Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
The day before yesterday, I changed the rear tyre on my commuting bike. Obviously, to do this, I had to take the wheel out and refit it, which I did at lunchtime. I put the bike back together, and rode it home. When I got home, I noticed that the rear wheel seemed loose, so made a mental note to fix it after tea.
Of course I forgot. But loose seemed to be all that the problem was, and it was too late to fix it this morning. It'll just be the bearing loosening itself, somehow, sez I, and so I brought a handful of tools with me so that I could fix it at lunchtime today.
Just been to do that. It wasn't the bearing: the spacer, that screws onto the axle between the locknut and the frame, was missing altogether, so the tracknut was loose too.
It can't have fallen off when I had the wheel out yesterday, because I never removed the tracknuts, and the spacer's too small to come off over the tracknut. It must have been there when I put the wheel back in, because I definitely tightened up the tracknuts - which were both still there. When I tried that just now, the wheel wouldn't go round - without the spacer, the freewheel fouls the frame because the tracknut squeezes the droupouts onto it.
All I can think of is that the spacer cracked or split during the ride home yesterday, and fell off that way. It's a good job the other tracknut was belted up tight (and that it's not a Q/R wheel) because otherwise the wheel would have gone squiff in the frame and probably locked up. I've fixed it for now by putting in a couple of thick washers to act as a spacer.
Anybody else ever had this happen?
Of course I forgot. But loose seemed to be all that the problem was, and it was too late to fix it this morning. It'll just be the bearing loosening itself, somehow, sez I, and so I brought a handful of tools with me so that I could fix it at lunchtime today.
Just been to do that. It wasn't the bearing: the spacer, that screws onto the axle between the locknut and the frame, was missing altogether, so the tracknut was loose too.
It can't have fallen off when I had the wheel out yesterday, because I never removed the tracknuts, and the spacer's too small to come off over the tracknut. It must have been there when I put the wheel back in, because I definitely tightened up the tracknuts - which were both still there. When I tried that just now, the wheel wouldn't go round - without the spacer, the freewheel fouls the frame because the tracknut squeezes the droupouts onto it.
All I can think of is that the spacer cracked or split during the ride home yesterday, and fell off that way. It's a good job the other tracknut was belted up tight (and that it's not a Q/R wheel) because otherwise the wheel would have gone squiff in the frame and probably locked up. I've fixed it for now by putting in a couple of thick washers to act as a spacer.
Anybody else ever had this happen?
