, they are designed to be replaceable and to fail in the case of a bump (before the frame is damaged.)

short circuit

If it is indeed the hanger and you can't find the right one in a jiffy ... give me a shout. I have a spare Orbea hanger if you need while you look for a replacement

ROK ON

Not sure is it a deraileur hanger. On the rear triangle, on the chainstay at the rear casette sie (marked in diagram with red arrow), there is a slit, as if the dropout has come lose from the rest of the frame. Is this easily fixed? Have a picture, but light is bad and bike is black so it does not show up in the picture.

jollylee

Oh dear! Thats pretty serious. I know if it was me I'd want the shop I bought it from to rebuild the bike on a new frame. Frames should be warrantied for a few years anyway so i think you're entitled to this. Is it a carbon frame?

Lumen

Lumen wrote: »

Maybe your chainstays are cracked. :pac:

Do I win a prize?

ROK ON

Lumen wrote: »

Do I win a prize?

Unfortunately yes. Given how little the bike has been used and that it has been cycled only in the vicinity of Dubli, I cant see how it happened. A bloddy lemon.

Last time I buy a bike from a bunch of Basque socialists!!!

jollylee

ROK ON wrote: »

Unfortunately yes. Given how little the bike has been used and that it has been cycled only in the vicinity of Dubli, I cant see how it happened. A bloddy lemon.

Last time I buy a bike from a bunch of Basque socialists!!!

Lol, you got unlucky. Manufacturing defects can happen. Just go back to the shop and insist on them replacing the frame. Don't take any hassle either. Its a dud and your entitled to a new frame or your money back as its a faulty product.

tomasrojo

I had a break exactly there on my old Raleigh Pioneer. It was the end of the poor dear, but it was a cheap bike anyway, and at least it carried me for 20,000km.

It's a very weird feeling when that cracks, as the wheel turns slightly anticlockwise (as viewed from above) every time you push down on the right pedal.

Not fixable anyway.

Chips Lovell

Have you tried tigtening the screws on the dropout? To me it sounds like it got a bang that loosened it.