Help me diagnose the patient. Bent dr. hanger?

[sfscott]

I'm on the homeward side of a ride last week on my Ottrot and notice that coming down a small hill, I cannot shift to the smaller cogs. 20 min earlier, this was not a problem.

I manage to get into a workable gear and am on the flats near home when bang, a rear blow out. Being close to home, I walked the rest and set the bike aside until today.

First, I notice that my brake pads are suddenly, one one side, rubbing the tire. Wheel hard to get out of the drop-outs. I change a tube, air it up and bang. Another blowout. Turns out there was a small cut in the sidewall of the tire (new Conti GP :( to boot). A small amount of the tube squeezed through and popped under the pressure like an aneurism.

New tube and tire on, I try to mount the wheel. I cannot get it reseated in the drive-side dropout. And when on the bike, the brake is misaligned.

Not sure if any of these things are related, but I have never had a problem like this before. FWIW I am using a hand-built Open Pro wheel that heretofore has been bomb-proof and true.

Going to go to the LBS tomorrow but want to make sure I am not missing something obvious where, despite all the cash I have given them over the years, they will snicker and my dumba$$.

PS, can an Ottrot hanger be replaced? Looks like it is part of the rear stay.

[bikinchris]

A bent hanger does not make it hard to get your wheel out. You might have a problem with your axle. Do you have a loose lock nut shifting the wheel over in the frame? The most preplexing part is that you say it was workng fine earlier. If nothing changed (like a crash), nothing should have changed.

[AngryScientist]

pictures please.

is the wheel true?

[Louis]

pictures please.

is the wheel true?

+1

How old is the wheel?

Have you tried another one to see if it fits properly?

Have you carefully inspected the frame, dropouts, rear derailleur and the wheel to see if anything is seriously out of whack?

[AgilisMerlin]

strange answer. Is one of your springs on skewer flipped wrong way. Curious

as above, had one of my springs in wrong way, and wheel did not gel with frame at all, and threw my shifting off, and locked wheel in.


my original thought, and posted above, locknut backing off

or simplest answer, hanger bent

[Louis]

Unless a crack in the frame / dropout / wherever has suddenly grown a lot longer and caused a significant shift somewhere, without a crash or other obvious application of force you wouldn't think that the hanger would be bent or misaligned.

[AgilisMerlin]

with spring in wrong direction, my wheel would not seat properly.

stumped me for a minute :eek:

[sfscott]

All good suggestions. Wheels were fine until this happened. Can try another. Don't think the QR spring is on the wrong way since I haven't removed the skewer in ages.


I will report back.

[oldpotatoe]

I'm on the homeward side of a ride last week on my Ottrot and notice that coming down a small hill, I cannot shift to the smaller cogs. 20 min earlier, this was not a problem.

I manage to get into a workable gear and am on the flats near home when bang, a rear blow out. Being close to home, I walked the rest and set the bike aside until today.

First, I notice that my brake pads are suddenly, one one side, rubbing the tire. Wheel hard to get out of the drop-outs. I change a tube, air it up and bang. Another blowout. Turns out there was a small cut in the sidewall of the tire (new Conti GP :( to boot). A small amount of the tube squeezed through and popped under the pressure like an aneurism.

New tube and tire on, I try to mount the wheel. I cannot get it reseated in the drive-side dropout. And when on the bike, the brake is misaligned.

Not sure if any of these things are related, but I have never had a problem like this before. FWIW I am using a hand-built Open Pro wheel that heretofore has been bomb-proof and true.

Going to go to the LBS tomorrow but want to make sure I am not missing something obvious where, despite all the cash I have given them over the years, they will snicker and my dumba$$.

PS, can an Ottrot hanger be replaced? Looks like it is part of the rear stay.

Either an issue with the wheel or the dropout of the frame.

Got another wheel to put in there?

A decent LBS will be able to diagnose the issue, check the frame, etc.

The der hanger, which is attached to the dropout may be effected but I think it may be a frame issue.

[lonoeightysix]

My vote if for rear wheel slippage in the dropouts while riding, causing the initial loss of gears, and then the brake calipers riding on the tire instead of the brake track. The subsequent blowout tweaked the caliper.

Without the comment on shifting loss, I would have guessed a broken spoke.

[sfscott]

QR spring on drive side inverted. How that happened, I don't know. I never pull the skewers out.

[bargainguy]

You mean the tornado spring? Wow, that's weird.

Had the bike in for service lately? Always possible someone wasn't thinking when they pulled the skewer, as the rear/drivetrain side spring is the one most likely to be fiddled with as the skewer is pulled out by the QR lever.

This assumes that you keep the QR lever on the non-drivetrain side of the bike, which most folks do, but I've seen stranger things.

[cmg]

Chain, cassette, rear derailluer pulleys clean? free of gunk? did you run through gravel? had gunk slow shifting, pull rear derailluer, seen gravel get lodge in brake pads. is the cassette tight? look at the inside of your chainstays, any marks of tire rubs? If the hanger is a replaceable bolt on are the screws still tight?

[skijoring]

You mean the tornado spring? Wow, that's weird.

Had the bike in for service lately? Always possible someone wasn't thinking when they pulled the skewer, as the rear/drivetrain side spring is the one most likely to be fiddled with as the skewer is pulled out by the QR lever.

This assumes that you keep the QR lever on the non-drivetrain side of the bike, which most folks do, but I've seen stranger things.

Volute spring! Love that word.