No end of problems with my Specialized Allez wheels

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johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Hi.
As you may of read from my previous post I've been having some fun and games recently with my wheels.
Firstly the back wheel started making some unusual noises. After lots of help from here and from friends it turned out to be water ingress in the bearings. A clean up and re grease got me back on my way again and thought happy days of trouble free cycling would be ahead of me this summer. Sadly this was not to be. A week or so later the front wheel started to make to same horrible grinding noise. After taking it apart i was met with familiar sight of horrible rusty looking grease. Water had somehow managed find there into the bearings and cause me more agro. Another clean up and fresh grease and i was certain that would be the end of it.
But no, it still had another card up its sleeve to annoy my. Just the other night the rear starting making some mysterious noises again. The bearings where fine this time. Its now the freehub that's Rattling and grinding away.
After a little research on the Internet, it turns out the freehubs on the Specialized Allez (2012 era) where not the best quality. There a non generic make laced up to Mavic rims and by and large there unserviceable and hard to get hold of.
So I've decided to ditch these wheels and buy another set.
A good look around Ebay shocked me as to how expensive a half decent set of wheels can be. Wow!!! 3/400 pounds seems to be the norm :=((
Thankfully though after asking around at my local cycling group a friend has come up trumps with a second hand pair of Fulcrum Quattro wheels. Hopefully once there swapped over i can get on with enjoying my cycling adventures again without fretting over mechanic issues.
I would just run the old ones into the ground if i was riding locally but as my rides take me a long way from home i really dont want to risk getting stranded in the middle of nowhere..
All the very best,
Johnny.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
For £300/400 you can get a really nice set of hand made wheels to your own spec from DCR Wheels www.dcrwheels.co.uk
 

Rooster1

I was right about that saddle
My 2008 Giant Defy srtarted to need everything replacing after 2 or 3 years and 12,000 miles. Wheels, Freehub, Cabling, Headset bearing, derailleur dolly wheels, crankset, chain, cassette - everthing except the frame basically.
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Looking around on ebay is not always the best place to get wheels from. Wiggle own brand wheels are £110 for a pair - Prime Pelotons - and should do the job nicely. That said, a new hub laced into the existing wheels would work too, and probably for a little over half the cost of even the cheapest wheelset.
 
OP
OP
johnnyb47

johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Hi @Yellow Saddle.
I don't use a power washer in all honesty. I just rinse it down with a watering can. As the bike was second hand I've got a feeling the previous owner may of used one though, leaving me to pick up the pieces further down the line. Tonight i fitted my new to me wheels. The chap i bought them off is a real nice guy and let me have them for a bargain. He even gave me two extra tyre's, as well as the tyres that were fitted to the wheels. He also gave me a brand new Shimano tool to get the cassette off. The tyres fitted are virtually new Vittoria Rubino pro 700x28.
I've never rode a bike with 28mm tyres before so I've kept them on to try through curiosity.They just about fitted the bike.
With the cassette changed and tyres pump up i just had to go out for a ride. After a few stops fine tuning the gears i was amazed by how much more comfortable the ride was. I can only describe it as smooth and sure footed. I was also cracking in a good pace too. First impressions are that i feel i could ride this bike now over a long distance without succumbing to fatigue from harshly surfaced roads which is what I've always suffered from in the past. They feel like they just glide over the surface absorbing up the poor road surface. As for the wheels them self they look very nice indeed. All the grinding and rumbles have gone and can just hear that nice hollow sound that i admire. There lighter and feel stronger compared to my old one's.
Hopefully my winging about bike problems will stop now and continue to enjoy many a new adventure.
Thank you all for all your help and advice.
You know it's always appreciated
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Cracked a flange on a rear wheel t'other day. Sourced another hub, which arrived the following day. Rebuilt the wheel in about an hour.
 

T4tomo

Guru
Looking around on ebay is not always the best place to get wheels from. Wiggle own brand wheels are £110 for a pair - Prime Pelotons - and should do the job nicely. That said, a new hub laced into the existing wheels would work too, and probably for a little over half the cost of even the cheapest wheelset.
I have a pair of those for swapping between nobblies and 28mm slicks on my CX / winter bike. They are pretty decent for the money.
 

Mr Celine

Discordian
I had the same freehub issue with the wheels supplied with my 2010 Spesh Roubaix, though these have long since been upgraded and the original wheels are now on my winter / commuter bike. The freehub is a crap design as is can't be disassembled to remove or replace the freewheel bearings. However there are two bodges and one permanent solution.

Bodge 1. Keep pedalling. The bearings in the freehub don't actually do anything unless you're freewheeling. So if you just keep on pedalling not only do you not hear those horrible grinding noises you get fitter and get where you're going faster.

Bodge 2. Remove the axle, wheel bearings and freehub body. Scoosh WD40 into the hole the axle came out in the general direction of the freewheel bearing until it stops coming out rusty. Reassemble. This reduces the noise albeit temporarily.

Solution. Replace the freehub. They are available online though not easy to find and don't seem to be discounted from the RRP of £30. You also need a 11mm hex drive to remove the old one. I think that cost about £3.

Bodges one and two kept me going for the best part of two years, solution applied January this year. All nice and quiet, still several thousand miles left on the rims.
 

Nebulous

Guru
Location
Aberdeen
My 2011 allez elite came with pretty poor wheels. I managed to nurse them along for quite a while, but never worked out how to remove the freehub or replace the bearings. I replaced them with a fairly cheap pair of shimano wheels at about £120 and it made a substantial difference to the ride. The newones were cup and cone so easier to clean and grease the bearings as necessary.
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
I wouldn't bother trying to re-use the rims on spesh stock wheels. They are complete pish IME. Friend had a new Allez out on a tour, and all else having failed to keep it true for more than a handful of miles, I set to work one evening to reduce it to its component parts, and start over. It remains the only wheel I've ever worked on which I couldn't get to an acceptable standard of even spoke tension and trueness at one and and the same time, because the rim had a natural pringle. How they managed to make a wheel-shaped object in the factory without noticing something was amiss escapes me. I resolved that thereafter I would personally only trust wheels I had built myself. A resolution I have stuck to as far as any bike that gets any number of miles is concerned. Not whisper of a problem since.
Worth learning how to build your own is my tuppence worth. Roger Musson's Wheelpro book is an excellent starting point.
 
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