help replacing wheel!

If it is a Road bike. Your wheel needs truing if it sways while it rotates. Otherwise, just hold your caliper and twist it away from the rim. It should turn after a bit of a twist.

If its not a warped wheel and the brakes seem to bias one side and rub the
wheel, then you'll need to adjust the brakes via a little adjustment screw.
This is taking for granted its a normal roadbike dual pivot caliper...

Was it OK before you changed your inner tube?

If it was, then your wheel probably does not need trueing and your brakes probably do not need adjusting. You probably just have not gotten your wheel straight in the dropouts. That's common. Try setting your bicycle upright so that it rests on the wheels. Loosen the quick release, push down on your saddle and retighten the quick release.

jfern1 said:

This is a problem I have actually had many times in the past. I just replaced hte tube on the back wheel of my road bike. All is fine now with it, except the wheel does not rotate smoothly. I can't seem to get it so that the brakes don't rub up against the rim of the wheel as it turns. I don't know much about bike mechanics/repairs/technicalities, but i tried many times just to unscrew it and put it back in and have yet to get it to be ok. I feel like I am missing something very simple here.

Changing the rear wheel is a chore and it difficult to do correctly at first, without experience. What you probably did is that you didn't install the wheel back on correctly. Make sure that the wheel is all the way in the dropouts. Really make sure of this; check each side to make sure that they look the same. I bet this is OK however; I bet what you probably did is that you didn't put the spacers on the rear axle back where they belong.

If you look closely at your rear axle, look at each of the nuts that you tightened and loosened. Right next to each nut is a spacer. Make sure that each spacer is on the inside of the bike frame, and that neither spacer is on the outside. Look closely and really make sure of this. If either spacer is outside, loosen the nuts and try again. The wheel will be difficult to install with both spacers inside the frame, but it's supposed to be a tight fit. You may have to bend the stays a bit with your hands while installing the wheel inside the dropouts (with the spacers inside the frame again, of course). Looking from behind the bike at the rear axle, it should look like:

Left nut - Left dropout and frame - left spacer - hub and wheel - right spacer - Left dropout and frame - Right nut.

Do not adjust the brakes after reinstalling the wheel. If you do, you will probably be correcting two wrongs to make a right, and your wheel will be crooked. Instead, make sure the wheel is installed correctly. If you have any doubts, take it to an LBS and ask them not to just install the wheel but to show you how to do it right, and you'll never have this problem again. Good luck.

ABG said:

Changing the rear wheel is a chore and it difficult to do correctly at first, without experience. What you probably did is that you didn't install the wheel back on correctly. Make sure that the wheel is all the way in the dropouts. Really make sure of this; check each side to make sure that they look the same. I bet this is OK however; I bet what you probably did is that you didn't put the spacers on the rear axle back where they belong.

If you look closely at your rear axle, look at each of the nuts that you tightened and loosened. Right next to each nut is a spacer. Make sure that each spacer is on the inside of the bike frame, and that neither spacer is on the outside. Look closely and really make sure of this. If either spacer is outside, loosen the nuts and try again. The wheel will be difficult to install with both spacers inside the frame, but it's supposed to be a tight fit. You may have to bend the stays a bit with your hands while installing the wheel inside the dropouts (with the spacers inside the frame again, of course). Looking from behind the bike at the rear axle, it should look like:

Left nut - Left dropout and frame - left spacer - hub and wheel - right spacer - Left dropout and frame - Right nut.

Do not adjust the brakes after reinstalling the wheel. If you do, you will probably be correcting two wrongs to make a right, and your wheel will be crooked. Instead, make sure the wheel is installed correctly. If you have any doubts, take it to an LBS and ask them not to just install the wheel but to show you how to do it right, and you'll never have this problem again. Good luck.

Don't most people put the spacers between cone and locknut? He shouldn't have moved these around just replacing a tube?

Retro Grouch said:

Was it OK before you changed your inner tube?

If it was, then your wheel probably does not need trueing and your brakes probably do not need adjusting. You probably just have not gotten your wheel straight in the dropouts. That's common. Try setting your bicycle upright so that it rests on the wheels. Loosen the quick release, push down on your saddle and retighten the quick release.

I agree with this approach. I addition, sometimes the brake cable housing comes unseated or at least partially unseated and when the wheel is installed again the housing doesn't go back to it's original position without some additional help. Rear wheel changes are more prone to this as you usually have longer cable and two housing pieces that can be disturbed in the handling.
I do marvel at the wheel swapping speed and accuracy that I see during the Tour.

Retro Grouch said:

Was it OK before you changed your inner tube?

If it was, then your wheel probably does not need trueing and your brakes probably do not need adjusting. You probably just have not gotten your wheel straight in the dropouts. That's common. Try setting your bicycle upright so that it rests on the wheels. Loosen the quick release, push down on your saddle and retighten the quick release.

I totally agree with Retro Grouch. I live in an apartment and I remove my front wheel all the time and hang my bike on the wall. When I'm ready to ride, I pop on the wheel, adjust the quick release to where it needs to be. And with the bike upright and straight, push down on the handle bars and close the quick release. Works EVERY time. Nice and centered.

Russ B

artemidorus said:

Don't most people put the spacers between cone and locknut? He shouldn't have moved these around just replacing a tube?

My bike has spacers between the frame and the hub assembly, and the spacers go right up against the inside of the dropouts. The spacers are easy to move to the wrong position. Maybe your bike's spacers are in a different position?

A photo would be useful here. Maybe I'll borrow my sister's digital camera which I've never used 🙂