Hi everyone,
Super new to posting on Reddit and even more so on this sub. Also not a native English speaker, so sorry if this message is out place, full of mistakes etc.
I have been looking for a cheap bike to commute around town. I had the chance to score this super nice looking (imo at least) Motobecane Diffusion model from 79.
The bike runs quite well, except for the back wheel that’s driving me nuts. Basically it keeps on tilting on his axis and get in contact with the frame. I live up a hill so as you can imagine the additional drag is super not welcomed. On picture 2 you can actually kinda see the wear from the tire rubbing on the frame on the lower left bar.
From the few times I had to realign the wheel on the street, it looks like the problem comes from the gear side of the wheel. Apparently the nut is not able to maintain the wheel all the way back of its slot. It kinda looks like if there used to be some marking in the frame for the nut to actually grab onto it but that they have faded away.
Does any of you know if this is a problem with an easy fix ? I tried tightening the nut as much as possible with no luck, and am currently considering slightly “carving” those grooves back with a Dremel tool.
Thanks a lot for your help !
by No_Willingness_6353
1 Comment
It’s hard to get those wing nuts tight enough, and even harder to open them afterwards. I’ve heard that’s the sole reason quick release was invented.
There’s usually a serrated washer between the dropout and the wing nut. If you don’t have one (or there isn’t one integrated to the wingnuts), you should get those. They take up some of the axle length so check there’s enough thread left for the wing nuts.
You could also try just correctly sized (and tpi) normal nut with wrench flats. You can get a lot more leverage with a proper wrench. That would not look so snazzy though.
Whatever you do, don’t ride if there’s a chance your tire might rub the frame. Even though it’s just rubber, it can grind through your frame in just one trip.