I know, sounds ridiculous as it is. I’ve been triathlon/road cycling for a decade now, and have had a road and tri bike nearly that whole time.
Despite all this time, I still have an annoyingly hard time putting on the rear wheel of my ROAD bike. With normal vertical dropouts, nothing fancy. I do have a Powertap on the back, but I don’t think it should make it that much harder. It takes me anywhere between 2 and 10 minutes (!!) to get that rear wheel on, and I have no idea why.
I’ve watched nearly all the Youtube videos out there, including GPLama’s wintery one where his rear wheel pops right on in a second. Mine never does that!
I’m fairly certain I’m doing the main steps right - including the key shifting to the smallest size cog in the back as well as pulling the RD backwards, and it eventually goes, but more often than not, the wheel just won’t drop fully into place. It gets really close, but I have to mess with it randomly until it suddenly drops in. More often than not, it’s catching on the lip of the non-drive side PT hub.
Any tips/tricks you’ve learned to make this less annoying for me would be appreciated!
(Ironically, my TT-style horizontal dropout Cervelo bike is an absolute cinch to change out the rear - THAT I can do in literally seconds. Especially with a waxed chain which means I can grab the chain to pull it back.)
What kind of road bike frame? This seems like some funky geometry or interference issue. My bike literally falls onto the wheel axle. If I catch the chain on the small cog, the RD naturally guides the wheel to the dropout. It cannot take more than 10 seconds. I have noticed that my eTap RD springs forward a little more and I usually have to reach down to pull it back to let the wheel move up freely, but that only adds a couple seconds.
Now on the other hand, putting a wheel on my Felt IA’s horizontal dropouts is a major PITA. It seems like I fumble with that for a minute or so before I get it into its happy place, and I always have to grab the chain.
Try take the skewer out completely first, and see if that makes any difference.
Also some frames’ rear hub spacing has big tolerance - I’ve seen that mostly in older metal frames but I’ve also seen it on carbon frames occasionally.
My road bike has a similar problem with the front fork. The fork spacing is about 1mm smaller than my front hub. So, I have to spread the forks to get the wheel to drop. Annoying as hell. But, I know about it…so, I just deal.
Since you say often its the hub lip on the NDS, any chance your dropouts are just a little too narrow (conversely the PT hub is just a little to wide)?
Non sequitor…why did bike MFGs stop including the little chain peg on the inside of the DS seat stay??? Such a small thing, that makes wheel changes so much less annoying.
My road bike has a similar problem with the front fork. The fork spacing is about 1mm smaller than my front hub. So, I have to spread the forks to get the wheel to drop. Annoying as hell. But, I know about it…so, I just deal.
Since you say often its the hub lip on the NDS, any chance your dropouts are just a little too narrow (conversely the PT hub is just a little to wide)?
Non sequitor…why did bike MFGs stop including the little chain peg on the inside of the DS seat stay??? Such a small thing, that makes wheel changes so much less annoying.
I’m going to guess why the chain peg isn’t there:
It’s cheaper to build the bike without it. I would guess the material at that point has to be thicker with it than without.
With the trouble some have with removing the rear wheel, how many actually know/knew how to use it. (This isn’t directed at the OP)
Have you seen the damage that can happen when someone leaves the chain there and attempts to take off. Sometimes it ain’t pretty. On steel/aluminum it is bad enough back years ago. I shudder to think what would happen on a light weight frame. Carbon?!?! Forget it.
What kind of road bike frame? This seems like some funky geometry or interference issue. My bike literally falls onto the wheel axle. If I catch the chain on the small cog, the RD naturally guides the wheel to the dropout. It cannot take more than 10 seconds. I have noticed that my eTap RD springs forward a little more and I usually have to reach down to pull it back to let the wheel move up freely, but that only adds a couple seconds.
Now on the other hand, putting a wheel on my Felt IA’s horizontal dropouts is a major PITA. It seems like I fumble with that for a minute or so before I get it into its happy place, and I always have to grab the chain.
You know, at first I had issues with my Felt B12 and the horizontal dropouts on wheel change/removal. Until I followed one of those no touch chain tips I saw posted (forget if it was on here or on another cycling forum). See below linked tutorial which pretty much very similar to my method actually (not the exact video I watched but I can’t seem to find it really quick via a search).
But I don’t place my hands/fingers anywhere near where I can accidentally touch the chain when manipulating the derailleur. I also remove the skewer to give a little extra clearance too. Can remove/install wheels on horizontal (or vertical dropouts) using the same method. Learning the correct technique also makes it so much easier to place/remove my Felt B12 on a direct drive trainer too (which at first really sucked until I figure out my current technique). I actually don’t try to line it up with the smallest cog always either because it really isn’t that big a deal honestly but that’s me.
To the OP, I follow pretty much the same type of technique on my road bike which is vertical dropouts with no issues. But one thing to note is most 11 speed hubs are 1mm wider than the 130mm wide axle standard that is typical of rim brake bikes (10 speed era stuff). So it might be a bit snug and nudging it in there might be required. I use gravity to help seat the rear wheel once the hub is in the dropouts and push it down to get it aligned before putting the skewer back on (most times for vertical dropouts I don’t need to remove the skewer and can leave it on since there is more clearance than horizontal ones).
Trust me - that does NOT work on my bike. I’m competent enough with bike wrenching now that I know that my bike will NOT mount that rear so easily. Not even close!
Might be the powertap. It does make it a little easier when I remove the skewer altogether. I’ll experiment with the middle gears as well see if that helps.
I no longer consider this “putting my rear wheel into/on my bike.” I consider it “putting my bike ONTO my rear wheel”. I try to keep the rear wheel anchored and maneuver the derailleur and dropouts into position. The change in approach does help.
I always make sure i get the chain ON TOP of the top pulley when I lower the bike onto the rear wheel. A lot of the time, especially mounting in the small cog or without tension, the chain has a tendency to slip to the side of the top pulley, which shifts everything out of alignment. So in this case, I think using the 3rd-5th cog is easiest, because when you put the chain on that cog it helps stretch the chain a bit and make sure i get the chain ON TOP of the top pulley.
