Anyone familiar with Quintana Roo Caliente rear wheel adjusting screws?
Friend bought a new complete bike, came with FIST certified fit. All was set up well, but we are having a problem with the adjusting screws.
Factory stainless screws installed with the heads in the dropout, (barrel and spring toward front of bike) after fitting, non drive side head bent.
Replaced both screws, installed with head toward front of bike with barrel toward skewer to give greater contact area on axle.
Friend raced last weekend, stood up in big chainring up small hill, sucked derailer into rear wheel. He weighs 165lbs wet so he is definitely not a big gorilla.
After race released quick release to find drive side screw no longer adjustable by hand, and mashed into the recessed portion of the dropout. Threads are possibly mangled. Quick release was very tight before race since these adjusting screws look sort of weak.
Yes, after the head bent on the factory set. The factory screw was inserted from the rear, the head had a very small contact area with the axle. The side of the dropout that the head is on seems irrelevant, but when the head faces the alxe you are unable to adjust the distance without removing the wheel. That is why we turned then around. I spoke with the shop guys this morning after they had the bike for about an hour and they are trying to figure it out as well, they did not believe the screw direction made a difference. Maybe the bike has bad mojo, on the third ride the non-drive side DA10 crank arm fell off.
The head did not break, but it did bend. Does yours have little barrel like things and a spring on the part of the screw that sticks out? Also does you dropout have countersunk holes on each side of the screw?
I’d not be concerned with the bike’s mojo, but perhaps with the quality of assembly job!
Only one possibility comes to mind: The skewer was not tightened enough. I can’t think of any other way the rear wheel could move. For example, my track bike doesn’t have dropout screws, so there’s nothing in front of the axle (the wheel’s axle site in the center of the horizontal dropout). However, it’s never slipped or budged from its position in the center of the dropout. My guess is that the screws are used for positioning, and that they were damaged as a result of some other problem (rear wheel coming loose). However, I’d stick with the proper setup on the screws, as there’s probably some decent reason for it.
The “turned the screw around” thing is a little hard to follow without a picture, but the “screw got driven into the frame and stripped the threads in the frame” part happened to me on my P2K about 2 hours before bike check-in ended in IMAZ. Would you like me to take a pic of how we got a fix on this without re-tapping? I also have E-mail of a proposed fix from Gerard. Let me know.
Hi there,
The factory adjustment screws should be inserted with the barrels towards the bottom bracket, not the other way around.
Can you call us in the office in the morning or email me your phone number and I’ll have someone from customer service help you out?
Cheers,
Herbert
Quintana Roo/Litespeed
Ha ha you tried to get me, but I did not assemble the bike, I do not even have the tool for DA10 cranks. It is possibe the LBS mechanic was pre-occupied during assembly. I have seen many a distraction come into the shop. I do however feel they are more than capable of doing a fine job, but that being said I never let any shop work on my bike unless it is something like facing a headtube or chasing a bb.
I agree with sticking to the factory set-up except that is what failed the first time. These screws are so small 4-48 thread and the threaded portion of the dropout is not more than about 3mm of threaded aluminum. Hopefully the shop will come up with some ideas.
They are a good shop and since he spent the bucks there, they can fix it.
The skewer was tight, but the paint under the skewer has been chipping which would definitely change things.
Interesting. I had a 2004 Caliente and I remember the screws being quite delicate looking, but I never have any problems at all with them. I wonder if reverse-installing them is problematic since the force applied to them in that configuration pushes them in the direction that you loosen them. Alternately, with them installed correctly the force is in the direction of tightening the screws. Who knows? I still think your skewer slipped.
Thank you for the reply Herbert, they were in correctly then the first time. I am hoping the shop can fix it up for him, but if not I will certainly take you up on your offer of help. We should know tomorrow.
Note the silver nut. While I lay on the floor in the fetal position, the mechanic threaded a small nut onto the adjusting screw. This acted as a “preventer”, stopping the screw from going down in the hole all the way, and still provides adjustability.
I asked Gerard whether he thought I should have it re-tapped. Gerard’s response was as follows:
I would probably leave it as is, but you could use some wheel smith spoke prep, or blue locktite. Or alternatively you could use jb weld (tooth pic it out to the sides and retap with M3 0.5 tap).
Nice, that looks like a perfect solution, just so happens mcmaster carr has something like that as well. Luckily the bike shop said the threads were still there but a bit loose. I think we have enough info to make this work. Bike shop did feel the rear derailer in the wheel was a fluke type thing ( all bad things alligning at the wrong time) and that is what yanked the rear wheel adjuster out of place and so on.
Yes–there was some semblance of threading left for mine as well. Mine stripped when I was coasting up to a light waiting for it to change, and then I stood up and blasted across the intersection, putting a lot of torque on the right side, which drove the axel in on the right, which jammed up the wheel on the left side against the brake and frame.
