As I was throwing my rear wheel back on after replacing the tube, I was tightening the axle nut and heard a snapping noise. After loosening the nut again to see what was wrong, two neat halves of a nut fell onto the ground.
I will be taking it into the LBS tomorrow, but could anyone shed some light on what it’s called, and why on earth it would snap like that? The bike is an '09 Mongoose Maurice, so it’s pretty new. Perhaps this is what everyone says to look out for when they talk about cheap components?
yeah, i’ve broken both on my hillbrick wheelset. they seem to get stress fractures. get a pair when you get some replacements. the flat hex nuts seem much stronger
I had the same problem with my Campy record hub. Exactly the same thing happened. I dicked around forever trying to find a replacement nut (near impossible), ended up finding one that fitted in my shoebox o’ random bike parts. I put a washer against the bearing cones and the nut and it’s tightened up fine.
Took the bike into Cheeky’s this morning and they helped me out. He said that given my hub is sealed, it’s more of a spacer nut than a lock nut but it can go by either name. The nut + washer space the hub out by 6mm, and he was able to find a 6mm nut that he could use without the washer.
They were able to do it on the spot too, which was nice. Also gave me some tips on the advantages of CNC-milled sprockets and an easier way of tensioning the chain - both appreciated given I’m pretty green at all this.
Previously I’d been grabbing the wheel and pulling back while tensioning the nut on the chain side of the wheel. Then I’d tighten the other side and repeat the whole process until the chain tension was just loose enough for the chain not to get stuck at the tightest point by spinning the wheel. I wasn’t paying too much attention to finding out where the tightest point of the chain was before starting the whole process, so it was all very much trial and error.
He showed me how to “walk the wheel back” in the dropouts by pushing on alternate sides of the wheel (rather than pulling from the back), and alternating between tightening the bolts. I guess we’ll see if I paid enough attention next time I take my rear wheel off…