Problems with front wheel alignment

Hi,

I've got a problem with my front wheel, in that it doesn't sit straight against the crown.

I've just built a fresh wheel myself, and the old wheel seemed to have the same problem;
moreover I've checked the dishing and it's good to certainly within a 1mm. The wheel is probably
8mm to one side.

The forks are admittedly unusual, in that it's a Manitou IV crown/steerer with Pace RC-30 fork
stanchions bolted in for good measure (the Manitou stanchions bust many moons ago). The stanchions
sit hard against the top of the crown.

They look straight to the eye (crown/stanchions are certainly not bent), but that might not say
anything. Does anyone have any ideas how to go about solving the problem?

Any advice kindly appreciated,

John

"John Appleby" <spam@ml-sss.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've got a problem with my front wheel, in that it doesn't sit straight against the crown.
>
> I've just built a fresh wheel myself, and the old wheel seemed to have the same problem; moreover
> I've checked the dishing and it's good to certainly within a 1mm. The wheel is probably 8mm to
> one side.
>
> The forks are admittedly unusual, in that it's a Manitou IV crown/steerer with Pace RC-30 fork
> stanchions bolted in for good measure (the Manitou stanchions bust many moons ago). The stanchions
> sit hard against the top of the crown.
>
> They look straight to the eye (crown/stanchions are certainly not bent), but that might not say
> anything. Does anyone have any ideas how to go about solving the problem?

What do you mean by "The wheel is probably 8mm to one side"? If by this you mean that the rim is not
centered, i.e. dished, then that needs to be corrected. Dish should be zero unless your front wheel
has a disc brake.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

"Ted Bennett" <tedbennett@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:tedbennett-E2FF5E.1921101610200....earthlink.net...
> What do you mean by "The wheel is probably 8mm to one side"? If by this you mean that the rim is
> not centered, i.e. dished, then that needs to be corrected. Dish should be zero unless your front
> wheel has a disc brake.
>

I suspect the wheel is dished correctly. He alludes to that by saying "moreover I've checked the
dishing and it's good to certainly within a 1mm". I think he means that when the wheel is securely
fastened in the dropouts, the wheel is 8mm closer to one stanchion than the other. This means that
either something is bent, or one dropout sits lower than the other. I wouldn't trust eye-balling the
alignment. You need to measure to see if the stanchions are straight. Same with the dropouts. A
small difference here adds up at the 12" or so that the rim is from the dropout. I doubt the
stanchions are bent. I'm more inclined to a problem with the sliders..probably one dropout is lower
than the other because some of the elastomers or springs are jacked.

Cheers,

Scott..

"S. Anderson" <scott.anderson3@zsympaticoz.ca> wrote in message
news:5PIjb.5605$Z_2.441138@news20.bellglobal.com...
> "Ted Bennett" <tedbennett@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:tedbennett-E2FF5E.1921101610200....earthlink.net...
> > What do you mean by "The wheel is probably 8mm to one side"? If by this you mean that the rim is
> > not centered, i.e. dished, then that needs to be corrected. Dish should be zero unless your
> > front wheel has a disc brake.
> >
>
> I suspect the wheel is dished correctly. He alludes to that by saying "moreover I've checked the
> dishing and it's good to certainly within a
1mm".
> I think he means that when the wheel is securely fastened in the dropouts, the wheel is 8mm closer
> to one stanchion than the other. This means that either something is bent, or one dropout sits
> lower than the other. I wouldn't trust eye-balling the alignment. You need to measure to see if
the
> stanchions are straight. Same with the dropouts. A small difference here adds up at the 12" or so
> that the rim is from the dropout. I doubt the stanchions are bent. I'm more inclined to a problem
> with the sliders..probably one dropout is lower than the other because some of the elastomers or
> springs are jacked.

Apologies; I meant dishing... it was late. Also, I forgot to mention that the Pace RC-30 is a
rigid fork

I undid the crown bolts last night and took the stanchions out; regreased where they fit into the
crown, refitted it and gave it a good whack. There was a groaning noise and now the wheel seems to
be fitted centred. I suspect that maybe the stanchions were twisted slightly in the crown or
something.

In any case I think my trusty RC-30s are near the end of their life. They're covered with rust
(albeit surface rust) and the RC-31s look oooh so tempting.

Regards,

John