I’d been using sidewall strips from alum. cans to use as shimming material for centering the wheel on my 36er. It was a bit tedious, especially since I had to use about 4 strips, which I then had to bend, and stack each shim on eachother and then get them to stay put in the bearing holders while I put the wheel on.
So today I needed to shim my KH muni since the wheel was slightly off to one side. I then remembered that I have a roll of Aluminum Tape! So I cut three strips, approx. 2" x .5", then peeled off the backing and stuck all three together, then peeled the bottom one and stuck it to the inside arch of the frame bearing holders. Works great and it’s so much easier and faster than the coke can thing!
Adding thin strips of metal between the bearings and the bearing holders to recenter the wheel in the frame. It compensates for the frame not having two legs of equal length.
No, shimming is what you do when the frame is out of whack, not the wheel. Shims can also be used if your seat post is too narrow (though I don’t know if aluminum tape would hold up to that use), or to better fit your seat base to your seat post.
You can tell very easily, if you turn the wheel around in the frame and it still leans the same way then the frame is to blame, if it changes which way it leans then it’s the wheel. Terry no doubt knows this.
No it was slightly off-center before, but with the larger rim and less clearance, it just became more noticeable. As for the wheel build, it’s top notch; If the spokes were invisible, you couldn’t even tell the wheel was spinning because it’s so perfectly true!
The wheel is perfectly dished, I.E “accurately centered”, it’s the frame that was s little off, which seems to be pretty common, hence, the shimming every now and then.
I just called the wheelbuilder and he told me that unless the axle is slightly off center, (could it be from all the high drops?) then he’s sure the wheel was dished correctly. He also agrees that the frame could be slightly off on one side as well. He told me to try the following to check for proper dishing:
Reversing the wheel in the frame. If the rim walls land in the same relative position relative to the frame, then [he says] the wheel is dished correctly. (This is what I did to check my 36’er for proper dishing and it turned out to be the frame)
The rim is only about 2mm closer on one side than the other, so it is very slight, and as I said more noticeable since changing to the much wider rim, making the clearance between the tire and the rim much less. (I hate being such a perfectionist!)
So I’m going to try the reversing method now to make sure.
Psh. High drops won’t do squat to move an axle offcenter. I’m not especially familiar with the new KH hubs, but if they’re anything like Onza and Profile, you just have to be an idiot when tightening your cranks to send the axle offcenter. Then again, with the ISIS spline, I think that would be impossible. The only answer is that the axle could be off out of the factory.
makeing the clearance betwene the tire and the rim much less hey terry? that sounds a bit strange to me
kington, if terry is now going to check useing the reverse wheel method then he obviously was not ‘sure’ that the wheel was not just slightly off centre. and i am aware that terry probably does know about the reverseing method but i was asking if he was sure it was the frame, turns out he didnt even check, so it could very well be the wheel and not the frame, i am not saying the wheel builder would have done a dodgey job though, but it pays to check.
and notice i asked terry the question… so fuck off and let him answer it
so what are the results terry, is it the frame or the wheel?
As for the wheel build, it’s top notch; If the spokes were invisible, you couldn’t even tell the wheel was spinning because it’s so perfectly true!