said Harry, stirred by: "Otis" <otis@otisrecords.com>'s message of: Sunday 30 Sep 07 at 12:53 PM, On: [CR]hub cone question [echoed below, in part<=1] -oOo- "Yesterday, after fitting a track bike with a rear wheel and tightening the locknuts on the dropouts, I noticed that the wheels did not spin smoothly and stopped abruptly. I surmised that tightening the locknutsl onto the frame squeezed or put too much pressure on the cones, forcing it against the bearings instead of riding smoothly. I used a different rear with the same result. The spacing in the rear drop-outs is about 114 mm, and the wheels are approximately the same from locknut to locknut. As it is right now, the only way I can get the wheel to spin smoothly is to tighten the locknuts into a position where, when riding the bike, I would for sure pull the rear wheel forward or make it go into the chainstays.
Anyone have experience with such a problem and might know a ready solution? Both wheels have cup and cone bearings."
Tom,
You don't say what hubs you are using, but I would guess that the axles are a little worn or just weak. One solution is to set the bearing preload loose (lock down the cone-nuts with some "shake" left in the bearings), then use the axle nuts to take the play out of the bearings. This will allow proper tightening of the axle nuts. This is actually a good way to set up any loose ball hub, but in your case it might take a bit more initial "looseness" than usual. Might take a few tries to get it right.
If that does not work I would swap axles as they are not holding the cone nut properly or they are bending.
"Quick-release hubs are trickier to adjust, because the quick-release mechanism compresses the axle slightly when it is tightened. If you adjust the cones so that they feel just right off the bike, they will bind up when you tighten the quick release. You must set the cones so that there is a little bit of play when the hub is off the bike, or when the wheel is installed with the quick-release just barely tightened."
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Sheldon claims that most wheels have their lives shortened by failure to appreciate the effect of the QR in compression.
Harry Travis
Washington, DC
USA