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My LBS sold me a new wheel. I put on the new wheel. I'd go back to the LBS, but I'm afraid that I live far away from them. Alas, I'm now having this problem:

enter image description here As you can see, the wheel is quite not aligned to the frame. This is a picture of either side: enter image description here and enter image description here

I had to use cone wrenches to remove a spacer (?) (metal ring of some sort) or there was no possible way the wheel was going on, at least that's what I thought at the time; it's base was too long for the frame. Is there something wrong or is this just the wrong size of wheel?

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  • Use a ruler to measure the dropout spacing. I don't think anything other than 130mm for rim brakes has been the standard for at least a decade or two now.
    – MaplePanda
    Apr 11, 2021 at 0:00
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    @MaplePanda many hybrid, mountain, and cruiser bikes use the 135mm standard with rim brakes
    – Pisco
    Apr 14, 2021 at 16:19
  • @Pisco Did not know that, thanks!
    – MaplePanda
    Apr 15, 2021 at 3:34

1 Answer 1

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One visible issue is the quick release skewer spring on the drive side. See how it is visibly stuck in the drop out, where it shouldn't be. This means it is facing the wrong way round, so you need to remove the wheel, swap the spring(s) round the right way and reinsert the wheel. They are conical, and both 'point' inwards to the centre of the wheel.

Such a little error can cause a noticeable skew of the wheel, so I would think this will solve the problem. Note how the tyre is skewed off from the bike centre line.

As Nathan notes, removing that spacer will have had an effect on the wheel dish. Check the spacing of the frame and the wheel hub width (O.L.D.). I'm not sure if the wheel was too wide originally or if the spring originally caused the problem you were trying to fix. You'll either need to replace the spacer, or re-dish the wheel to get things just right.

enter image description here

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    That is an excellent catch. It's this problem plus the removed spacer screwing up the dish. I saw the latter but wasn't seeing how it would do this much by itself. Apr 10, 2021 at 17:20
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    @Nathan thank you kindly. I've seen it a bunch on the start line of sportives, when people notice their brake is suddenly rubbing. Saves time and effort checking the skewers first(!) Fortunately OP included a range of photos in the question from the start
    – Swifty
    Apr 10, 2021 at 18:12
  • Hmmm I'm not sure how I understand how the spacer screws up the dish. Did it put more tension on it than the nuts do independently? Apr 13, 2021 at 14:05
  • If you did remove an axle spacer, then the centreline of the wheel moves laterally (by half its thickness), but the rim hasn't been adjusted so it is then not centred laterally between the dropouts. So to 're-dish' the wheel, you would adjust the spoke tensions to re-centre the rim. If however, the original issue wasn't the hub spacing, but the spring in the dropout, then you would want to put the spacer back in and not worry about the spoke tensions
    – Swifty
    Apr 13, 2021 at 19:46
  • @user1833028 if you haven't measured the hub O.L.D. or the frame spacing, then do that first, see this explainer if needed: halowheels.com/frame-spacing-hub-o-l-d-information the dimensions should match; normally rim brake wheels are 130mm, but don't assume anything
    – Swifty
    Apr 13, 2021 at 19:46

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