Update: Rear wheel slipping out of dropout on drive side/QR

Its slipping from the dropouts. the first time it was using the PX skewers and today was using my new American classic Areo 420s 3 wheelset. using the AC skewers. Very tight! had to stuggle adjusting it. Had to stop 3 times during ride to re center and drive side popped out.

Its slipping from the dropouts. the first time it was using the PX skewers and today was using my new American classic Areo 420s 3 wheelset. using the AC skewers. Very tight! had to stuggle adjusting it. Had to stop 3 times during ride to re center and drive side popped out.

aws training in chennai | informatica training in chennai | hadoop training in chennai

Hi MadHatter

The root of your problem is this is not a great quality frame. The fact that the frame or the dropouts or both are possibly bent is the final straw really. The actual cause of your difficulties is that the dropouts are not lined up with each other and, judging by your pics, they are not parallel either. (This is why cast dropouts are always far better than pressed steel, as they are difficult to bend). The reason they are not parallel is because they are too far apart for the standard wheels you are attempting to fit. When the QR or nut pulls them together the dropouts contact the faces of the wheel spacers and QR unevenly and insufficient grip results.

If I remember from my bike mechanic days, we would occasionally get in very cheap customers' frames of uncertain parentage (usually Far-Eastern) that had oddly spaced dropouts for non-standard axle widths. We had all kinds of trouble with these, but if the customer was prepared to pay what often amounted to more than the value of the bike, we could affect a repair of sorts. Be prepared to dump the QR for nuts though - the makers of this bike never intended such levels of technology.

Thanks to the low-grade steel the frame is made from, it's actually not always that difficult to re-align a mildy bent frame. Or to close up that rear triangle a bit and get the dropouts parallel. It's hard to explain, but all you need is a couple of metres of string, a ruler and a bit of muscle. Look it up on the internet, there should be a diagram or film somewhere.

Mike the Bike above is about right with his comments.

Your issues sound very like what I am having with my 5 year old bike.

My rear wheel keeps becoming unaligned after only about 2 mins of riding no matter how much I tighten the sckewer and it seems to be the same with spare wheels too.

I took the bike to a LBS on Saturday and they said the either the frame or the rear dropout(s) might be damaged.  Waiting to hear back from them and I can repost their responses here if you like.

You've really got to be there, but if I had to guess from your picture of the open QR, your non-driveside drop-out is bent, resulting in the QR fighting the frame against its natural springiness. Perhaps as a result of this the frame looks to be a few mm too wide for the hub, another possible source of problems.

You have three choices, I think : 

Abandon the frame as beyond economic repair.

Attempt a cold manipulation of the drop-out, maybe using a large adjustable spanner.

Attempting a hot manipulation using a torch.

The first option means accepting defeat.  The second may weaken the frame, even snap the drop-out.  The third will cost money (if you don't have a torch and some skill) and will ruin the paint.

Best of luck sir.

I might be wrong but it looks like the hub spacing might not match the drop-out width exactly. If that is the case, the clamping forces of the QR won't be even on the drop-outs.

That QR looks like a bodge job and the very new shiney spacer (is it actually a ring?) may not be clamping a very big load area onto the drop out.

Try a shorter QR?

Try a washer, or a grip washer, even 200 grit emery paper. Fold it in half, apply a little glue to stick both halves together, put a hole in it, one thin grip washer