Changed rear tyre but chain slipped off on 1st use...

[Paul Burke]

Decided to do as much basic mechanics on my MTB as I could even though I have no experience at it.

Previously my brake lever had a lot of play in it so I adjusted that and it has been perfect since, and then today I decided to change my rear tyre.

So off with the wheel, old tyre off, new tyre on... and I tightened back up... all seemed ok.

Went on a 3k ride and for the first 2.5k all was well (although it did feel like the back wheel was, sliding, waggling a little??).

Then down hill before I get home I go into 18th gear and the pedals went loose, the chain had slipped off and was caught between the bottom cog and the frame...

I thought I had aligned everything back up correctly but clearly not...

Any advice on what to do please?

 

[Trembler49]

Sounds like the back wheel not correctly aligned in the dropouts. You have to pull it right back and centralise it before you do up the quick release, that would account for the wheel feeling odd and probably the chain jumping off the cassette.

 

[Trembler49]

By the way, we've all done it at one time or another!

 

[Paul Burke]

Thank you for the reply. My rear wheel has 2 nuts, no quick release, it only has that on the front.

Before I removed the rear wheel I noted that the nuts were not all that far back and one of them seemed quite near the edge (but not overly so)...

When I tried to pull the wheel further back so the nut wasn't so near the edge the wheel wanted to turn and rub on the frame...

Sorry for not using the correct terminology but I think you understand what I mean?

 

[Globalti]

With a nutted axle the best method is to pull the wheel as far forward into the dropout slots as it will go, check alignment then start tightening the nuts alternately, just doing a little at a time, while checking carefully that the wheel doesn't lose its alignment in the frame. The reason for this is that sometimes fully tightening one nut will distort the rear dropouts and pull the wheel out of alignment or a nut will bind on a dropout that's not perfectly in line, pulling the wheel out of alignment, or worse, one of the bearing cones will work loose. If you find that there's play on the wheel with both nuts done up tight, this is what has happened and you need experienced help.

 

[Paul Burke]

Done exactly as I did last night, knowing it would be me who is going to ride the bike I did it as carefully, slowly and observantly as possible.

One of the nuts is barely in and any attempt to get this further in just pulls the wheel out of alignment.

I have spun the bike thru all 18 gears and the chain has remained in place although there is a lot of play in the chain so something is wrong somewhere.

Mean while I have also now changed the front tyre and will now take it to the LBS to get them look it over and see what might be wrongly setup.

Hopefully this will sort things out, but my one and only ever visit to a LBS in the past was for a new inner tube to be fitted for me on a front wheel. When I went to collect the bike an hour later the shop guy had not pumped up the tyre for me afterwards stating I only asked for an inner tube change and also when he had put the wheel back onto the bike he had put it on the wrong way, the nut that is on the spoke for mileometers was now on the opposite side... and that is the truth I swear.

So I hope my experience tomorrow will be better.

 

[andyfraser]

This is exactly why I'm learning to do everything myself. I'm convinced my nearest LBS sold me a chain I didn't need and then didn't set the gears correctly. I'll need a new chain and cassette soon and will do it myself. The assistant manager also wanted to argue over a pump that stopped working within days. He wouldn't listen to me and wouldn't swap until the mechanic confirmed that it didn't work.

My other option is Halfords plus a few shops quite a way away so I might try the mobile chap for wheel truing until I can do that myself too.