Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Does anyone here have any experience with cone adjustments for a BMX front wheel hub? @Vault-Tec possibly? I've noticed that mine has just started to make a little noise, gently tapping the wheel down on the ground results in a faint but noticeable amount of play/looseness.

 

Are they loose ball or sealed?

With sealed the axle is machined and you can tighten away because the cone nut and axle lock to the inner shell of the bearing. With loose ball it's totally different. You have a cone nut (which will be straight and then angled at like, 45') which sits in a race of loose bearings (sometimes caged but usually not) and then you have two locknuts (one each side on the cone nut) that basically lock the cone nut into position. So you need cone spanners, because they are very thin. then you basically do up the cone nuts finger tight into the bearings, lock off the cone nut with one spanner then use the other spanner to lock up the lock nut against the cone nut.

I would say it is very easy, but getting it dead right is an art. Mostly because you have to allow some slack or you either end up with them too tight, or, too loose. One side can be locked down stupid hard though, as you only use one side when taking out any looseness.

 

Here you go, loose ball axle.



Starting on the outer.. Wheel nut (the one that goes against the frame) lock nut, cone nut (noting some have a bearing cover on like the one above).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverli...444786&hash=item1c783e198b:g:uIcAAOSwo4pYWEoL

That *should* be what you need (and all you need) unless you have some weird freak axle lol. The cone nut has two very thin flat edges, hence why you need very thin spanners. Otherwise you can't hold the cone nut still whilst cranking on the lock nut, and you will end up making your bearings square lmao.

 

It's a loose ball SALT 'AM' hub, top job with the explanation! I shall pick up a pair of cone spanners this week and have a go

 

OK cool man. I've got a couple of SALT hubs but they are sealed (EX and Trapez).

 

How tall are you bmx riders and what size bmx's are you going with? I used to be really into them when I was younger age 9 to approx 14 and wanting to get back into it to lose the lard i'm accumulating but am concerned at 6ft and 41 year old I'll be too be big for an old style 20" wheel and 21.5" TT. I've looked at the 24" cruisers but the price is eye watering considering I might not stick with it. Suppose the other option is get a 24" wheeled mtb and convert it. I don't want to spend a fortune, already got a 26" wheel mtb rusting away because I find it too unwieldy, never have like the geometry of them to be honest.

 

@davvy76 I'm 5ft 8" and the same age, running a 21" TT and 13.2" CS. It's the translucent blue 2018 WeThePeople Arcade. It feels just about right for me (I did have a go on my son's 20.5" but found it way to easy to manual), the front wheel popped up far too easily!

@Vault-Tec On closer inspection, the cone nuts seem larger than 13-16mm variety, SALT make their own cone spanners which are from 18-24mm.... Oops, ah well, I now have a cheap set of normal sized cone spanners that should fit regular nuts!
https://www.snapdistribution.com/en/Salt-Pro-Cone-Wrench-Set/m-28837.aspx it is then, looks like they're not far from you!

EDIT: Aaaaand they're out of stock!

 

I hate Salt. I absolutely hate them. They take the pee, they really do !!

Recently my driver (cog thing) was causing noises. When I inspected it very very closely I could see it was a stupid design. Instead of the teeth on it being open they were like offset and hooked on the ends. Perfect idea for biting chain onto the driver (so it doesn't fall off) stupid for when it wears ever so slightly flat and starts popping and making horrid noises !!

And you go to buy a replacement.... £60. Eh? come again?. A top end freewheel (Shimano, I know I bought one last month) is about £20. £60 for a tiny little piece of steel? 'koff. Seriously, 'koff.

Thankfully I was able to reface mine with a Dremel and it it is now silent, but screw any company that makes proprietary shite.

'ere, dude. Not sure if this would work.. Do you have a Dremel? or angle grinder? can you not open up those cone spanners to fit your nuts (badum tish) ?

Remember - if some ahole makes a part that has a funky sized tool you will usually end up making your own tools. I've done it bloody loads.

 

No Dremel sadly, **hangs head in outright shame!**

Salt / Salt Pro is Wemakethings™ slightly less premium brand, compared to their WeThePeople & Eclat offerings. I've found stock elsewhere but it's gonna cost a few quid more... grrr

 

There are two sides to Salt. Salt, and Salt +. Salt parts are meh, usually steel etc. Salt + are the good bits. 4130 etc. Funny you mention WTP, as Salt + make pretty much all of them. They come with Salt wheels too etc. Those lumo fork I put on my Proper are Salt +, from a WTP.

Ed. Dude I might have bigger ones. I will look when I get back, but I know I have some big ones for one piece cranks etc. If not I may cut up one of mine for you. They're not exactly hard to replace

 

You guys and your fancy set of wheels.

 

My not so fancy wheel is about to be fixed now that my cone spanners have finally arrived! But I'm stuck at work till 4pm.

Killing time by drooling over some BMX parts, it's not helping much, someone stop me!!

 

Got to have fancy wheels!

I have three sets for the road bikes, one has one set all yeah round just a boring heavy set. Race bike though has two, 60mm deep carbons that make magical wooshing sounds at speed and have a loud hub. Then the 30mm alloy ones which weigh far less and are black with gold glitter because it looks good!

 

Disk brakes keep squeaking no matter how much adjustment, removed pads and degreased them and discs with isopropyl and also resurfaced the pads with Emery.

Also when I stand up to power up a hill I'm getting awful clicking and crunching, pedals? Crank? maybe to do with the snapped spindle I replaced?

 

Creaking could be signs of bottom bracket wear/water ingress.

 

Absolutely bottom bracket. Mine is started doing the same around the 750-800 miles mark, now I have broke 1k miles, it's properly crunchy under power. It's a horrible, notchy feeling through pedals with creaky, crunching sound. Luckily GXP BB's are cheap and easy to replace!

 

That is absolutely hopeless, should be just nicely run-in at that mileage. Is that typical of kit these days? I rode tens of thousands of miles on a Mavic BB, in the 90s, including when I was fit and strong because I was time-trialing and still weighed around 12.5 stone because I'm not a little geezer.

 

Yep, SRAM make a lot of nice kit, but the standard GXP BB's are tosh - if it was a wet spring/summer, it would have been dead by 500-600 miles. It's why they are only £20-25 new, I guess.

I could get a nice Hope or Chris King that will do 2/3k miles no problem, but considering how quick and easy it is to remove and install a conventional threaded BB, I can't justify the initial cost vs buying a new SRAM one every 7/8 months.

 

I'd be raging if I had to replace my BB every 750 miles - even at £25 a skull, that would have been £100 on BBs alone last year.

My BB (an old-school FSA square taper effort) has done well north of 6,000 miles of year-round cycling in all weathers.

 

I swapped my GXP SRAM farce for a Hope one with the adaptor, 1200 miles still buttery smooth.

Also, swapped over the "Coco Chanel tyres" to something somewhat more stealthy, looks a bit more purposeful now I think. Did some research with these, Swhwalbe 1 V guard are lighter than the Vittoria Corsa G by 20g each end better puncture protection and pretty similar rolling resistance. But thanks to science slapping in some latex tubes lowers it to below the resistance of the Vittorias even with latex tubes. So, lighter, tougher, quicker AND cheaper. These tyres are doing me a confuse.

Photo because I can