Back wheel tyre scuffing inside of chainstays.

[Banjo]

On my Scott Speedster 2009 I have noticed the paint being scuffed by the back tyre .on the inside edge of the chainstays. It has actually gone through the paint now so I dont want to let it continue into the metal.

Its a good quality alloy frame and the wheels (not original) are pretty stiff ie I dont get any brake block rub etc when out of the saddle, is this a common thing and is there anything I can fit to protect the chainstays from damage?

One possibillity is that some Audax rides I do are down pretty muddy/gritty roads ,I wonder if its clag picked up on the tyre walls doing it?

 

[Rob3rt]

Odd, my frames all have plenty clearence in this area, maybe it is crap picked up on the tyre as you say. You haven't crashed and knocked the frame out of alignment have you? How much clearance is there when the bike is stationary? Are the tyres you use particularly wide?

To check for rim flex, then wind the brakes in a bit, measure the gap between brake block and rim, then hammer it up a steepish hill. If no rubbing, wind them in a bit more and repeat. Repeat until you either engage the brakes when stationary or until you get some brake rub when honking, this will tell you (approximately) how much deflection you are getting under load.

 

[tyred]

Is there much clearance between the tyre and the chainstay? You may be using tyres wider than the frame was designed to accept. There will always be some flex in a wheel imo.

 

[Andrew_P]

With the bike standing undo the quick release and apply your shoulder and weight on to the saddle it should clunk and centre. Sounds like you have put the wheel back on upside down and it is not centred correctly?

 

[Rob3rt]

True, the wheel will always flex to a degree, the amount though varies. you won't ever get a flex free wheel, even a disc wheel will flex to some degree, but some wheels flex a scary amount, some are super stiff. Also wheels that are super stiff are "less comfortable".

 

[Rob3rt]

With the bike standing undo the quick release and apply your shoulder and weight on to the saddle it should clunk and centre. Sounds like you have put the wheel back on upside down and it is not centred correctly?

Wheel on upside down?

Edit: I had a mindfark moment there, I think you mean with the bike upside down? If so, sorry for my daft question!

NEVER turn the bike upside down to take the wheels off/put them back on

 

[Banjo]

Thanks for the rapid responses. I Never put the bike upside down and allways carefull to check wheel is dead center in the frame. Theres not much clearance each side and tyres are 23c as recommended for the bike. I am beginning to think that mud/grit stuck to the tyres plus a bit of flex is the cause.

Is there any sort of protective strip I could fit in there?

 

[Andrew_P]

Wheel on upside down?

Edit: I had a mindf*** moment there, I think you mean with the bike upside down? If so, sorry for my daft question!

NEVER turn the bike upside down to take the wheels off/put them back on

lol yeah see what you mean, put the wheel back in whilst the bike is upside down..

 

[Andrew_P]

Thanks for the rapid responses. I Never put the bike upside down and allways carefull to check wheel is dead center in the frame. Theres not much clearance each side and tyres are 23c as recommended for the bike. I am beginning to think that mud/grit stuck to the tyres plus a bit of flex is the cause.

Is there any sort of protective strip I could fit in there?

Thats sounds very tight on the clearance, I wouldn't have thought wet road gollop would rub off paint? Tyres would rub off paint

 

[Banjo]

This has been a very graduall thing The bike is 3 years old and done around 10 thousand miles. Only now is the paint rubbed through but the marks on the paint have been gradually getting worse since bike was almost new. To the best of my knowledge the frame is straight.Certainly with the quick release wheel fully engaged there is equal amounts of clearance each side.

The original Alex wheels were crap and flexed a lot. So i hoped that was the cause. These wheels are very stiff and yet it is still occuring.
I am about 12.5 stone and tend to ride mostly with my arse on the saddle.

 

[Banjo]

Took the bike in to LBS as I was going past anyway. The guy in there told me what was causing it,obviously seen it before.

The line of knobbly rubber bits that stick out of a new tyre were landing perfectly in the groove in the paint. On closer look there was a similar parralel line presumably from a different tyre. I guess when the bike is dirty from riding country roads in wet weather the little rubber stalks drag it across the paint like a grinding paste. Two minutes with a sharp blade could have avoided that, Live and learn.

 

[Globalti]

Are you sure the wheel is correctly dished? Dishing is what keeps a rear wheel rim central in the frame; the spokes on the drive side meet the hub much further inboard than those on the left so a rear wheel is less stable than a front, especially as it ages and spokes stretch..

 

[Mr Celine]

Took the bike in to LBS as I was going past anyway. The guy in there told me what was causing it,obviously seen it before.

The line of knobbly rubber bits that stick out of a new tyre were landing perfectly in the groove in the paint. On closer look there was a similar parralel line presumably from a different tyre. I guess when the bike is dirty from riding country roads in wet weather the little rubber stalks drag it across the paint like a grinding paste. Two minutes with a sharp blade could have avoided that, Live and learn.

I have a groove in the laquer on one chainstay on my Roubaix caused by the same thing. I only noticed it when changing the tyre after the tread delaminated. The GP4000s that replaced the stock spesh tyre didn't have any spurious rubber stalks.