Rear wheel rolling resistance

Greetings,

Before I waste any time chasing down a possibly non-existent problem...how freely does your 6th Gen rear wheel spin when up on the c-stand? There seems to be considerably more resistance when compared to my '96's. The chain is properly adjusted so if there is indeed more than normal drag then I suspect a mis-aligned caliper. Your experience? Thanks.

Joe

I get about 1 to 3 turns depending on the effort. I'd say that it should do 1 turn without a lot of effort.

Try rocking the caliper back and forth and see if that frees up the brakes a little bit. It might be that the pads are dragging lightly (no harm).

Yeah, easy enough to pull the rear pads and see if it frees up considerably, if so you know it's a brake drag issue. :rolleyes:

BR

You don't even have to pull the rear caliper, just gently pry the pads away from the disc so you can see daylight on both sides of the disc.

Just be sure to pry using the brake pad backing plates, and not on the pad material itself.


If there is still a lot of drag, then try loosening the eccentric, move the axle as far forward as adjustment will allow, then hop the chain off the rear sprocket and out of the way temporarily. Then spin the rear wheel with only the drag from the bearings and see what happens.

That way, you've eliminated one variable at a time.

[image: View Post]BaileyRock, on 21 March 2010 - 01:45 PM, said:

Yeah, easy enough to pull the rear pads and see if it frees up considerably, if so you know it's a brake drag issue. :rolleyes:

BR

Actually, I replaced the rear pads a couple hundred miles back but the resistance has always seemed a little high both before and after the pad replacement. Perhaps it is inherently more drag on the 6th than on the 4th. I'll take another look-see at the calipers. Thanks to all responders.