How long sort out rear wheel?

[Twilkes]

How long would it take to switch a cassette on a rear wheel, and relube the bearings in the hub?

I only have an hour at Bike Station Glasgow (saves me buying wrenches and a chain whip), never done it before but watched a couple of videos so kind of know how it goes.

Can postpone the hub if there's a risk I'd end up not finishing in time.

 

[Star Strider]

Cassette is a 15 minute job.

Bearings I would leave until you are not against the clock, if it's cup and cone shimano with seals it's often better just to leave them as is.

 

[Twilkes]

Sounds good - there's a tiny wobble in the wheel so hoping I can just tighten up the cones, but while I was at it I thought I'd regrease them at the same time. It's a Shimano Deore XT of some description.

 

[pshore]

The wobble might be as simple as hand tightening the thin (cone?) nut on the axle. If you have two nuts on one side, and one on the other, the single one can come loose over time, guessing due to the spinning of the quick release lever.

Hubs are not my area of knowledge. Dunno why you wouldn't have a lock nut on both sides but I've seen it on my own bikes and others.

 

[accountantpete]

Pretty often just tightening the QR a bit more will remove that play.

To tighten up the cones you just need to adjust one side - but you will need cone spanners and tuition in how to tighten them up properly. It's a 5 min job with the right tools.

 

[HovR]

As above, cassette is an easy 15 minute job, less if you know what you're doing. If you've serviced hubs before then you could do both the cassette and regrease the hub in under an hour, but you might be a bit pressed for time on your first attempt.

• You could however just nip up the tension on the hub fairly easily and quickly. Make sure you can access both cones and locknuts, and pick a side to work from. I normally use the non-drive side. Ensure that the cone and locknut on the drive side (the side you aren't working on) are tightened against each-other securely.

• Next, on the non-drive side (the side you are working on) undo the cone from the locknut and back it off a turn or two, just to get it out the way. You can now loosen off the cone (it may become tightly pressed against the bearings when loosening the locknut), and then finger tighten it up to the bearings until the bearings are a little bit over tensioned.

• Now bring the locknut back towards the cone (finger tight), then hold it securely with a cone spanner. Tighten the cone back towards the locknut until it is firmly locked in to place. Tightening the cone back towards the locknut will remove a bit of tension on the bearings, hence you you slightly over-tightened them in the second bullet point.

• Test for play in the axle - there should be the very smallest amount for the quick release to take up, and no more. If it's too tight then the axle won't spin freely.

If you haven't got the tension right, you can go back to the second bullet point, adjusting how tightly you bring the cone up to the bearings until the final tension is just right. It can be a bit fiddly the first time you try it, but you should have enough time to get everything done within the hour.

 

[Rob3rt]

15 minutes to swap a cassette? Are you guys knocking off for a cup of tea for 10 mins in the middle here?

It takes me less than 5 minutes, probably less than 3 minutes. Faster if in a hurry*.

* I am well drilled since I swap cassette maybe 2-3 times a week when switching between turbo wheel and outdoor wheel.

 

[Star Strider]

On a clean well maintained bike it's a few minutes job.

It could however be on a dirty winter bike and be seized and need a soak before it shifts, some nutters also insist on torqing up lockrings like wheel nuts.

 

[Twilkes]

Yep, about an hour to change the cassette, tighten up the hub, clean out the gunk from the jockey wheels before changing the chain and reassembling. And also changing the pedals for something with a bit more grip, even though they're just an old plastic pair for three quid.

So £4 to get to use all the tools I need, the Bike Station is a pretty good deal - the folk there know there stuff and were happy to show me how to deal with the hub. There are BIke Stations in Edinburgh and Perth too, worth dropping in if you think you could fix something yourself but just don't have the tools.