I have two sets of 404 Firecrest wheels. (wife) The rear wheels both seem like they have some side to side slop when you move them by hand. They feel fine when being ridden. I’ve looked at the rear hubs and the design seems to be to loosen the little allen and then have the other piece hand tightened, looks to me that they designed it on purpose so people can’t over tighten it. I’d appreciate thoughts from Jordan or anyone who has experience with this particular wheel set.
I have two sets of 404 Firecrest wheels. (wife) The rear wheels both seem like they have some side to side slop when you move them by hand. They feel fine when being ridden. I’ve looked at the rear hubs and the design seems to be to loosen the little allen and then have the other piece hand tightened, looks to me that they designed it on purpose so people can’t over tighten it. I’d appreciate thoughts from Jordan or anyone who has experience with this particular wheel set.
Yes, the Zipp 88/188 hubs are VERY easy to adjust. It’s a fairly “elegant” design IMHO.
The way to adjust the Zipp 188 rear hub is to loosen the allen screw on the “clinch nut”, then hand tighten it all the way until it “bottoms” and then back off 1/6 of a turn. Then, tighten the allen screw on the clinch nut (but don’t overtorque it…it’s easy to shear the head off on that small of a screw).
I’ve had issues with rear 188 hubs coming loose on me even after being adjusted correctly. They would continue working loose until I completely unthreaded the clinch nut from the hub and then applied blue loctite to the threads. But…that is apparently something that is unusual and might be related somehow to some sort of “hitch in my git’along” or something. Others have ridden the exact same hubs for thousands of miles with no problems. Just a suggestion though if you find they keep loosening.
Is the looseness only apparent when the wheel is off the bike, or can you feel it when the when is clamped in the frame. If the slop goes away when clamped (which isn’t unusual with lots of hubs), then just leave them be. Bearings function best when they are run with the least possible load that doesn’t allow any slop.
Styrrell
@Tom thanks for all the info. They don’t seem to loosen up as I ride, I think they’re there actually right. I probably need to quit over analyzing and just pedal.
@Styrrell I feel the slop when the wheels are are on the bike.