Expert: Dave - 7/31/2008

Question
I noticed my rear wheel could woble, very little, but anyway. I took the wheel off the bike and noticed that one of the locknuts was not tight. I´ve studied some bike books and the say I should hold the bearing cone with a wrench, and then tighten the locknut with a another wrench. The problem for me is that the bearing cone is covered by a rubber seal (it is a Bianchi axle). Is it sufficient to tighten the locknut just by hand? If I tighten the locknut with a wrench the whole package with locknut, sealing and bearing cone screws into the bearings so the wheel don´t turn.

What to do?

Best regards
/bjorn

PS
A quick reply is appreciated, because I miss my biking tours :-)
DS

Answer
Hello Bjorn. You will need to have to use a wrench. The tightening of the cones is a VERY delicate process. You will probably need a 15mm wrench for the cone and a 17mm wrench for the lock nut.

The best way to go about this is if you have a vice, wrap the bottom axle in a cloth and clamp it into the vice enough to not damage the axle. Break the lock nut loose with the 17mm on top and the 15mm on the bottom. Don't take the lock nut out too far. Now you want to either tighten or loosen the cone in very small increments (about 1/8th or 1/16th of a turn or smaller), then lock the nuts together again. What your ultimately trying to do is get the wheel to spin as fluently as possible without wobble. Check the wheel at four perpendicular points after you tighten your lock nut. If there is wobble in the wheel, you will need to start over again and tighten your cone. If there is no wobble, spin the wheel and if the wheel does not seem to be spinning optimally, you will need to start over again and loosen your cone.

This can be a very long, drawn out, and frustrating process so patience is a virtue. If you cannot seem to get your wheel the way you want it, please write me a follow up so I can help you get on your bike and touring as fast as possible!
-Dave