# My rear tire rubs against the frame



## Lorenjz (Jul 17, 2011)

I picked up a used trek 3700 off of craigslist over the summer. It's been a great bike. When I got it the rear wheel was out of true. I did my best to make the proper adjustments and it seemed to be working fine until my ride today. I've noticed that whenever I'm really pushing hard that the tire will rub against the chain stay on the left hand side. If I am maintaining speed or not pushing very hard I didn't notice that it was rubbing. I tried to loosen the rear wheel and push it so that it was pointed a little more center and it did help but did not completely solve the problem. What adjustments or repairs need to be made to the bike to fix the problem?


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## jtrops (Aug 4, 2008)

Since it's intermittent something is flexing. The first thing I would check would be the spoke tension, and the wheel dish. If the wheel is dished and tensioned correctly the rim shouldn't flex very much, and the rim should be centered between the locknuts on the hub. If it is still rubbing in the power stroke of your left side I would say that the frame is either flexing a lot, or broken. Flex is normal, but unless you have really fat tires in a frame with little clearance you shouldn't have rubbing.


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## dirtdonk (Jan 31, 2004)

If the axle is set all the way back in both drop outs then you probably adjusted the dish off when you trued the wheel. That is assuming that all other aspects of the rear end are mechanically sound. I.E. wheel bearings ok, etc. Retrue the wheel so the rim is centered between the chainstays.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

pictures are a great help for things like this.


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## luvdabeach2001 (Nov 11, 2011)

Check that your QR springs are in correctly. I had issues of my rear wheel occasionally rubbing on the brakes during a ride figured out one spring was in backwards and the wheel wasn't sitting properly. 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk


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## zebrahum (Jun 29, 2005)

Lorenjz said:


> I tried to loosen the rear wheel and push it so that it was pointed a little more center and it did help but did not completely solve the problem.


NEVER do that. Unless, of course, you don't mind your wheel falling off when you ride.

luv had a great suggestion, the QR springs should be installed such that the big end of the cone is to the outside of the bike and the small end is touching against the axle. If the big end is over the axle, the wheel can sit crooked.

In addition to getting your wheel trued and tensioned, make sure that your QR is closed very firmly. It should be somewhat difficult to open. If it's still rubbing, your wheel might be out of dish and should be checked by a bike shop that is capable of building wheels (not a department store).


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## Lorenjz (Jul 17, 2011)

Hey thanks everyone,

I'll check the QR springs, spoke tension, the wheel for true, and dish tomorrow. I did have the QR tight for the whole trip.

I'll post more as I make some progress.

BTW did I post this question in the right spot? If not where should future questions like this one go?

Loren


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## zebrahum (Jun 29, 2005)

Lorenjz said:


> BTW did I post this question in the right spot? If not where should future questions like this one go?
> 
> Loren


Seems like a good place for a question like that to me.


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