LaPierre Sensium 300 Pro - Dropouts Come Loose

howman

Hi
I have a Sensium 300 Pro, carbon frame have it just under 5 years.
I had noticed what i thought was wobble in my rear wheel, so checked bearings etc all seemed fine....but the movement on the back wheel remained....did a strip down on the bike to check the frame and noticed that the joint where a screw is attaching the dropout to the seatstay is loose (the screw itself is not loose but the dropout and seat stay is beginning to separate), tried to tighten it using metric allen keys but nothing fits exactly (all other screws are metric on the bike).
Don't want to destroy the screw head by forcing the issue so I am wondering if this is a non standard factory tool head?
the screw doe not seem eager to move but I assume i Should be able to tighten this and maybe glue it in place?

photo attached.

all help appreciated!

Eamonnator

Is it a Torx rather than Allen?

howman

seems like a allen type head, i have torx bits also and tried them but it seemed a poorer fit

the allen key fits it with some slight movement...it the screw was loose it would work a charm if you get me

iwillhtfu

howman wrote: »

seems like a allen type head, i have torx bits also and tried them but it seemed a poorer fit

the allen key fits it with some slight movement...it the screw was loose it would work a charm if you get me

Get some tissue or a thin piece of cloth and put it over the allen key and it should remove the play in it and reduce the risk of stripping it out. If it's seperating I'd be inclined to remove it and put some thread loc on it before screwing it back into place.

Wishbone Ash

Just make sure the allen key itself is not worn first.

howman

thanks for the advise, will give it a go

just one thing that's bugging me, the stay and the dropout is separating but the screw remains tight....

this is hardly a force fit ?

magicbastarder

another thing to bear in mind is whether the bolt is screwed into a captive nut. i would guess not; but if the captive nut is loose in the seatstay, rather than the bolt being loose in the nut, it could explain the looseness despite the bolt feeling tight.

howman

magicbastarder wrote: »

another thing to bear in mind is whether the bolt is screwed into a captive nut. i would guess not; but if the captive nut is loose in the seatstay, rather than the bolt being loose in the nut, it could explain the looseness despite the bolt feeling tight.

good point...will thread carefully (pardon the pun!)

had emailed lapierre querying what best practice recommends but got a PFO from them...great after sales support!

magicbastarder

really? a 'we're not going to provide support as it's out of warranty' or a 'we cannot advise on an issue we are unable to diagnose' sort of response?

howman

copy of text below

"Your request must be made to your local Lapierre dealer. We don't have all information for a correctly reply. "

I had provided bike model, year, description of issue

magicbastarder

probably unrelated to your issue, but may be good info to have - the last post claims the dropout is slid and not bonded into the chainstay.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1517401

howman

magicbastarder wrote: »

probably unrelated to your issue, but may be good info to have - the last post claims the dropout is slid and not bonded into the chainstay.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1517401

thanks for that, looks like as long as I don't cock up the seat stay I should okay
seems like their warranty cover isn't all that going by some comments