Roger Longbottom
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- Thread starter Roger Longbottom
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Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
On some old Raleighs the bearings would loosen themselves if the front wheel was the wrong way around. Perhaps it's the same with yours?
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
Any time you've got a screw thread on a rotating part on the wrong side of the bike, precession may give problems.
For a front wheel, that would normally be either a Shimano-style dynohub with the connectors on the left, or a cup & cone wheel bearing with the drive side cone inadequately locked by its locknut. In the first case, the core of the hub comes loose and breaks the thin wires taking the electricity out past the bearings, and in the second case, the cone screws itself inwards and can wreck the bearings if you just push harder when the wheel gets stiff.
For a front wheel, that would normally be either a Shimano-style dynohub with the connectors on the left, or a cup & cone wheel bearing with the drive side cone inadequately locked by its locknut. In the first case, the core of the hub comes loose and breaks the thin wires taking the electricity out past the bearings, and in the second case, the cone screws itself inwards and can wreck the bearings if you just push harder when the wheel gets stiff.
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
Bearings loosening themselves is an annoyance. You don't want the wheel the other way round because bearings tightening themselves is more of a problem.
I was on tour in Spain one time when one of the other riders kept stopping and fiddling with his rear brake. After about the 3rd time I asked what the problem was, and he said his brake was dragging. I looked at the half inch gap between brake block and rim, on both sides, and begged leave to doubt it. The wheel bearing was so tight that the back tyre just skidded if you tried to roll the bike without a rider on board.
It turned out that he'd had the bike serviced at a not very good shop immediately before departure, and they had tightened the drive side locknut so much that the axle thread had stripped, resulting in an unlocked cone that self-tightened. It cost him a replacement wheel at the next town (Cordoba).
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
What's all that (unlocking cones and dynamos) got to do with 'drive side' being 'written' on the inside of one rim wall? You can't see the inside of a rim with a tyre on it, can you, so it doesn't help the rider determine which way round the wheel goes. The wheel will be built with the hub model/make name oriented so it can be read (ie left to right) from above while desperately climbing a 1:4.
I'm with @boydj here: meaningless.
The only thing I can think of is if the rim is drilled assymetrically, designed for rear wheel use.
Or maybe it's just like some road tyres: the manufacturer got fed up with questions about which side should go on the right so they randomly marked one side.
I'm with @boydj here: meaningless.
The only thing I can think of is if the rim is drilled assymetrically, designed for rear wheel use.
Or maybe it's just like some road tyres: the manufacturer got fed up with questions about which side should go on the right so they randomly marked one side.