Rough rear hub/other questions

[Synon]

Dear bike Gods,

I still consider myself very new to the biking world, I like to ride hard but I am ashamed to say I don't know as much as I'd like about bike repair. I was fortunate to have a friend who was wanting to trade me a wheel he no longer used for some computer assistance and make a major upgrade to my stock rear wheel.

The wheel is a Corima 4 spoke with sew-ups, an older model, maybe 8-10 years old I think. The first problem is this: When you spin the wheel freely (the opposite direction that makes the 'clicking' sound) there is one point that seems rough and the wheel slows down significantly each time it crosses this point. My friend did say it's been hanging in his garage (without a bike attached) for at least a couple years). I've got a race coming up on August 8th and I would be stoked to use this new wheel, but I'm hoping I can get it running smoothly before then. Could it be a problem with the bearings? Are there any obvious things I should look for?

It didn't come with a cassette so I'm going to move that from my other wheel, so that's not in the way. I feel comfortable taking things apart, I'm just not sure what I should be looking for.

So, other than that, my other issue is the wheel doesn't seem to be completely true. I can see a slight wobble just eyeballing the brake pads, is this something that can be corrected? If not, is it going to be an issue?

Help me oh wise ones! I'd love to get some wheel education!
Thank you!

Oh, and here is a picture if needed -
http://synon.org/DSC04979.JPG

[Synon]

OK! So I took a deep breath and decided to poke around inside. I took the outer shell off and the pawls (which seem to be mounted inside the shell). I didn't see any ball bearings, but the pawl springs were a bit wonky. So I tried to straighten them the best I could and put it all back together. First time around I think one of the pawls wasn't in right because it was making an awful sound, so I took it back apart and made sure they were straight. This time it sounded great after putting it back together, AND I'm not getting the drag I was before! I have no idea what was causing it, likely something wasn't lined up right I think, but it's spinning nicely now!

I'm still worried about the rim not being true... what do you guys think?

[Bill]

(07-16-2010, 09:09 PM)Synon Wrote:  OK! So I took a deep breath and decided to poke around inside. I took the outer shell off and the pawls (which seem to be mounted inside the shell). I didn't see any ball bearings, but the pawl springs were a bit wonky. So I tried to straighten them the best I could and put it all back together. First time around I think one of the pawls wasn't in right because it was making an awful sound, so I took it back apart and made sure they were straight. This time it sounded great after putting it back together, AND I'm not getting the drag I was before! I have no idea what was causing it, likely something wasn't lined up right I think, but it's spinning nicely now!

I'm still worried about the rim not being true... what do you guys think?

Synon,
Welcome to the forums. Congrats on your first successful fix. Here is two articles from park tool which may come in handy..
1. http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=118
2. http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=105 .

By the way that is a very nice wheel!! Also there are no gods here . We all are pros-in-training like you now .

[xerxes]

Quote:I'm still worried about the rim not being true... what do you guys think?

As far as I know, and I stand to be corrected, there's no way to true a one piece wheel like this. They are supposed to be true out of the mold and should remain so throughout their life.

If the wheel is significantly out of true, I would look very carefully for any damage. Given that there are only 4 spokes, if a failure occurred it will likely happen suddenly and be catastrophic. Unlike a traditional spoked wheel, which if it's badly built and not evenly tensioned, may start to break spokes, go out of true and give you some warning that something is amiss.

I remember reading an article about the safety of Spinergy carbon fiber wheels: http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-020/index.html

It might be an idea to contact the manufaturers and see what they have to say about it.