I had a puncture so I took out the wheel and replaced the inner tube. To my surprise I just couldn’t put wheel back in the drop out again.
I recently swapped the wheels on the bike but this was done by my local bike shop. I really don’t know if I should just pull on the chainstay.
It’s a vintage steel road bike. Can you help me with this because I really feel like it should be easy 🥲
Thanks!
by unpuxumas
2 Comments
older steel road bikes have 126mm spacing or 130mm for more modern stuff. that looks like a mtb/hybrid hub, which probably has 135mm spacing. with old steel frames like that, it’s probably safe to spread the dropouts and cram the axle in there.
however, it looks like the left side of that hub is missing a dust cover. or is that my imagination? are the bearings exposed to the elements there? your hub is going to self-destruct like that.
if the dust cover is missing, that hub needs to be reassembled with something to keep grease in and dirt out. while you’re at it, see if you can put a narrower spacer between the cone nut and the lock nut on the right side of the hub, then dish the wheel to re-center it. the right side of that hub looks like it has a lot of extra space next to the freewheel.
If the shop installed the wheels, they just spread the stays to do it. You can do the same, but it appears that the hub width isn’t the same as the frame spacing, so it’ll be like this every time you remove the wheel unless you “cold set” the frame or replace the hub.