Rear axle bent? Or just trueing needed?

[cmavr8]

Hey guys, I've been watching these wonderful videos by Alex and tinkering with my bike..

Anyway, here's my bike's problem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVZXWj_XoGQ

Here's two questions for anyone interested in helping:
Do you think my bike's rear axle is bent?
Is my wheel also NOT true?


I need to take it to the bike shop, don't I? (I don't have a trueing stand)
Thanks for the help!

[tino]

i think you wheel need to b true

[Bill]

1st. I see the wobble on the freewheel which does happen and is fine. But it is possible that your axle could be bent. Only way to tell is to take off the wheel and spin the axle (not the freewheel) only on each side. You will see if it is bent when you turn it, because it does not turn straight.
2. Yes your wheel is out of true! If you feel confident enough you can try to true it yourself but I suggest like tino to go to a Bike shop. If you wish to practice truing and can get a spoke wrench find an old wheel on a discarded kids 18" wheel.
3. Not positive on this but when you ride on the road do you feel a bump in the rear tire?

[cmavr8]

Thanks for your answer Bill!
I currently don't want to spend the time to do it myself (will need to wait for the spoke wrench to get shipped, too) so I'll take it to the shop to address problems 1 and 2.

3. I really feel that the tire is not symmetrical or something like that. It keeps touching one of the brake pads in each turn it takes..

I'm taking it to the shop but also ordering a spike wrench, and will do it myself next time!

Thanks!

[Bill]

The rubbing comes from the wheel being out of true. When I asked if you felt a bump is because when the tire is put back on the wheel sometimes it will not seat correctly. Then you feel a bump on every 1 rotation. Truing wheels is really not too much of a rocket science. But there are awesome books, awesome video (Alex's),and an awesome site (which requires a small fee) that I recommend if you wish to really get in to it. Here is the website (Joe_W showed me this site) http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/ . It is updated with anything new and all you have to do is pay the one time fee. Let me know what the bike shop says.

Cheers
Bill

[Joe_W]

Yup, needs to be trued. I cannot really tell if the cassette wobbles, might just be a play of the shadows. Many cassettes do wobble a bit.