My wheel is clearly out of center when looking at the chain stays but is more centered when looking at the seat stays, is this an issue with the frame or the wheel?
I’ve certainly had a true wheel, looked straight at the bottom but way off at the top. My brain can’t comprehend the geometry behind it all but I can tell you that aluminum is what it is. And steel to an extent can gently be pushed and pulled and bent back into proper shape. I’ve seen highly regarded steel bike makers doing this to a fork that was a little off on a custom jig. That’s all highly subjective stuff and hard to probably quantify and correct for, could just be one tube installed not in the right spot somewhere goofy. If you’re not getting rub or weird tire wear, and your wheel is true I would just ride it!
PhotoStreet5323 on
The first thing to do would be a dropout alignment. Then you can check the other items.
gtict on
Silly question…but is the tire totally seated all the way around?
ford-flex on
Check that the wheel is in dish properly
dinosaurinachinastor on
Check the wheel on a truing stand, if it’s true it’s either your dropout or the tire itself
spleeble on
It’s off center either way. Either the axle isn’t fully seated, the wheel is out of true, or the frame is bent.
Which of those have you checked?
Imadethistoimpress on
OP it prolly isn’t this, but I’ve had qr wheel with broken axel. Sometimes it would lineup and sit normally, other times it would look like this. If you run out of other options consider it
omnivision12345 on
I think It is that way in all three of my bikes. Rear wheel is not symmetrical due to cassette/sprocket and/or disk.
davidjacob2016 on
I agree with others, the wheel most likely isn’t dished correctly. It will look good from the top but off on the bottom. If you can take a known good wheel and mount it
btwyn on
Maybe put on another wheel and see if you’re get same result.
BrewYork on
It looks like you have sliding rear dropouts. They are probably not aligned. (Is that a Soma Wolverine BTW? Had one of those, miss that bike.)
16 Comments
Need more info/photos. Is it QR or thru? QR could just not be fully seated
Had same thing on frame with qr dropouts. Temporary fixed with folded pice of beer can, permanently fixed with file.
Center the wheel on the axle before you mount it on the bike.
Are your wheels true?
Take it to the shop for an alignment.
Check at home first:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html#symmetry
I’ve certainly had a true wheel, looked straight at the bottom but way off at the top. My brain can’t comprehend the geometry behind it all but I can tell you that aluminum is what it is. And steel to an extent can gently be pushed and pulled and bent back into proper shape. I’ve seen highly regarded steel bike makers doing this to a fork that was a little off on a custom jig. That’s all highly subjective stuff and hard to probably quantify and correct for, could just be one tube installed not in the right spot somewhere goofy. If you’re not getting rub or weird tire wear, and your wheel is true I would just ride it!
The first thing to do would be a dropout alignment. Then you can check the other items.
Silly question…but is the tire totally seated all the way around?
Check that the wheel is in dish properly
Check the wheel on a truing stand, if it’s true it’s either your dropout or the tire itself
It’s off center either way. Either the axle isn’t fully seated, the wheel is out of true, or the frame is bent.
Which of those have you checked?
OP it prolly isn’t this, but I’ve had qr wheel with broken axel. Sometimes it would lineup and sit normally, other times it would look like this. If you run out of other options consider it
I think It is that way in all three of my bikes. Rear wheel is not symmetrical due to cassette/sprocket and/or disk.
I agree with others, the wheel most likely isn’t dished correctly. It will look good from the top but off on the bottom. If you can take a known good wheel and mount it
Maybe put on another wheel and see if you’re get same result.
It looks like you have sliding rear dropouts. They are probably not aligned. (Is that a Soma Wolverine BTW? Had one of those, miss that bike.)