I've currently got a 20mm Pro2 front hub and when out of the forks, the 20mm end cap things wobble around LOADS. Is this normal? Reason I ask is that I'm still getting problems with the front wheel wobbling in the fork and the only way I seem to be able to fix is to fit a plumbing washer (!) between the hub and the fork on the axle. No washer means I can grab the tyre and theres about 5mm > 10mm of movement there. Not good.

And yes, I've tightened the QR (20mm QR setup) nice and tight and the bearings seem fine…

Forks are 2007 AM SLs if thats any help?

Dave

You are not alone, I distinctly remember reading several lengthy posts where people have had this issue.

My end caps as you call them do wobble a bit also, but once wheel is fitted into forks (pikes) there is no movement.

However when same wheel is fitted into my 55 forks there is a wobble, if you grab the tyre/wheel up by the fork arch you can move the wheel about 3-5mm each way. There is no obvious play or looseness around the hub though when fitted.

Pikes here and no wobble when in, but you can waggle the end caps when the wheels out.

My Pro 2 end caps a loose when out of the wheel but here's no movement once the Maxle on the Lyrik is tightened up. Yeah i seem to remember a few people having a similar issue to you. Is it noticable when you're riding?

It may not be causing any problems

Yep, mine wobble but are fine once in the fork and clamped up – used on Nixons, Pikes, 36's & Reba's – come to think of it the old Pro II's have served me well

I've got this issue, thread about it here

The wobbly ends are meant to be like that, floating spacers apparently.

According to Hope if the bearings are good in the hub then it's just one of those things. The hubs aren't really designed to be used with a Maxle type system. They were intended for bolt thru's which clamp from both ends.

I have now begrudgingly got over it. It doesn't cause any noticeable play when riding – the majority of people think I am worrying about nothing.

I had this on some old Z1's and bulb hubs.

Never understood why, surely a 20mm axel should be a perfect fit inside a 20mm bearaing, anything else surely defeats the objective of stiffening up the front end.

The end caps are just spacers – when the axle is tightened up the spacers are clamped between the fork leg ends and the inner races of the bearings. They have o rings there merely to stop them falling out when the wheel is out

I would suggest that the axle is not tightening up properly. It should take all the play out. You need to tighten the ends of the axle up to remove end float before tightening the axle clamps.

Mine wobble but once tightened in the forks (Pikes) there is no play.

I have this problem also, replaced bearing which I thought was the problem and this made no difference. To be honest I don't notice while riding.

As I recall from previous threads, the end-cap wobble isn't a problem (mine do it too btw). However, some folk have had to replace bearings to get rid of the wheel wobble. Seems like some sort of tolerance issue?

In answer to the OP no this really shouldn't happen and yes is is very annoying! We have several bikes with Hope Pro2 20mm all running Pikes. One bike is fine but the other two have said 'wheel wobble'. Conversations with Hope elicited 'tighten the maxel up more' – er right… 😯 and 'change the bearings' .. on a brand new wheel..!! Apparently there has been some talk of dodgy bearing batches but a change of bearings hasn't made any difference. And yes it is noticeable when riding. So, if anyone ever gets to the bottom of this then would be really interested to know. The solution so far has been to buy a new wheel. Nuke Proof hubs – all good so far.

I got wobble after about 18 months. Changed the bearing and all fine now. Got the bearings from hope with no charge,very helpful.

Cheers all. The hub was fine with a set of 36s I had before so I'm guessing it must be a problem with the (m)axle thing. Might just not be pulling the dropouts/hub together tight enough (even though its as tight as it'll go).

Might try a new axle as I'm pretty sure its not the bearings.

Will let you know how it goes!

"the axle is tightened up the spacers are clamped between the fork leg ends and the inner races of the bearings"

Doesn't that load the bearing in a way they're not designed to take? I would have thought they'd wear very quickly.

Johnners – no – there is a spacer in between the bearings to take that load.

The whole issue seems odd to me. "Tolerance issues" on bearings just shouldn't happen to this extent.

According to Hope if the bearings are good in the hub then it's just one of those things. The hubs aren't really designed to be used with a Maxle type system. They were intended for bolt thru's which clamp from both ends

They either don't know, CBA investigating it or know there's a problem and CBA dealing with it.

OP – can't you determine where the play is by closely inspecting the hub area while it's all moving?

So, if anyone ever gets to the bottom of this then would be really interested to know.

With pikes the wheel is clamped between the left leg and the raised scetion on the right side of the Maxle, the right hand leg 'floats' on the maxle until you flip the lever to expand the wedges and lock the leg in place. So you should be able to screw the maxle into the fork enough to take up any play or tolerances in the hub. Im sure there were issues a while back with pike forks where new axles had to be sent out as there was not enough thread on the maxle to achieve correct fitting. Have you tried different maxles in the forks that wont tighten?

Ah, of course. Thanks al.

Early coda front hubs, back in the day, were very light.

This was because there was no axle and no spacer between bearings to take the compression of the QR from the bearings…not sure how they wore!

Any more thoughts on this? just checked mine (fitted to Pikes) there's a little sideways play – 3 months old – is it normal then? Can the movement be reduced?

bump for wiksey

OK, I've solved it.

On the Marzocchi 'Maxle' at the QR lever end there was the remnants of a rubber o-ring. Got rid of that and constructed my own (leccy tape wrapped around it a million times and then cut to a couple of mm wide to mimick what I figured the o-ring would have been like once.

Re-assembled it all et voila – sorted. The outside end of the maxle obviously didn't have enough material there to push the outside of the fork leg tightly against the hub, hence the movement and which explains why it was ok with some Foxs etc.

Leccy tape – awesome stuff!