Wheels unaligned(maybe?) - framebuilders help please!

jalabert

It's late in the evening(early night) and I should have been to bed hours ago. However I have spent the last 2+ hours trying to figure out if my klein frame is straight(not quit sure why I got the idea into my stupid head in the first place?). I do offcourse not have the pro equipment for measuring this, but I'm almost positve that my wheels are ~2mm out of alignment. Measurement is done from the logical assumption that if the wheels are aligned, then a straight line should be able to touch the rim(offcourse no tires) of the front and rear wheel in 2 places(per rim) at the same time. Rims appear aligned in fork/frame.
IF this is indeed the case, then: A) Can it be fix by a pro frame fixer? and B) Do you have any idea how big an effect it has on handling/rolling resistance?

thx

big_h

Jalabert

An easy way to check alignment is to take a piece of string and loop it from your rear axle to the front of the bike around the headset and back to the rear axle and pull it tight. There should not be more than 2 to 3mm difference in the measurement between the string and your seat tube on both sides. Most factory built frame are slightly out of alignment and one should not worry too much about this. Mtb frames might be a little more due to the hammering they take. Seriously misaligned frames will cause handling problems especially in tight turns. If you are worried about your bike take it to a specialist and he should be able to adjust (read "bend") your frame to be properly aligned.

Keep those wheels spinning

Big H

jalabert

thx big H

Tried the string trick which shows a difference of a bit under 1mm, so that seems okay. I think I'll have to conclude that I shoudn't worry, allthough I know it's gonna bug me the next couple of weeks until I forget about it

Peter

Frejus

Peter , the string system is ok for the rear end of the bike, and the 1mm shows that things are not too bad.

If your bike is 'tracking' .....each wheel going on its on course. The problem would appear to be the front end of the bike. The head tube on a Klein should not have moved... so the forks could be the problem, which are more likely to have misaligned being more vunerable.

A wheel can be perfectly centered between the fork blades, but yet they could be angled over to one side... or one blade slightly behind the other when view from the side.

Removing the forks and laying them on a true surface with a centre line drawn ,and the fork crown secured square to the surface should show up any fault allowing measurement from the surface, to check out distance to the centre of fork tips ( put an axle in dropouts) and measure to the centre of the axle ..... a cheap solid axle.

The blades could have been too far apart and pushed closed to fit a front wheel usually a fault is to push one blade only which offsets the whole fork to one side...instead of pressing the blades equally together. The distance should be 100mm between the dropouts inside edge.

Frank

jalabert

thx again Frank(Frejus)

I REEAALLLY hope my fork isn't the problem as I have justed mounted my newly purchased reynolds ouzo pro
I've checked the distance between the legs and it's fine.
I think it was mostly a matter of my eyes and mind playing a cruel trick on me, as I can't really see the misalignment I could the other day(night)

Peter

Frejus

good one ... reynolds make a good fork.

You will be able to promenade on an open road and practice a victory salute no hands!!! that will show whether your bike is tracking or not