I bought my First MTB about a month ago, a new Trek Roscoe 7. I’ve ridden about 40 miles and have noticed the back tire seems to have some drag. I come from MX and this seems to stop pretty abruptly compared to what I’m used to. It doesn’t seem to be the brakes. Could there be something in the hub with drag or is this normal for MTB?
by awesome_saucem
13 Comments
not even close to normal. I’m no mechanic but something must be rubbing somewhere
Not normal at all
Pretty normal when your brake rotor is rubbing hard
Nope. Not at all
see if it’s clamped too tight, then check brakes. sometimes the housing pops out of the routing lugs on the frame or brake lever and can cause this, or the pads need adjusting
Try the business card trick. If that doesn’t work the pistons might need to be spaced.
My bet is your brake caliper is misaligned. It’s an easy fix but tricky for a newbie (many times early on I was at a trailhead trying to fix it). Lots of vids online showing how to center it. I’d check your front as well if the rear is this bad.
If that sounds like too much, it’s bike shop time.
It’s most likely your brake pad rubbing. You need to push the pistons back.
That’s rubbing way too much. You may just need to adjust your brake caliper to the rotor, I had to do this on a brand new bike recently. The video below might be helpful, once you’ve loosened the bolts on the caliper you can hold the brake and tighten the bolts with the brake engaged. That usually gets you close, but you may need to make minor adjustments from there (such as prying the brake pad bracket apart slightly to create more clearance). A very slight rub is normal and will go away after a couple of rides.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/hzeFR-AKSwk
Could be 1 of 2 things. 1: your brake is misaligned and the pads are rubbing on the rotor.
2: your hub ( if it is an adjustable cup/cone style bearing hub) is overly tight and needs to be adjusted.
The brake can be easily done at home, the hub would be best addressed by an experienced mechanic.
If the brakes aren’t rubbing, check the torque on your thru axle. It might be way too tight. I think the torque on that axle should be 10nm.
Looks like a lot of brake alignment suggestions, I’ll use the rainy day tomorrow to work that out.
Well, everyone has answered the question that no, it’s not normal, so let me just add what is normal: when you spin your wheel like that it should spin by itself for a long time if you don’t do anything to stop it.