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Tight Giant wheel bearing

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  • September 11, 2016 at 7:39 pm #26262
    davembk

    Help! The boss and I’ve recently treated ourselves to a Giant Liv Avail and a Giant Defy. Today I was idly spinning my Defy front wheel as it rested upside down. I noticed that it didn’t run too freely. To cut a long story short, I found that it got tight as soon as the quick release was applied, even when quite moderately but reasonably free with no qr pressure 
    I also tried it off the bike, with some old bolt nuts in between the qr ends, to simulate the frame. Exactly the same and by doing this I could really feel the tightness when turning the spindle by hand. 
     The problem is only on my front wheel and the boss’s rear wheel. So I’m going back to the bike shop. Would I be right in thinking these wheel bearings are adjustable eg preload although I can’t see anything obvious? Both wheels in question are quite tight to turn when qr pressure is on, and the stiffer one is not that free even with no qr pressure. My guess is that it’s a qa problem at Giant but I’m a bit miffed that the bike shop didn’t check for this type of thing before handing over to us. I’m glad I picked this up but if it’s a common problem then there must be a lot of bikes grinding their hubs away if the owners haven’t noticed. Thanks for any comments

    The wheels are Giant slr0 and slr1

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  • August 9, 2017 at 3:38 pm #878017
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    davembk

    If anyone’s interested, it’s

    Fixed!

    My bike shop said that despite what they were telling Giant (below) they insisted the wheels were within tolerance. 

    The shop guy knew that no way should these hubs be that stiff. He’d figured out the problem:

    On each side, the hub axle has a shoulder that should sit either flush with or the smallest amount proud of the installed inner bearing race, butt up to the quick release flange, stopping quick release pressure getting to the inner bearing race (the flange diameter always sits completely inside the outer race diameter)  On these wheels, the shoulders were a tiny amount short, ie inboard of the races, so the inner races, unprotected by these shoulders were being pushed inwards by qr pressure. In that situation, only the loosest qr adjustment let the wheel turn anywhere near free.

    The bike shop fix was to fit a shim to make the shoulder slightly wider.  Problem immediately solved, thanks!

    Doesn’t say much for Giant though, ignoring what the bike shop was saying.

    The bike shop had tested different wheels, including brand new ones, all the same.

    We’re happy now, and guess it will all go away anyway with the fresh through axle hubs.

    Dave

     

     

     

    January 18, 2017 at 4:02 pm #878015
    0
    davembk

    Update,

    Update,

    Towards the end of 2016, the bike shop finally received replacement SLR 0 and SLR 1 wheelsets from Giant, but I was then told not to bother coming down for them because these had exactly the same problem ie hubs going stiff as soon as quick release tightened.

    A few weeks gap after I injured myself on my mountain bike but now picked up again and we’re all still waiting on Giant. Today the bike shop has just said they are finding out if Giant are sending any more replacements. 

    As an aside I am seriously wondering now about Giant quality control…..I’ve just discovered that the disc pads, certainly on the front of the Defy (haven’t checked others yet) don’t sit correctly over the rotor so that that there are outer edges of pads that never wear. Presumably because of wrongly dimensioned caliper posts on the fork. I’m wondering what happens when the calipers self adjust enough for the unworn pad section on each side to touch together. Not a big deal on its own but because of the other problems I’m beginning to wonder about Giant.

    I know that none of these things are going to stop the bikes from working, and that most unsuspecting newcomers to cycling might not spot them. But all the same, they are faults, that should definitely not be on bikes each costing thousands of hard earned pounds.

    I’ll just keep plugging away at this and I’ll post the outcome here.

    If anyone else has these wheels, maybe check them out….

    SLR 1 disc, rear

    SLR 0, disc, front

    September 22, 2016 at 3:19 pm #878013
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    VeloUSA

    Thanks for posting the update

    Thanks for posting the update, it will help a lot of readers. Good to hear it wasn’t your frame.

    September 22, 2016 at 10:39 am #878011
    0
    davembk

    Thanks for comments. Here’s

    Thanks for comments. Here’s what it was:

    There Is a problem despite the first shop telling me that it’s “a bit like running a new car in” etc even though I’d specifically said it was Only when the qr was tightened. I knew it had to be something not in line etc  The answer came from a second bike shop (same bike chain!) He tested for bad bearing seating but in the end it was that the axle profile is manufactured wrong, shoulders too far inboard so that the qr pressure bears not on the shoulders as it should, but on the bearing races which is bad news and no amount of playing about will fix it, it’s just made wrong  The bike is one of what must be tens of thousands sold world wide  so I’m guessing that there must be a lot of tight wheels out there but how many would notice because a stiff hub is normally only tangible when you’re spinning the spindle using your fingers  At the rim it wouldn’t notice much but it would still be there. Because it’s only there under qr pressure, no way to notice it unless eg using the spacer trick with wheel off the bike.

    So if your wheel spins beautifully free but even just a bit less free when the qr is tightened, then there is a good reason and it should not happen .

     

    There

    September 12, 2016 at 7:59 pm #878009
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    VeloUSA

    I had this happen on a few

    I had this happen on a few years back where the slightest turn on the QR would prevent the wheel from spinning freely. I swapped wheels with a friend and the same thing happened with his. My wheel on his fork spun freely.  This to me indicated fork metal fatigue; no outward resitance to counter the inward torque. To rule this out try swapping wheels with the Avail. If wheel binding continues with the Avail wheel contact your LBS.

    September 12, 2016 at 5:51 pm #878007
    0
    Acm

    I’ve no idea if the hubs on

    I’ve no idea if the hubs on those wheels have adjustable preload, but the obvious giveaway would be whether there are hex key heads on the end caps (the holes where the QR skewer goes into the hub)

    The quick release effectively adds to the preload on the bearings by increasing the force towards the centre of the hubs. Some hubs with adjstable preload require you to take this into account when you set the preload (leave a fraction of play so that it dissappears when the quick release is tightened), although these hubs are few and far between

    Some hubs don’t have any adjustability with regards to preload as the endcaps just press into place over the axles and onto the bearings. This design works with angular contact bearings, but the bearings have to be pressed in the right way round, so while unlikely, the cause could be that the bearings weren’t inserted correctly at the factory

    At any rate, I’d take it back to the shop and get them to have a look at it, any decent shop should happily sort you out

    September 12, 2016 at 5:34 am #878005
    0
    pablo

    Erm does it spin freely with

    Erm does it spin freely with the QR done up? The wheels are square in the drop out? Brake rub? Unlikely it’s the wheels on two bikes have you actually ridden them?  New grease so could make them slightly tight for the first few miles.  

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