Post by wayne on Jun 14, 2012 0:08:51 GMT -5
Here's something that's been troubling me for some time. I'm finally putting it to print after listening the other day to someone going on about the importance of wheel alignment. I have noticed this on the 4 RE5's that I've looked at re wheel alignment. Some have and have not had their wheels rebuilt.
The bike in the first 3 photos is original. It still had its Inoue front rubber and from what I can tell, the wheels have never been disassembled/respoked. It's very low mile. The other one has had its wheels rebuilt.
Please assume that the box alloy extrusions are dead straight (they are). They are aligned by gently pushing them up against the rear tyre so that each extrusion projects the line of the back wheel forward. Please also assume that the front tyre is parallel to the beams in the photo (it is by measurement).
In the first photo, if you look closely you'll see that while the front wheel is parallel to the beams, it is slightly offset to the right (from the photographer's viewpoint).
In photo 2, you'll see the gap on the left (32 mm from rim to beam edge).
In photo 3 you'll see the gap on the right (16 mm from rim to beam edge).
The wheel is offset 8 mm to the right. In photo 1 you can make this out by looking at the centreline of the tread and comparing it to the imagined centreline of the fork downtubes. To further illustrate, photo 4 is a shot taken a year ago on another RE5. I have removed the mudguard and put in a centreline pointer between the forks.
What is going on here ? If the wheels are spoked with no offset as I believe is the case, then perhaps they should be ?
I can align the front and rear wheels so that they are parallel but I can't do much about the offset. The spacers in the axles are all stock.
Gap on the left side (readers viewpoint):
Gap on the right side:
Another RE5 with mudguard removed to illustrate offset:
The bike in the first 3 photos is original. It still had its Inoue front rubber and from what I can tell, the wheels have never been disassembled/respoked. It's very low mile. The other one has had its wheels rebuilt.
Please assume that the box alloy extrusions are dead straight (they are). They are aligned by gently pushing them up against the rear tyre so that each extrusion projects the line of the back wheel forward. Please also assume that the front tyre is parallel to the beams in the photo (it is by measurement).
In the first photo, if you look closely you'll see that while the front wheel is parallel to the beams, it is slightly offset to the right (from the photographer's viewpoint).
In photo 2, you'll see the gap on the left (32 mm from rim to beam edge).
In photo 3 you'll see the gap on the right (16 mm from rim to beam edge).
The wheel is offset 8 mm to the right. In photo 1 you can make this out by looking at the centreline of the tread and comparing it to the imagined centreline of the fork downtubes. To further illustrate, photo 4 is a shot taken a year ago on another RE5. I have removed the mudguard and put in a centreline pointer between the forks.
What is going on here ? If the wheels are spoked with no offset as I believe is the case, then perhaps they should be ?
I can align the front and rear wheels so that they are parallel but I can't do much about the offset. The spacers in the axles are all stock.
Gap on the left side (readers viewpoint):
Gap on the right side:
Another RE5 with mudguard removed to illustrate offset:
