Road bike slower than mountain bike?! (HELP!)

[TheSoulReaver03]

I too am finding it hard to visualize your problem but here's a belt and braces approach that I might start with.

Basics:-
Pump the tyres up. Each one will probably need about 80psi in depending on tyre size, wider less, narrower more
Make sure the seat height is right for you
Make sure the seat is not too far back or forward (knee over pedal as a starter guide)
It changes into all gears, adjust limit screws on front and rear dérailleurs if it doesn't

Fault checking:-
Check the whole frame and forks for dints, bumps, cracks and rub marks near the wheels
tighten the quick release levers and make sure the wheels are fully in dropouts
spin each wheel and watch if it's straight by observing the space between brake block and rim
Spin the cranks by hand, make sure there's no stiffness or notchiness
Make sure the rear freewheel is free by pedalling backwards
No play in the hubs (you already did this)
Lift the bike and move the bars, they should move freely no notchiness
put the front brake on and rock the bike, there should be no play in the headset
put the brakes on and off, they should release, check this by spinning the wheel after using them
Check all bolts to make sure they are tight
examine the chain to make sure it's lubed and there are no stiff links
Examine the tyres for bulges or splits

I'd start with that. Youtube will tell you how to do each of those things if you are not sure.

I'll try to explain on more time.

I get on the bike. I pedal to a steady speed of 20 KM/H then I stop pedaling. The front wheel is giving off a clunking noise every time it makes a full turn. That silent clunking noise ( was louder when the inner parts of the hub were not replaced) is followed by something that kind of shakes the frame a little bit.

@gbb

Next, I lifted the front of the bike up while stationary and spun the front wheel while it was not touching the ground. This time it made sort of a scratching noise like it's touching the brake pads or the sides of the forks, but it's not touching anything, I've checked it. Although it's weaker, I still feel some shaking in the frame after that scratching noise. Although it does look like that the rim is going suddenly sideways then going back to its original position, but none of the spokes were loose last time I checked. (I guess it's not tyre pressure then.)

I believe this may be the culprit in slowing me down.

I hope you understand my problem now. I don't think I can explain it better. :\

EDIT : I've also lifted the rear wheel up and spon it, same situation as the front wheel. It's shaking the frame a little bit, but I swear to god it's not touching anything...

EDIT2 : The guy said they didn't really see anything wrong with the front axle. When I asked him why my MTB is rolling downhill faster, ha said he has no idea.

 

[Crackle]

Ok

I would take the tyre and inner tube off if you haven't already and examine it and the rim. I'd also check if the wheel is round. You may have a high spot or a low spot on the rim.

 

[Smokin Joe]

If it bumps every revolution the tyre is probably not seated at the valve. Release the pressure, push the valve up into the tyre and pump it up again.

 

[marzjennings]

I would guess some serious divots in the bearing cup. Possibly the bearings are not rolling smoothly between cup and cone causing the noise and vibration. No amount of grease will fix this. When your guy stripped the hub and replaced something, did he not also check for divots in the cup? If the cup's are worn then your hubs are toast, you may need new hubs/wheels.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

I would guess some serious divots in the bearing cup. Possibly the bearings are not rolling smoothly between cup and cone causing the noise and vibration. No amount of grease will fix this. When your guy stripped the hub and replaced something, did he not also check for divots in the cup? If the cup's are worn then your hubs are toast, you may need new hubs/wheels.

As the hubs are both old, they look a bit different. I will probably post some pictures tomorrow.

Please guys don't leave this topic! I really need to solve this

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Upon spinning the wheel today, I think the sound is coming from tyre/rim itself, not the hub. But it's not touching the ground, so how can it create a sound?

 

[Cyclist33]

Each turn the front wheel is doing something that gets transerred to the bike frame and feels like i've gone over a small bump...it's shaking the frame basically. Even if I were to take pictures you couldn't see it.

Now, if you had both tyres badly underinflated then they would both produce a bump each turn as you rotated over the air valve in each inner tube...

Have you tried just taking it to like a bike shop and asking to borrow their track pump, and putting 80 psi air pressure in both tyres?

You should have either asked the bike shop guy for a lot more practical advice about the bike than you did, or not bought it.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

UPDATE :

In short, the bike guy is an a$$hole and didn't look into the case. When I mentioned that the problem I'm bothered about still stands (bumping and quick deceleration), he started whining and made me feel like a Đickhead for even bringing it up..

Anyways, it's not the hubs. It appears that I have a slight dent in both the front and rear rim. When I spin the front wheel and look at it from the front (the wheel is turning towards me), there's a section where the tyre "goes upwards" then goes down again. The guy said that there's no perfect rim, and since my rims are old and made of steel, they're even more inaccurate. Is this the smell of BS?
I guess replacing the rims (and that would mean "upgrading" from 630 to 622) would be too expensive for me. The dents are not really visible, having a quick glance at it I'd say it's a perfect circle... The tyres are alligned well as far as I know.
My grandfather said that hardening on the spokes where the dent is and loosening on the other side could resolve the problem, or at the very least make it better.

Any suggestions? Are the services just lazy to fix it or is it really imossible to fix them?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Sound like you're being fed a load of BS. Take a couple of photos and post them here, it's very hard to see what the problem is otherwise.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Today I removed the front wheel from the frame, along with the tyre and the tube, spun the rim and held it on the two sides (axle) of the hubs. There appears to be some resistance in its rolling. If I'm not gripping the axle with some force, the axle itself starts spinning with the rims.
Also, there's no "upwards" movement in the rim, so I'm guessing it's the tyres. Could this be it?

 

[snorri]

When I spin the front wheel and look at it from the front (the wheel is turning towards me), there's a section where the tyre "goes upwards" then goes down again. The guy said that there's no perfect rim, and since my rims are old and made of steel, they're even more inaccurate. Is this the smell of BS?

Not necessarily BS.
Whilst competitive or even enthusiastic cyclists would not tolerate anything other than a 'true' rim, many people have cycled for years with a bit of a wobble in the rims without even being aware of the fact. Perhaps the bike mechanic feels you are expecting a bit much of an elderly bicycle, particularly if you are unwilling to spend to get the bike up to a good standard.

 

[TheSoulReaver03]

Not necessarily BS.
Whilst competitive or even enthusiastic cyclists would not tolerate anything other than a 'true' rim, many people have cycled for years with a bit of a wobble in the rims without even being aware of the fact. Perhaps the bike mechanic feels you are expecting a bit much of an elderly bicycle, particularly if you are unwilling to spend to get the bike up to a good standard.

I was willing to spend. Even other people said that this guy is full of shoot. Upon braking at high speeds the whole frame shakes once every turn the front wheel is making, and a *KNOCK* can be heard. The wheels spin freely though.

 

[MALT]

I wonder if you have the correct number of balls in your hub bearings. I know exactly the noise and shake that you describe. When I started riding my bike (a secondhand 60yr old bike) this summer, I noticed this very problem, but from the rear wheel, not the front.

I replaced the balls in the non-driven side of the rear hub, but cannot get the ring undone on the sprocket side, to give me access to the cup and cone on that side. When I stripped down the non-driven side, I noticed that there were less than the required number of balls - and refitted the bearings with the correct number - ie there was room for nearly 9 in the cup, so I fitted 8, despite removing only 7.

Now I am wondering if the previous owner had been having a bad day and fitted the 'missing' ball in the driven side of the hub.

The wheel winds up to the bump, as the bearing balls bunch up then, with a 'donk' redistribute around the bearing... or that's what it feels like.

Would be interested to hear other more experienced rider / mechanics views on this.

 

[Cyclist33]

Time for a new bike?

 

[tyred]

Since you are paying someone (of questionable mechanical knowledge) to do the work, it may be more cost effective to replace the wheels with one of those basic 27" wheelsets with Quando hubs you find on Ebay - around £60 last time I looked. You can transfer your existing tyres and tubes although you may need to get the bike shop to remove the freewheel block (or just replace it too with a basic sun race or shimano one and a cheap chain).