Strange wheel alignment- Soloist

ericbikes said:

I have a Cervelo Carbon Soloist and just had a new Zipp 808 wheel built on my PT SL. It seems perfectly dished and on center nut to nut. I put it in my drop-outs and it sits about 3mm off to one side, close to the left chainstay. I put in my Ksyrium (factory built- never touched) and other wheel (mavic open pro) and they sit right in the middle of the frame. When I measure the Ksyrium and Open pro, they are both dished about 3mm off center (at least as measured from a level floor to the locknut on both sides- wheel parallel to the floor), but both fit dead center into my frame.All wheels measured the same way. I don't have a dishing tool, but I suspect the fidings will be similar.

When I bought the soloist, the shop showed me the rear drop-out alignment and it was spot on?

What the heck could be going on?

Sound like the wheel isn't dished to center, why not try taking/fileing 1 1/2 mm off the washer under the locknut & add the same to the other side?

ericbikes said:

I have a Cervelo Carbon Soloist and just had a new Zipp 808 wheel built on my PT SL. It seems perfectly dished and on center nut to nut. I put it in my drop-outs and it sits about 3mm off to one side, close to the left chainstay. I put in my Ksyrium (factory built- never touched) and other wheel (mavic open pro) and they sit right in the middle of the frame. When I measure the Ksyrium and Open pro, they are both dished about 3mm off center (at least as measured from a level floor to the locknut on both sides- wheel parallel to the floor), but both fit dead center into my frame.All wheels measured the same way. I don't have a dishing tool, but I suspect the fidings will be similar.

When I bought the soloist, the shop showed me the rear drop-out alignment and it was spot on?

What the heck could be going on?

I'm not sure how you are ascertaining that your other wheels are dished 3mm off center -- that's a huge amount to coincidentally match a possible asymmetry in your Cervelo's stays!

Before you do anything to the new wheel, put it in a different frame to see how it sits ...

It could be that it is the newly laced wheel is NOT dished properly ... a non-track wheel should NOT look symmetrical.

If you don't have another frame, then remove the cassette and see if you can fit the wheel into the dropouts with the freehub on the non-driveside (i.e., reversed, left-to-right) to determine if the offset has moved in the other direction. Check to see that the wheel is properly seated in the dropouts -- some non-threaded axle ends are slightly larger than others ...

BTW. A mistake SOME people make when using a dishing tool is to set the "fulcrum" (whatever the "center" is called on a dishing tool) on the end of the axle instead of the locknut (or, equivalent).

Another mistake SOME people make is presuming the calipers on their truing stand are evenly centered.

Something else (other than an improperly built wheel) could be going on, but you have to eliminate the obvious, first, that the new wheel is/n't the culprit.

alfeng said:

I'm not sure how you are ascertaining that your other wheels are dished 3mm off center -- that's a huge amount to coincidentally match a possible asymmetry in your Cervelo's stays!

Before you do anything to the new wheel, put it in a different frame to see how it sits ...

It could be that it is the newly laced wheel is NOT dished properly ... a non-track wheel should NOT look symmetrical.

If you don't have another frame, then remove the cassette and see if you can fit the wheel into the dropouts with the freehub on the non-driveside (i.e., reversed, left-to-right) to determine if the offset has moved in the other direction. Check to see that the wheel is properly seated in the dropouts -- some non-threaded axle ends are slightly larger than others ...

BTW. A mistake SOME people make when using a dishing tool is to set the "fulcrum" (whatever the "center" is called on a dishing tool) on the end of the axle instead of the locknut (or, equivalent).

Another mistake SOME people make is presuming the calipers on their truing stand are evenly centered.

Something else (other than an improperly built wheel) could be going on, but you have to eliminate the obvious, first, that the new wheel is/n't the culprit.

Here's how I measure:
Stack to evenly size objects on a table (milk crates in this case measured to be of same height)
Rest the wheel on the crates so the wheel is parallel to the table
Measure the distance from table to outside surface of locknut
Flip wheel over and measure other side, repeat many times

808- same dim (ie centered on lock nuts)
Ksyrium and open pro- both ~2mm closer to drive side

I did mount the 808 backwards and it sits pretty much centered on the frame, which would indicate it is not dished on center, but measures centered.

Perhaps the only way to find for sure is when I'm back from vacation, put all my wheels in my truing stand and also have a shop check my frame alignment to be sure and accurate.

My new wheel was professionally built by a very good shop and it's odd that measured the same way, it measures centered and my factory Ksyrium and open pro both measure ~2mm off towards the drive side..

fwiw. I had a Team Soloist that had a similar issue. Any wheel I put in it was off center, and those same wheels in another frame were spot on. A frame fabricator put it in a jig and found the back end of the frame was off. Straightened it up and was fine.

--brett