Hi, i don’t post much but I’d like to relate a story.
I was running late today flying down Market St hill in the city, got to Flinders lane lights just as they changed so I hit the skid. Then the locking ring just popped right off and I had to slide through the traffic with sparks flying from my cleats [no brakes]…scared the shit outta me and took me nearly to flinders st to stop.
Thing is Ive been ridding on this wheel set for at least 12 months, I’m pretty certain the locking ring was screwed on very tight, and nothing like this has ever happened before.
Has it ever happened to anyone else? And how could it happen or is it just one of those things and Ive just got to buy a new ring and put it on tight?
My guess is that the sudden large force you generated to do that skid unwound the cog enough to pop the lockring out.
Do a search on FGG forum. You will find similar stories. If the threads on the hub look OK you can probably just fit another lockring in. I suspect lockrings will loosen on their own just from general riding. I have found gaps between my cog and lockring before even when I was certain I did them up tight. These days I check my lockring periodically just to be sure. As an added safety measure, I rotafix my cogs.
The threads on the hub seem ok. The hubs black and the only burs/threads of metal that came loose are silver which hopefully indicates just locking ring was threaded. Ill give rotafixing a try, its good to learn new tricks.
It was probably a blessing in disguise, cause I finally saw how disgracefully filthy my cog and chain are, good excuse to give the poor thing a bit of TLC.
Cheers, Tim
BTW - wrong forum but are the sat rides going to get later now daylight savings is over? I might actually try to get out of bed, 8 is so much more friendly than 7:30
I rotafixed it ok, new lock ring all nice and tight, looking forward to riding home, But day got worse…
Somehow either through over zealous tightening or as a result of bastard locking rings I happened to snap in two the flanged piece of the axle that jams to the inside of dropout [on the chain side].
Therefore wheel won’t run straight and I assuming this may be an expensive exercise to fix. I assume it wouldn’t involve a whole new hub but does anyone know where I might be able to, or if i get a replacement of the grippy bit or a new Velocity axle assembly.
I have heard of lockrings developing a fracture and then overtime snapping causing the rider to freak out and scream “get out of the way!!! i have no brakes!!”.
Did you pick up the missing peices? This may shed some more light into how it happened.
Even with the full body weight of my local bikeshop friend on a chain whip and me holding the wheel itself I’ve still managed to undo the back cog twice. The last time it happened at lights and I remember the spin back as if I was riding a freewheel bike again… not a nice feeling when you ride brakeless.
The first time it happened I felt the back wheel skip over a period of 2 months as if it was gradually undoing itself. I got my friend to check it out for me and he undid the lockring and cog without any tools.
Both times the thread and components have been checked and are all fine.
Fixing compound is my suggestion. I’m using it now and there’s no shift at all. It’s a type of glue which means you wont be able to undo things with regular tools and if you’re not planning on changing your cog for a while it’s a nice option. Downside - you’ll need to heat it up with a blowtorch first before you attempt to undo it again.
Probably sounds right. Do you reckon BSC in the city would be able to do it, mainly since they’re just up the road from work and thats where the bike is?
If it’s just the locknut I would think most shops could handle it. The locknuts are common sizes so you don’t need a specific Velocity locknut. Otherwise, I’d bet money that Abbottsford cycles could do it.
Yup, the lock nuts crack when you over tighten the wheel in the frame. It happened to me. Velocity at the time took too long to get the replacement out to my LBS. So we just screwed on a generic one (one without the flanges you speak of). It’s a 10x1 thread axle … easy enough to get the right width nut to screw onto that.
The lock nut it was…though its proving an extremely difficult to find little piece of metal. Abbotsford cycles can get it in but its going to take a while. I might have to go down the generic road in the meantime. Ive been bikeless now for nearly a week and the mountain bike is also very sick and unridable. I forgot how excruciating trams can be.
