Am I doing something wrong when putting the front wheel on my bike?

[dr.richtofen]

I recently bought a MTB hard tail bike from Halfords, recently being two days ago. It arrived yesterday as home delivery and I began to start putting it all together. I will admit that I haven't purchased a bike in about 10 years and have probably ridden a bike about 10 times in the past 3-4 years. However riding a bike is riding a bike, you never forget the things you learn with them.

To cut a long story short, and forgive my non-technical language, I had a lot of trouble un-doing the outer nuts of the front wheel. The layout was pretty much nut, inner nut (holding the bearing to the wheel), the wheel itself, inner nut holding the bearing to the wheel on the other side, and then a nut. So from this, I deduced that the outer nuts need to be undone to put the forks on then to tighten the outer nuts so the layout then goes nut, one side of the fork, inner nut, wheel, inner nut, other side of the fork, nut. If this doesn't make sense I am going from the big bolt thing that runs in the middle of the wheel and holds the wheel to the forks.

If you are still with me on this, I took the front wheel to halfords (my car is too small to fit the whole bike in, either assembled or disassembled) and the guy told me, and I quote his exact words "the outer nuts aren't meant to be undone, this type of design is meant for you to just slot the forks in, if it doesn't go in first time you just need to use a bit of force to get them to slot in". Is what he is saying right? He told me to force the forks in between the inner nut and outer nut which were screwed together? Afterwards he then told me, if you still can't get them in just PULL the forks apart a bit and then try. Would you recommend just pulling the forks apart a bit to fit them onto the bolt thing?

Afterwards he undid the outer nuts for me (I couldn't get them undone because they were done up so tightly, even the bloke struggled) and I took the front wheel home. After trying to fit the forks on the bolt that goes through the middle of the wheel I realised that the bolt length was too small. The bolt length was so small that the layout became fork, inner nut, wheel, inner nut, fork and you couldn't even put on any of the outer nuts - which is definitely not right because the wheel would fall off.

Also I had no retainer clips(?) for the front forks, the instructions said to put them on so does that mean I should have had them or is it just for certain bikes?

If you understood what I have been saying, have I been following the correct procedures, is there something I must have done wrong?

 

[steve52]

i smell halfords bull*hit i could be wrong but know of no wheel that just clips in they are either quickrelease cam type or nuts and spindels, (the big bolt thing) and the method of tightening them is the same one my grandad used a spanner and only sometimes a skinned kuckle, if they are so thight they cant be esilly turned by hand on the spindel when its not on the bike they sound cross threaded,back to hafords armed with a big stick or the bike and a soliciters phone no to call for advice while in the managers office

 

[dr.richtofen]

They were definitely not quick release lol. But yeah they are the type where you do get skinned knuckles because I had a few near misses with them. The guy was a moron though, but I just wanted to check with someone who knows about bikes because I am a bit rusty on them.

Halfords are going to send me out a replacement bike. DHL were meant to pick up this bike today and take it back to Halfords, which DHL haven't done and means more of my time wasted phoning an 0845 number because of their screw up. Nice one Halfords. I'm going to see if anymore cock ups happen from Halfords before considering making a complaint to them.

I don't know if this will help but the bike I bought was an Apollo XC.26 SE 17" men's mountain bike - a lot of mixed reviews about them. But being not an expert on bikes I just thought that one looks alright and went with gut feeling. Now I'm starting to doubt my gut feelings. I definitely wanted a MTB but something that is not too expensive. Oh yeah plus it was the only bike I could find that was an okay price with the right frame size for me. I'm not really up for building my own bike yet. xD

 

[Cubist]

According to the Spec sheets the bike you bought definitely has Quick Release Wheels. If you have undone a nut to put it on the bike, you have undone the locknut for the bearing cone.

Stop, take it back to Halfords and show them what you have done. You will need the bearings re-setting, and unless you have some flat cone-spanners at home you won't have the right tools to fix it.

If Halfords have already tightened the locknut for you, as I suspect, then don't try and undo it any more. It should definitely NOT turn by hand! Leave it alone, you do NOT need to undo it now.



Look in the packaging and find the QR skewers, then find out how to put the wheel on with them. You should be able to spread the fork enough for the non-threaded few millimetres of the axle to slot into the u shaped dropouts (slots in the flat part of the fork) and the QR skewer fits through in the following order:

Outer knurled end, spring, fork leg, axle, fork leg, spring, QR cam end.

 

[jig-sore]

take a look at this...

http://bicycletutor.com/remove-install-wheels/

 

[dr.richtofen]

I can 100% assure you there were no quick release fittings or fixtures in the box. I looked inside and outside and there were no quick release things at all. The instructions said you may have to undo the bolts to get the forks in and the guy at the halfords store didn't even tell me they were QR! The wheel/spindle/bolt things didn't look anything like the ones in the picture. I live in Kent and am going to call hafords today and get them to pick it up and give me a refund.

So what would be a better bike for me to buy within a price range up to £250. I want something that I can use to commute to work, something that i can also use off road, a 17" frame (is that the right frame size for me, my inside leg is 30") and not crap. lol

Sorry I also forgot to point out that the rear wheel is not quick release as well...don't know if it makes a difference or anything.

 

[Alien8]

Is the axle hollow and do the axle ends look sort of like this?

This a QR - just enough exposed axle end to fit near-flush with the fork.

Or does the axle looks more like this at the ends (note the meaty track nuts on the ends)?

Lots of exposed axle end to get the track nuts on.

(you can of course have hollow axles intended for track nuts but on a relatively cheap Halford bike if it's non-QR I would expect solid axles)

The spec for the SE does say QR wheels and from your description it does sound like the lock nuts were undone.

 

[dr.richtofen]

Well the bolt was hollow, but it had the cone and dustcap on both ends no spacers and just a lock nut. And the axle was smooth in the middle like the bottom picture. What makes me believe it wasn't a quick release mechanism was because there was no quick release thing in the box and also the rear wheels weren't quick release. Each side on the axle was identical to the other, whereas in the pictures they slightly differ.

It went, from left to right, locknut, cone and dustcap, along the axle to the other end then cone and dustcap, locknut. And the axle is that of the bottom picture for a non QR.

 

[dr.richtofen]

Once I took the front wheel to halfords the geezer undid the locknuts and said that they shouldn't be undone but in the same breath told me that I should try to force the forks between the locknut and cone. He then just undid them and showed me the whole axle and said that's what it looks like and said "this bit" (pointing to the cone and dustcap) holds the bearings in the wheel and you don't want to undo them, then he put it back together and said I will do these up how they were and just try to pull the forks apart a bit or force them in between the locknut and cone. Then he said if I have any more problems to go back there.

Even with the locknuts done up and it all put together the forks wouldn't be able to sit on the axle because the locknuts were in the way, and I did try to force the forks open a bit but they weren't having it. They would move a couple of millimetres but not enough to actually get the forks round the outside of the locknuts.

 

[Alien8]

Each side on the axle was identical to the other, whereas in the pictures they slightly differ.

Well, okay, perhaps I didn't find the best pictures which exactly match your axle. Forget about the spacers - it's all about how much axle is exposed after the locknuts holding the cones in place.

It went, from left to right, locknut, cone and dustcap, along the axle to the other end then cone and dustcap, locknut. And the axle is that of the bottom picture for a non QR.

But this arrangement (or slight variation on the same theme) describes both QR and non-QR axles.

Are there any track nuts (about 1cm thick) to secure the axle to the forks? I guess the answer is no because you've said there's not enough exposed axle when the wheel is in the forks to fit the track nuts (if you had them).

If you're sure the bike is meant to come with a non-QR wheel but there's no exposed axle when wheel is in the forks, and there are no track nuts to hold it in place - it's the wrong wheel for the bike.

 

[dr.richtofen]

But this arrangement (or slight variation on the same theme) describes both QR and non-QR axles.

Okay now I'm really confused too. Looking at the pictures the axle on my bike looked like it was basically bits and bobs from both pictures and put together.

Hopefully the diagram I drew makes things clearer. The guy at halfords told me to try and force the forks between the locknut and cone. Which didn't work. He also mentioned trying to force the forks apart and from the diagram when you lined up the wheel and axle to the forks, the forks sat right above the locknuts, I could separate the forks a couple of millimetres but not enough for the forks to go wider than the lock nuts and slot on the outside of the locknuts.

 

[dr.richtofen]

That's what I've just done User. I phoned up Halfords saying pick up the bike and I want a refund.