Help! Front Brake Problem

SpeakRed

Hey Guys,
Still a newbie so please don't laugh too hard. Just bought a Raleigh Grand Prix from local LBS. Barely learned how to take off the front wheel so I could load it into my pregnant roller-skate of a car (a Hyundai accent).
So I bring it home, re-attatch the front wheel, and try to hand-spin the tire to make sure it doesn't fall off...and it doesn't spin.

The front brake pads look like they're already touching my tire, as if I'm pulling the brake handle...so when I try to spin the tire, it either doesn't spin or rotates once and slows down. Did I break something already ?

And: Does it matter which way I attach the wheel?

Thanks again everyone, hope the week is going well!

-Ashley

kdelong

Hello Ashley. We aren't laughing, yet . BTW, Raleigh Grand Prix is a nice bike.

There are a couple of things that we need to check. Is the wheel axle seated all the way up in the fork slots? The reason that I am asking this is that the brakes are supposed to contact the rim rather than the tire. If the tire will not go through the brake pads, it may be that the brake quick release is closed when it should be open. So, make sure that the brake release is open and then make sure that the wheel axle is inserted all the way into the fork. Once you have the wheel axle seated all the way into the fork slots, you will probably have to center the wheel in relation to the fork blades while you are tightening it. Don't forget to close your brake release before you ride, and remember, the brake pads should contact only the rim, never the tire.

I beleive that the Grand Prix comes with Quick Releases on the wheels. The handle of the quick release should be on the left side of the fork. I don't know why, but this is the way it is always done. Some tires with a special tread will require that the wheel be installed a certain direction so that the tread will function correctly. This usually only applies to mountain bikes though, and the tires will be marked as to the direction that it is designed to rotate. If you have any doubts, look at the rear tire and mount the front with the same orientation.

Good luck, and if the information above doesn't fix it, send us a couple of photographs so that we can see exactly what is going on.

__________________
One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

SpeakRed

Alrighty. I ran home from work and tinkered as best I could, but problem is still there. I don't know if I did something to the actual front tire when I attempted to put it on back at home or if I hit something while putting the bike in my car but, man am I getting frustrated that I can't fix it myself!!!
Brand new bike and I can't even ride it yet!!

So an overview of what I'm seeing:
-Quick-release handle is on the left side.
-Brake release is open when attempting to attatch tire, but still prevents tire from spinning freely when 'hand spun'.

I can see the tire 'wobbles' slightly from side to side; I tried re-aligning thinking that was the problem but I'm still not getting it.

Sorry for the ignorance, I swear I'm trying to learn...

Eden

You might have misaligned the brakes when you took the wheel off (especially if you removed the wheel without releasing the brakes first. Usually you can move the brakes side to side a little bit just using your hand - if not you might have to find the appropriate allen wrench and loosen them, realign them and tighten them back up. Ideally you want the same amount of gap on each side of the rim.

I think you might have a semantics problem going here too. Do you mean the rim (the metal park) when you say tire (the rubber part)? You will probably always see a bit of wobble in the tire and you can ignore that unless there is a big bulge somewhere, which may indicate a weak spot in the tire or a pinch in the tube. If you see a significant amount of wobble in the rim, then the wheel may need to be trued. Like K said, if your brakes are actually touching your tire then your wheel likely isn't all of the way seated into the dropouts.

Yojimbo_

Just take it to a bike store and they will fix it in no time and you can watch and learn.

SpeakRed

PROBLEM SOLVED!
The brakes weren't put on right/put on in a hurry by LBS. Had a friend come look at the bike, and thank goodness it was something I hadn't learned how to do yet
He pulled out a handy-dandy tool and after a few attempts, my wheel was spinnin' very nicely!
I was going nuts. Let me tell you. I knew about the brake release, I knew about the brakes needing to touch the tire rim (I apologize for not making that known, I must've sounded quite absurd) so for the LIFE of me I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

:whew: Now I can finally get out on the road for the first time...wish me luck! Any newbie advice is greatly appreciated...So far I've learned shorts are a must, and shifting is much more complicated than I thought...

kdelong

Glad to hear you got it. Like you said, shorts are a must(except in cold weather), and shifting improves with experience.

__________________
One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

Hewerrr

If your brakes weren't installed properly by your LBS, I would strongly suggest you take it in and have them give it a once over to make sure nothing else was installed in a hurry. You might even consider taking it in to another bike shop for a second opinion. If your friend who helped fix your breaks knows what they're doing, maybe you just need them to go over the bike.
I find it pretty disturbing that a bike shop would send you home with a poorly assembled bike. Everyone is human and can make mistakes, but even if you were a really experienced rider, if something isn't installed correctly on your bike, you could get seriously injured.