Been setting bearing preload wrong on cup and cone hubs for years

Always just tightened the locknut until it felt smooth. A guy at the shop in Tacoma watched me and said 'you're crushing the races.' He showed me the wiggle test. You tighten the cone, back it off a quarter turn, then lock it. The axle should have a tiny bit of side play before the quick release clamps it. Did it on a Trek 520 yesterday and the wheel spun way freer. How many hubs have I messed up with my old method?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowank692mo agoMost Upvoted

My old shop foreman in Portland called that the "two-thousand dollar handshake" because he'd seen so many new mechanics ruin expensive hubs. The wiggle test feels wrong when you first learn it, like you're leaving it too loose. But you're right, that tiny bit of play disappears completely once the QR skewer is under tension. I probably cooked a few sets of Campy Record hubs back in the day doing it your old way too.

iris_green842mo ago

Ever wonder how many classic hubs got killed by that old "tighten it till it's smooth" method? I saw a Dura-Ace 7400 rear hub get totally wrecked because a guy kept chasing out that tiny bit of bearing preload feel. The cones were just powdered by the end. It's one of those things you have to unlearn, trusting the skewer to do its job.

elliotc101mo ago

It's a classic case of overcorrecting for a feeling. You see it all the time with people adjusting things from carburetors to door hinges, chasing a perfect feel that doesn't actually exist. The real fix often comes from letting the whole system work together under load.