I have a GRVL 520 from TRIBAN (Decathlon) for about a year. Suddenly my cassette runs with a non-planar behaviour (at least, I've never noticed it before) – see the video.
I showed it to the Decathlon store (still under warranty) and they told me it is usual on some bikes (even bikes of professional do this sometime) and I should not worry about that. Unconfident, I also showed it to my local bike mech and he told me the same.
Seems pretty unusual to me (and my colleagues but they are no professional neither, even if they practice bike since a long time).
So, I'm asking for your opinion, should I worry and ask for a new wheel to the store ?
Is it normal ?
I will go for a bikepacking tour soon and I don't want to have a bad suprise in the middle of nowhere 🙂
Thank you !
My cassette suddenly runs non-planar. Should I worry ?
byu/Far_Pianist1036 inbikewrench
by Far_Pianist1036
9 Comments
If all the cogs are snug with each other (no play), it’s just that the free hub is not perfectly aligned with the axle. Can bother some people (i got a wheel like that), but indeed it’s not a big deal as it doesn’t affect riding, nor will it damage your bike.
Sure, some lower quality freewheel body’s can have some play but this is way too much. I would definitely start a warranty case to get this fixed.
Grab the cassette on the big sprocket and see if it has play
Guessing it’d SRAM XD freehub. Take the wheel off, tighten the cassette back up and it should be fine. You’ll need a cassette tool 👍🏻
This should never happen – despite what a few comments here are saying. Either something is installed incorrectly or something is broken, period. No bike does this or is supposed to do this from the factory, end of story.
Either take your bike to a “real” bike shop or start buying tools to diagnose yourself. You would need to remove the cassette to determine if the freewheel is damaged. You would also then be able to ensure the cassette sprockets are installed correctly.
I have multiple high end bikes that do this (Ultegra / Dura Ace). I read a long time ago it helps with shifting, and this is normal
your derailleur looks a little bent too
So just to clarify a few things. You don’t have a free wheel, you have a cassette and a freehub. The free hub style is called an “hg”. The cassette has nothing to do with this. It is common for inexpensive, and expensive hubs to rock like this, usually higher end ones do it less. The ratcheting mechanism in your freehub has two bearings that allow the whole body to rotate independently of the hub, those bearings are often slightly off axis to the hub axle. Which causes this wobble. It is not a an issue, but can be annoying to see. It won’t likely get worse, but as the bearings wear it could rock slightly more. You can try to warranty it, but a) it will likely be denied and b) the replacement will likely be the exact same.
The one and only time this happened to me, my bike was totaled as the sprocket hit the spokes. Brought it to the sho and found oht that the freehubs casing has actually cracked, had to warranty it. Or it could be just as what people are saying and its normal. Ymmv