New wheel or new bike?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by jimbeauxk
In 2003, I purchased a 2002 Jamis Nova online. I got a good deal on the prior year's model, and I already own a Jamis Coda and have been more than happy with it as an in-town do-it-all commuter. It was my car when I decided I didn't need a car. Anyways, the Nova was going to be my longer distance weekend bike.

However, out of the box, the rear wheel caused me problems. The stock wheelset is Mavic MA3 with UB Control rims (26" Ritchey Rock Pro on 47cm front), 36H, Ritchey Road Pro QR hubs, 14/15g SS spokes. The rear wasn't true and the hub squeaked. I brought the wheel in to get trued, but that didn't last long. The hub was greased up, and the squeak is gone, but a couple of blocks into a ride, the wheel slips out of position, and last weekend in the middle of Seattle traffic, my wheel fell from the dropout and it was all I could do to not slide into the car to the side of me. Needless to say, the bike will sit and collect dust until I figure out what to do. It's a shame it's only been ridden about 5 times.

I'm 6'2" 230lbs, and the bike is a 59cm. I have considered selling the bike on eBay and going with a roadie that's slightly larger, but with the rear wheel the way it is, I can't do that without simply giving it away.

Would I be better off buying a no-nonsense rear wheel (Shimano XT, etc.) or is there a way to package the bike and put that money towards a $1,000 weekender? I am not dumb, but wheel sizing seems like a foreign language to me. How would I go about finding the correct wheel?

The rear wheel coming out of the dropout suggest something other than just a wheel problem. Did you have the wheel mounted properly and the QR properly tightened? Is therer enough axel protruding to engage the dropout, or is the dropout damaged? The out of true business can probably be fixed with a proper retensioning by a good wheel builder. Acording to the specs, you have a 700c wheel with an lx MTB hub,meaning 135mm over locknut. Any replacement wheel will aslo need to have a mtb hub to get the same 135mm dimension. 700c wheels with road hubs are 130mm over locknut.

I'm pretty sure it's mounted correctly - I took the whole bike in when I had it trued, but obviously I've put it back in myself since then. On the QR, I've tried various tensions, but don't know what is "just right". I've also scoured this forum for info on broken axles and various skewer properties, but that just makes me want to buy new parts without figuring out what is wrong. This is probably a good lesson in buying online. I'm hesitant to keep taking it to the shop and dropping $$ to true it every other week when I could use that money for simply replacing the wheel.

Thanks for the info on the MTB size hub - I've already learned something new. I gotta quit trying to do this all myself or I'll have a frankenbike.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by jimbeauxk
I'm pretty sure it's mounted correctly - I took the whole bike in when I had it trued, but obviously I've put it back in myself since then. On the QR, I've tried various tensions, but don't know what is "just right". I've also scoured this forum for info on broken axles and various skewer properties, but that just makes me want to buy new parts without figuring out what is wrong. This is probably a good lesson in buying online. I'm hesitant to keep taking it to the shop and dropping $$ to true it every other week when I could use that money for simply replacing the wheel.

Thanks for the info on the MTB size hub - I've already learned something new. I gotta quit trying to do this all myself or I'll have a frankenbike.

Simple truing does not fix a bad wheel build problem. Any good shop should also be able to determine if there is some defect in the rear hub/axel and also demonstrate proper use of a skewer.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by jimbeauxk
I'm pretty sure it's mounted correctly - I took the whole bike in when I had it trued, but obviously I've put it back in myself since then. On the QR, I've tried various tensions, but don't know what is "just right". I've also scoured this forum for info on broken axles and various skewer properties, but that just makes me want to buy new parts without figuring out what is wrong. This is probably a good lesson in buying online. I'm hesitant to keep taking it to the shop and dropping $$ to true it every other week when I could use that money for simply replacing the wheel.

Thanks for the info on the MTB size hub - I've already learned something new. I gotta quit trying to do this all myself or I'll have a frankenbike.

I also had all kids of trouble with my rear wheel on my 2003 specialized road bike.
1)If you take the bike to a shop and they fix it and then a week later it is wrong again, DO NOT take the bike to that shop. (my example is here I usually buy my stuff, including bike, at supergo, but the mechanics there dont know [censored] so when I need somthing fixed I go somewhere else, I might pay a few bucks more for the parts, but the labor cost is the same and they actually fix the prolme. You should try another shop (and for service stuff, the smaller shops usually have better techs than the big stores do, IMHO). I tried many different mechanics before I found one (well 2 actually) that really knows what they are doing, one of them just happens to be 15 years old. Both of the mechanics work at a family owned bike shop(but not the same shop, the two shops are about 120 miles apart in fact).
2)Just reinforcing number 1, a good mechanic will fix it right the first time, and It will stay that way for a while, unless you are doing somthing wrong, or something just plain breaks
3)If you have only had your bike for a year, you might still be covered by warrenty if anything is broke and needs replaced

The other nice thing about the smaller shops is that it will probably be the same mechanic almost everytime you go (especially if you make it a point to always go on the weekend, or conversly always on a weekday) and you can get to personally know the guy/gal, which allows you to trust them more. One of the mechanics I use is now a riding partner and the other I race with (that is how I met him, at a race)