i was out riding yesturday and on the way home on the road my rear hub seemed to have tightened up on the bearings, then it locked up completely as if it was getting tighter which i didnt understand, so i sat on the back and put one pedal stroke down and my quick release split in half and hit a wall at the side of the road(taking a nice chunk out of the wall) and the other half going half way across the road. 😯

any idea why it did this? i've had the hub apart and theres no reason why it should have done this, yes the axle was abit tight, but if anything that shouldnt have anything to do with the quick release snapping.

Weird. Is your axle slightly wider than the frame, or are the locknuts/cones set up so that one side of the axle is slightly proud of the dropout?

I would guess the cones/locknuts weren't tight enough and riding the bike was unscrewing them, or something like that.

What kind of hub – cup & cone threaded axle type?

I did this on my road bike at a roundabout as I put power down it jammed the wheel into the frame as it fell off the dropouts and I skidded across teh roundabout. I held it beautifully and tried to track stand whilst looking down the wheel did not move though as it was locked…I would love to say I dismounted with aplomb but it would be a lie. Never worked out what happened but the QR snapped clean in the middle of the axle and was not bent.

its a shimano m475 hub rear hub. cup and cone threaded type.

and none of the axle is proud of the drop out.

How easy was it to take apart? Was there any play in the bearings?

I had this in morzine. Rear XT hub completely seized and the axle snapped – 2 mile walk home carrying my bike. I think something must have been loose and the bearings jammed into one another – couldn't undo the hub at all.

play in the bearings? they were too tight.