I understand that on disk brake cx or road frames if you don’t do up the quick release to a similar tightness it can cause a bit of brake rub etc

I do up my QR so they start to get tight at 90 degrees and my front wheel is always spot on, the back however is terrible…..

I cannot ever get it to go back in the same as before, it’s so far out of line I have to loosen the caliper and re-adjust it, and re-index the gears

I can’t see any problems with the caliper, rotor, frame or wheel, so I wonder:

1 – is this normal?
2 – how can I avoid it if it is normal?
3 – what am I doing wrong if it isn’t normal?

The hub spacing is constant so “how tight” the QR is should make no difference, unless you are compressing the frame or the hub.
Seated right in the drop outs?

Providing its setup correctly in the first place you should be able to whop in and out all you want with no adjustment best way is put wheel in then bike on floor put pressure over rear end and tighten qr it should be fully in both dropouts then.
set brake and u should be ok

yep I do all that, it’s seated perfectly, I’m totally baffled, with the old MTB the wheel would go in and out no problem

Pix? What angle is the dropout?

Try another QR 😉

I once had an odd combination of QR skewer QR spring and drop-out that meant the QR was clamping on drop-out via the spring rather than skewer clamp surface. It wasn’t immediately obvious from looking, but it meant the clamping force was minimal and the wheel would shift.
The same has also happened with a broken axle.

what is the alignment in the frame like.
had a similar issue with a front wheel,problem was worn dropouts. also check for a broken axle

Sounds like your axle slots in the dropouts have worn/spread.

everything is 400 miles old, and I’ve noticed this since the first time the wheel came out after a few rides (about 200 miles) so wear is unlikely to be an issue

the skewer is deore xt, I’ve looked it over and it seems fine, dunno what more I can do there

broken axle…. are there any symptoms of this I should look out for? the wheel spins fine and the axle seems solid, also a faulty freehub was repaired at about 200 miles and then replaced at about 300 miles, so I would think that would have been spotted by the shop

I had this on my wife’s bike. Eventually it turned out that the little conical spring on the skewer had at some point fallen off and been put on backwards, so the wider end was in the dropout and fouling it up.

So, check that!

Sounds like your axle slots in the dropouts have worn/spread.

can you elaborate on this?

just to add, yesterday I loosened and tightened the skewer (in the process of diagnosing a creak) without removing the wheel, and the wheel stayed ok then, it seems to be that once fully removed from the bike and put back in then the problems happen

I wonder if it could be something like the rotation of the axle in the wheel is doing this? as it wouldn’t have changed from just opening the skewer yesterday but today once the wheel was fully out it would have certainly gone back in differently? something like maybe the contact points in the dropouts change when the axle is round the other way?

it’s the only thing I can think of

I was thinking the same as Mr Salmon, check that first!

Or the shop assembled the axle wrong [missing washer etc]. Can you try another wheel?

the springs are the correct way around

I had this on an old stumpjumper frame. No matter what I did the brake always rubbed after putting the wheel back in.

It turned out that the slot in the frame the end of the wheel slots into had worn and as such the wheel would move about.

Turn the bike upside down and put the wheel in and leave the qr undone. See if the axle moves in the slot by rocking wheel side to side.

Are you doing it with bike upside down or right way up ? If upside down and springs etc correct maybe it’s the dropouts are worn or uneven ?

I have tried with the bike in the workstand and me lifting the wheel up into the dropouts, I have tried with the bike upside down, and I have tried with the bike the right way up and me leaning on it and not leaning on it, all results seem to be the same

when the QR is done up the wheel is fine, no play at all, when the QR is undone…. well….. it’s loose, like you would expect….. not sure I understand that one could you explain a bit more?

as for worn dropouts the bike is 400 miles old, I try not to take the back wheel in and out a lot because of this problem, so they should be fine, all I see is tiny indents where the ridges around the axle press in, which I’m pretty sure are normal

like I said earlier the wheel was aligned yesterday, I don’t think wear could do that overnight

I’m still clueless, I can’t understand how the disc rotor can be so much further over with no apparent reason, yet the wheel still appears centered in the frame

I would say the rotor moves by over 1mm when this happens, which is huge for something like this, I don’t know if the rotor is moving the same direction each time or moving out and back again

So the wheel still seems central but the disc is out of alignment in the caliper?

Are the calipers properly tightened onto the frame? And presumably the disc is properly bolted to the hub?

PIIIIIIIIIIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So the wheel still seems central but the disc is out of alignment in the caliper?

Are the calipers properly tightened onto the frame? And presumably the disc is properly bolted to the hub? yes and yes caliper and rotor are both tight and proper

when this happens the gears need adjusting too so it is like the whole hub shifts over

to ride on it’s fine, once I’ve sorted out the brakes and gears again you wouldn’t know anything is wrong, but the fact that this keeps happening tells me something is wrong

Broken axel did similar symptoms to me.

This used to happen to me, i now mark the end caps with a litle bit of tippex and always put the wheel back in with these lined up with the drop outs. this has solved the problem. i can only put the problem down to out of square end caps.

good suggestion, I’ll remember to try that

I had to do the same as burt on an old Spesh XC I had, turned out the axles were poorly machined so they never sat in the same position twice unless you were very careful (hole through the centre was at an angle and the threads weren’t square). Solved it with some Hope hubs that Spesh contributed towards under warranty.

<haven’t read whole thread?>
Have you tried swapping skewers – ‘with no springs’ – my mates bike had similar problem and skewer was slightly bent.

+ try swapping wheels with a mate.

Given its only 400 miles old, can you take it back to the shop ?

self build, hard to take something back when you’re not sure which part is causing the problem haha

if marking the axle helps then I’m not bothered tbh, because I’ll know what the problem is and how to avoid it

I’ll report back in time

Use some alignment gauges to check the dropout alignment. Also check the hanger is a good flat fit against the dropout if its a bolt-on job. Sounds like a possibly misaligned dropout that is having to flex under QR clamp force to sit flat, possibly combined with a hub that’s not sitting 100% aligned each time due to dropout alignment, excess paint in the axle slot that a 10mm round file will sort out, etc.

All good stuff above, also try putting the bike upside down, QR released, and turn the axle in the frame. If the wheel moves around the axle or parts connected to it are at fault.
And try taking the QR springs out altogether, their convenience is outweighed by the weird problems they can cause.

Try another wheel as already suggested,then it narrows it down to either the frame or wheel.Also get someone else to have a look,a fresh pair of eyes often helps!
Is the rear wheel cup and cone,if so check the cone nuts,maybe they need tightening or adjusting.
If it’s cartridge bearings dismantle and check the hub assembly,spacers and end caps are all correct.
Also check the obvious,is the disc on properly?