So I have serviced the hubs on the commuter at the weekend (and treated it to a new bottom bracket) so it should be buttery smooth… however the "dust caps" keep popping off the front hub. I have tried being gentle with then and a bit harsh with them however they pop off after a mile or so.

Its cheap unbranded hubs that came on the bike (tricross) and I have serviced them a few times before and they have been fine…

Its the part that sheldon brown labels "dust cap" here:

From http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/hubs.html

They dont seem bent or anything… I just cant figure it out!

Any ideas?

Cheers – David.

Common problem, it should be an interference fit on the cone, but often isn't.Remove it, find a suitably sized socket to "shrink" the inner lip, and tap it in.It'll take a few goes to get it right, then use another socket to press it onto the cone.

How do i shrink the inner lip? Just bash the socket into the back of the dust cap bit to spread it open? Thanks for the info btw, i thought it fitted the hub, not the cone! 🙂

Right these things are doing my head in – I just cannot get them to stop bouncing off the hub and floating on the axle!

I'm 99% certain these are spesh branded copies of the Shimano HB-2200 hubs from here.

Any more tips?

Thanks! David.