If it is truly bent (and not something else going on) best bet is just to replace the wheel. Sure it's not a spoke? By the way, you're pretty big for that wheel anyway. It's 24 spoke, right? Get something sturdier. I also notice that the RS2 rear dropouts get worn - get a Shimano skewer to make sure your wheel is staying in place (the Reynolds skewer like other external cams isn't strong enough to do that)

 

define "clearly evident"...

guy came in today. i swore up and down that the rear triangle was tweaked (bike was shipped to him and he had assembled it). after about 5mins of scratching my head, I dropped the wheel for the 4th time and realized that the QR spring was on backwards and not allowing the axle to seat properly in the dropouts. oops. all of a sudden, the frame was straight.

 

Yes it is a 24 spoke rear, I kept meaning to get something a bit shall we say heartier but never got around to it. First I "needed" my 8th pair of bibs, or another jersey, a new helmet (really), or something for my motorcycle. All last year and so far this year my fat @ss didn't have any problems with the rear. I do however only put on 130ish/week so I'm not doing a ton of mileage, plus around here we can't ride over the winter...

As for the skewer I never thought to replace that, and the dropouts I had read about.

I'd show you bent if I had batteries for the digital camera. I actually first noticed when I had the wheel and skewer off for the 100th time and randomly turned the hub axle. Instead of turing nicely you were able to see it oscillate from where it stuck beyond the cassette. So then I decided to remove the cassette. Upon doing that I met some resistance pulling it off as there was metal rubbing metal. Once the cassette, lock nuts, and such were off I can visibly see the axle has a bend to it.

 

Exploded view & a question

Here is a link to an exploded view of the rear hub:
http://www.reynoldscycling.com/uploads/documents/2008KTRearHub-Shimano.pdf

Looking this diagram, there appears to be a three sealed bearings; two well outboard and one under the drive side flange. On top of that, the axle appears to be pretty large in diameter. With an arrangement like this it is hard to see how the axle could be bent without breaking something else as well. Someone please help me understand. Thoughts?

 

My guesses are a broken spoke, a cracked rim or the skewer is skewed.

 

It's very possible to bend an axle and not know until you remove and remount the wheel. It's also possible for a wheel to spin true on a bent axle, and likewise for a straight axle to spin true on a bent wheel.

I don't mean to insult you, but recheck the axle by removing the skewer and winding a piece of string around it and using it to spin the axle while looking for wobbly ends. Check both sides, but it's almost always the right that bends.

What to do?
Best option is replace the axle. If it's only slightly bent and in such a way that both the hub and cassette run fine, you can live with it, but you'll have to be careful about how it's oriented every time you mount the wheel.

Certainly, this should be repairable without chucking the wheel.

BTW- major causes of bent axles on road bikes include non-parallel dropouts, overloading, and chains that are too short and pull the cassette forward when cross-chained big/big.

 

Quick fix, put the wheel back in with the axle in the orientation which allows the wheel to turn freely. Correct above, axles bend (old shimano and campy axles common) and usually don't effect anything until you remove and replace the wheel.

 

I haven't had a bent axle since the days of freewheels.
I'm not sure if it's possible anymore.

 

+1

I second this observation - thus my post above. Back in the freewheel days, I bent axles all the time and I only weighted about 155 pounds. On old school hubs, the inboard placement of the right rear bearing gave the road shock loads a lot of leverage to bend the axle. Add to this the relatively small diameter of the axles and it was really easy to bend them. The outboard bearing placement on modern freehubs, coupled with the inclusion of bearings under the drive side flange and larger diameter axles, makes it hard to picture scenarios where the axle could be bent without breaking something else in the system (like the junction of the hub shell and the freehub body).

FB in NY’s point about non- parallel dropouts and overloading contributing to bending axles sound valid, but still the forces needed do this on a good modern hub would be really high.<O</O<O</O

 

Given that there's leverage from pedal to chainwheel I think it's probably possible to do this and as FB mentioned already the highest stress on the axle will be on the largest cog for that type of hub design.

FB in NY’s point about non- parallel dropouts and overloading contributing to bending axles sound valid, but still the forces needed do this on a good modern hub would be really high.

 

Ok got to the LBS today after work. Spokes and rim are fine. The mechanic took stuff apart and put it back together, then he remounted it. The wheel was better than how I could get it mounted but still fairly crooked and rubbing during certain places in the revolution.

He did mention that it seems that the axle may be "tweaked" a bit but thinks it has probably been like that for a bit. He feels that the main problem is "something funky" with the hub, so yea I have NO IDEA what that is supposed to mean. So he kept the wheel and I rode on a random spare I have sitting about.

Anyways he was going to have another guy at the shop and look at it, he said he'll give me a call when they figure something out. I love local yocal bike shops....

Kept asking if I had been hit by something or went down hard or dropped a piano on it...

Nothing at all, but a wheel change by me...

 

It sounds like the guy really knows what he is talking about. Did he get his training at Walmart??

I would find a bike shop that is not staffed by morons.

 

Rim and spokes are OK but the rim wobbles. Maybe it's the hub?

Is this LBS down at the docks or the fish market? Maybe near a fertilizer plant? Because this sure smells strange to me.

I don't deny the possibility of a hub problem, but almost by definition if a rim has runout when spinning it's a spokes/rim problem, and not a hub problem. The only way it would be a hub problem is if there were runout at the hub flanges.

I'm with Mr. Grumpy here, can't tell about the wheel or axle, but I suspect you need a new LBS. I'd runout and get the wheel back ASAP.

 

Has anyone tried truing/dishing the wheel? You'd of course do this before suspecting the axle...right?

I remember rolling axles across a glass table-top to see how crooked they were, and choosing the straightest one to build (Campagnolo Nuovo Record days). Others I think I hammered back into shape.

 

With what little knowledge I have I *think* the it is true, as I was in the shop I saw him put the rim on a truing stand but got caught up talking to another patron and didn't pay full attention.

As for the LBS it is very new and that is only the 2nd time I've been in there. It is really close to where I live so I figured I'd give it a try.

After talking to a good friend last night he convinced me to grab the rim and go elsewhere, I mean I'd love to give the local guy the support but....

 

+1 for the glass top table

The glass top table was SOP back in the day for me as well. Changing and straightening Nuovo Record axles was just part of normal maintenance.