My rear tire came loose while riding. I took it off and this bolt sheered off. What is the name of this part? Bike is a year old minus the 7 months of winter I couldn’t ride it. Is this normal? It’s a Raleigh mountain bike. Appreciate you ahead of time.
by smmmokin
10 Comments
It’s your axle
wow. what a coincidence. mine also broke this week. I thought I was a fluke.
this is your axle, I think. pretty sure. looks a little different from mine.
it’s sometimes specific to your hub. so if you’re looking for a new one, that’s a detail to consider.
Mine broke because I don’t tighten the skewer tight enough on my forward facing drop outs, and when I pedal REALLY HARD, sometimes the wheel pops crooked. Sometimes I catch it because the tires is so far over that it rubs the bike frame. Sometimes it only moves a little bit, and it puts weird pressure on the axle and it bent/broke this week. I THOUGHT that it was because the lockrings on the outside weren’t tight enough (you know how sometimes you back them off to make it roll in the bearings all nice nice, but not too tight that it kinda grunts, or too loose that it has play left/right?). It was definitely just damaged from me riding hard.
Luckily, for me, I have a craigslist bike guy with tons of Normandy Hubs from 1980something, that I can buy a new axle for like $5. I am willing to but that yours is just as common. I am not sure if it is a normally stocked Bike Shop item, but would definitely recommend reaching out.
/r/bikewrench
If your rear wheel is an older freewheel design, the axle is asymmetrical and more vulnerable to breakage. I replaced a couple of them before switching to a wheel with a cassette hub, which has a symmetrical axle and I haven’t had a broken axle since.
Cheap freewheel bikes and broken axles, name a more iconic duo: I’ll wait.
For real though this design flaw has always existed in freewheel hubs it’s just that since freewheels are now only used on the cheapest bikes they exclusively have the worst materials that can’t survive the design flaw.
If you are heavier and this keeps happening it may be worth replacing the rear wheel with a freehub type. This issue simply doesn’t happen with freehubs.
Rear axle 10 bucks on Amazon.
If you can measure the axle and the spacing of the parts you can swap them onto a new axle and put it back in
sheer: steep, like a cliff, or thin, like lingerie
shear: break off cleanly due to perpendicular force
The axle spacing should be pretty standard 135mm for mountain bikes and 130 for some road bikes. I just replaced the axle on my kids bike with one that has a quick release skewer. About ten bucks on Amazon. You might need a special tool to get the freewheel off. https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/repair-help/hub-overhaul-and-adjustment
You need a Solid axle , not “QR” quick release axle.
Your weight is one factor. Riding hard over jumps, bumps, potholes is another factor that stresses the axle.
You could buy a cassette wheel as suggested, but need to make sure it’s the right one for your bike, with the correct cassette cogs to match your shifters. 7 speed? 8 speed ? 9 speed ?….