My rear wheel on my fixed gear has started to wobble from side to side.
I have tightened and re-tightened the bolts on the horizontal drops…
Is this a problem with the hub?
Is the wheel wobbling from the hub? Is the hub loose? The hub needs to be tightened. Just tightening a skewer/track nuts will not necessarily solve this problem.
Is the wheel wobbling from the rim? The wheel needs to be trued.
The rim is true…
It wobbles along the “quick release”…
Can i tighten the hub on my own, or are special tools required?
Many hubs require different tools and also start to loosen in different ways. What kind of hub is it?
My suggestion is to pay a bike shop $20 to fix it.
+1. Sounds very much like loose bearing to me. Unless you’ve got the tools, having you lbs do it is worth the time and money.
To clarify pauls post- there are two ways it can be wobbling:
a) hub can be stable, but the rim can be out of true so as it rotates it isnt flat anymore.
b) hub can be loose on the axle- even if teh quick release is tight, it can be impropertly adjusted so that teh wheel wobbles from side to side in your hand even when not rotating
which is it?
I am having issue B right now on a Hed Jet 4 FR Rear Wheel … ie cartridge bearings on a sonic hub … what should i do? Just take it to a LBS for adjustment or is there an issue with the bearings?
It “barely” wobbles though. not enough to touch the brake pads, but enough to know something is wrong.
when i spin it, it spins completely true.
b) hub can be loose on the axle- even if teh quick release is tight, it can be impropertly adjusted so that teh wheel wobbles from side to side in your hand even when not rotating
End caps/end nuts are probably loose.