# Does it matter which way round my front wheel goes on?



## Bigtallfatbloke (29 Nov 2007)

After yesterdays puncture I found my computer wasnt working this morning....erm...be cause I'd fitted the wheel on the other way around to what it was...doh...anyway apart from the computer issue is there any other reason why i shouldn't just leave the wheel on this way around? The quick release lever is now on the right as I look at it from the saddle instead of the left....the rear wheel still has it's lever on the left.

Ta


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## Arch (29 Nov 2007)

Can't think of any reason that it matters, with a front wheel, unless you had a fancy tyre with a tread that's meant to go one way. (I believe there are such things...)


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## Peyote (29 Nov 2007)

Yep, can't see any problem, unless of course you've got disc brakes. But I suspect you would've realised you'd done something wrong a bit earlier!


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## mickle (29 Nov 2007)

Bigtallfatbloke said:


> After yesterdays puncture I found my computer wasnt working this morning....erm...be cause I'd fitted the wheel on the other way around to what it was...doh...anyway apart from the computer issue is there any other reason why i shouldn't just leave the wheel on this way around? The quick release lever is now on the right as I look at it from the saddle instead of the left....the rear wheel still has it's lever on the left.
> 
> Ta



No. Unless you are anal like me and need to be able to read the text on the hub from a standing position in front of the bike. I have a friend who is equally anal about being able to read it from the saddle. But he's wrong.


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## Tynan (29 Nov 2007)

tyre direction as Arch says, every tyre I ever had had a way it wants to run, how much difference that makes I wouldn't be knowing


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## mickle (29 Nov 2007)

The tyre may be directional, the skewer should always live on the left hand side of the bike but the _wheel_ may run whichever way you want. The front wheel is rotationally symmetrical.



Pedantic? Me? Nah.


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## Bigtallfatbloke (29 Nov 2007)

Thanks all...being a lazy bugger I'm going to leave it as is and just move the computergizmo over.


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## mickle (29 Nov 2007)

Bigtallfatbloke said:


> Thanks all...being a lazy bugger I'm going to leave it as is and just move the computergizmo over.



Shirley its easier to change the wheel.


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## Arch (29 Nov 2007)

mickle said:


> Shirley its easier to change the wheel.



Yes, but don't call me shirley...

I guess the main thing is to have it so that the wheel is pointing fore and aft, and not try to fit it in sideways...


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## Blue (29 Nov 2007)

Bigtallfatbloke said:


> Thanks all...being a lazy bugger I'm going to leave it as is and just move the computergizmo over.



I did the very same thing this morning , but realised the error within a mile. FWIW it only took seconds to change the wheel and get on my way.

In mitigation I must add that my tyres are a *bugger* to get off the rim and it, therefore, took so long to change the tube that I rushed getting the gear repacked and the wheel back on as I was limited for time. At least the culprit (a piece of glass) was easy to find.

We live and learn, eh!!


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## Smokin Joe (29 Nov 2007)

Tyre direction DOES NOT MATTER on a road bike, no matter which way the (utterly useless) tread pattern goes.


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## walker (29 Nov 2007)

Smokin Joe said:


> Tyre direction DOES NOT MATTER on a road bike, no matter which way the (utterly useless) tread pattern goes.




Apart from changing the rolling resistance of course.


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## Bigtallfatbloke (29 Nov 2007)

It was easier to change the gizmo because oterwise I would have needed to deflate the tyre to get it past my brakes


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## Smokin Joe (29 Nov 2007)

walker said:


> Apart from changing the rolling resistance of course.



Eh?


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## HLaB (29 Nov 2007)

My guess is to throw the water forward rather than backwards in to you legs.


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## John Ponting (29 Nov 2007)

Bigtallfatbloke said:


> It was easier to change the gizmo because oterwise I would have needed to deflate the tyre to get it past my brakes




Does your Galaxy have cantilever brakes? Normally one end of the straddle wire slides out of the brake arm?


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## postman (29 Nov 2007)

Had my first puncture on the galaxy on weds and yes you do release the brake by the wire its easy.First one in three years.


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## fossyant (29 Nov 2007)

I'm as bad and fussy (anal) as Mickle..... and the QR must follow the line of the fork or rear seat stay......I need locking up - someone come and get me........


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## Jacomus-rides-Gen (29 Nov 2007)

Same here, both QR levers must be on the left.

They must be closed with their tails pointing to the rear.

They must be horizontal.


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## HJ (29 Nov 2007)

Jacomus-rides-Gen said:


> Same here, both QR levers must be on the left.
> 
> They must be closed with their tails pointing to the rear.
> 
> They must be horizontal.



No the QR levers on the front should be pointing up along the fork so they can't catch on anything


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## Jacomus-rides-Gen (29 Nov 2007)

What would they catch on, a particularly extreme lump of tarmac?  

On my MTB both QR's point upwards, HELL NO, not on the roadbike.


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## John Ponting (30 Nov 2007)

Jacomus-rides-Gen said:


> What would they catch on, a particularly extreme lump of tarmac?



Somebody else's pedal in the bunch sprint away from the traffic lights?


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## rustychisel (30 Nov 2007)

As stated, the computer magnet orientation is the most compelling reason. If you can't swap the wheel around without having to deflate the tyre there's something wrong there. Other reasons are so you always know the QR is on the left - always - and some tyres have a rotational preference. Whether or not that mattters overmuch is a seperate question. The QRs should always be tucked in behind a stay, and the front is best in about the 2 o'clock position (seen side on) snugged behind the fork arm for safety. As JP has alluded to above, it's the reason QR skewers are not allowed on the track.


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## mondobongo (30 Nov 2007)

Is there a specific reason that QR's go on the left?


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## GrahamG (30 Nov 2007)

Is that left when on the saddle or facing the front of the bike like mentioned above?


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## Blue (30 Nov 2007)

Jacomus-rides-Gen said:


> They must be horizontal.



Nah, I point mine up the fork/stay


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## Jacomus-rides-Gen (30 Nov 2007)

rustychisel said:


> As stated, the computer magnet orientation is the most compelling reason. If you can't swap the wheel around without having to deflate the tyre there's something wrong there. Other reasons are so you always know the QR is on the left - always - and some tyres have a rotational preference. Whether or not that mattters overmuch is a seperate question. The QRs should always be tucked in behind a stay, and the front is best in about the 2 o'clock position (seen side on) snugged behind the fork arm for safety. As JP has alluded to above, it's the reason QR skewers are not allowed on the track.



I thought QRs were not done on track because they are heavier, and its not as if you need to whip a track wheel off and change a puncture quick-sharp is it.


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## andy_wrx (30 Nov 2007)

Q/R tucked behind/against the fork and stay front & back.

Yes, maybe as you're riding along nothing's going to catch on it (unlike on the MTB where you're brushing through branches and nettles)
And maybe you are careful what you lean it against in the garage/shed or when you park it up.

But if you're parked at the caff or somewhere and some silly sod leans their bike against yours, interlocks bits of bike, then removes theirs by yanking it away from yours...I don't want to risk them pulling the Q/R open thank-you very much.

Apparently the Q/R is more aero when horizontal but I think I can live with the, ooh enormous, drag of it snagged-up against the fork
- especially when I'm racing in a Tri, when I've racked my bike on a scaffolding-pole with lots of other bikes belonging to clumsy & hasty transitioning triathletes, and it's pretty likely the berk next to me will be yanking and tugging to disconnect his bike from mine !


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## HJ (30 Nov 2007)

Jacomus-rides-Gen said:


> What would they catch on, a particularly extreme lump of tarmac?



Another bike being dragged out of an over crowded bike shed


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## abchandler (30 Nov 2007)

When I first read this thread, I failed to read the final word of the title. Good job I didn't immediately make the flippant reply 'The same way as the rear' as I was going to.


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## mickle (30 Nov 2007)

Pure class! An argument about skewer orientation! What are we like?


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## andy_wrx (30 Nov 2007)

Well you said (about 40 posts ago ), that it had to be on the left.

I assumed there was some technical reason, like whats-it-called-where-threads-unscrew-themselves-so-pedals-are-left-and-right-threaded : or is it just so it's pretty and matches the one at the back ?


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## Smokin Joe (30 Nov 2007)

Pure aesthetics, it don't matter a damn which side it goes. 

Having said that, I would _DIE before I put my wheel in the wrong way round._ it's just so...so...you just don't, that's all.


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## mickle (30 Nov 2007)

I have it on good authority that Shi**no are rumoured to be swapping their skewers to the RH side.


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## barq (30 Nov 2007)

I had a Shimano QR skewer installed on a 2004 Kona MTB on the RH side. As soon as I noticed (which was quite quickly, 'wrong' things like that catch my eye) I tried it the other way and fully closed it caught the disc rotor. There was a small Shimano booklet that explained it was sometimes necessary to install the reverse way around.  Obviously I made my own arrangements.


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## Jacomus-rides-Gen (30 Nov 2007)

But, but, their QR lever will only catch yours if its the other orientation. So for example fossy and I couldn't catch our skewers on each other. Also should someone be rough enough with my bike to be able to catch my QR and undo it, neither of us will be riding anywhere before he has been force fed his testicles, which have been removed using his QR. (And I don't do Tri so I don't have to worry about that).

Seriously, when was the last time someone leant their bike against yours in such a cackhanded manner that they could risk undoing your QR? I don't think anyone has ever done that to me (maybe the loss of testicles threat focusses the mind a little). Whenever I took Gen out of the stands at the office I always did a quick wiggle of the QRs and checked both brakes, just like before any ride, and never had a prob.


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## fossyant (30 Nov 2007)

I was told by a pukka french roadie when I was a mere 16 to do it that way - i.e. front QR in-line with fork, rear in-line with seat stay, then I think Bernard Hinault's book says so too..... so that's good enough for me....... most of my club mates did the same ...... 20 years of practice.... loony practice but hey......


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## fossyant (30 Nov 2007)

But then again, a lot of new QR's are damn right ugly and stick out a lot, not a patch on my 7400 Dura Ace's..even use these on my Kysriums


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## Blue (30 Nov 2007)

Smokin Joe said:


> Pure aesthetics, *it don't matter a damn which side it goes. *
> Having said that, I would _DIE before I put my wheel in the wrong way round._ it's just so...so...you just don't, that's all.



But if it doesn't matter which way round the wheel goes how can you ever put it in the wrong way


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## HJ (30 Nov 2007)

mickle said:


> Pure class! An argument about skewer orientation! What are we like?



I can believe you all took this seriously, I just put in my comment as a joke


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## mickle (30 Nov 2007)

Hairy Jock said:


> I can believe you all took this seriously, I just put in my comment as a joke



Of course you did


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## Smokin Joe (1 Dec 2007)

Blue said:


> But if it doesn't matter which way round the wheel goes how can you ever put it in the wrong way


You just don't get it, do you?


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## Blue (1 Dec 2007)

Smokin Joe said:


> You just don't get it, do you? !



I just like to raise the blood pressure of anyone who takes such things seriously (so I suppose you are correct!!)


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## fossyant (1 Dec 2007)

It's great isn't it we are all so totally nuts !!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## HJ (1 Dec 2007)

fossyant said:


> It's great isn't it we are all so totally nuts !!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hey at least we are nuts about bikes...


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## Jacomus-rides-Gen (1 Dec 2007)

Nuts and QRs are totally different Ikea storage boxes of badgers, _that_ is quite how different they are. I remember, back in the day, when QR meant Quick Run, Albert is coming. Now he was a lad, strong as an ox, but about as sharp as water. We didn't have powershowers back then, but some lucky boys got hosed off in the garden, others mainly had lumps of coal thrown at them.

Aye, nippers these days aren't bred the way they used to. If you couldn't survive 2 weeks naked on top of "Lone Man's Hill", well, that first zebra would never come home to you, at the most one could expect a ferret. 

Lord Arbuthnott once famously said "Gentlemen, I have here a bolt". That phrase changed my life, and revolutionised the way that folks thought about bicycle wheels. I remember my father not trusting the new fangles bolts, which required nuts, and continuing to use his fingers to secure the wheels. He was regarded as making a stand against the march of useless technology.

Somewhere in the midst of this Lord Arbuthnotts wife accidentally shot him in the face whilst they were hunting aardvark-horse-unicorn cross breeds. Being a real man, who had survived 4 weeks a'top Lone Mans Hill, in midwinter, by crawling inside a large lump of igneous rock for warmth, he took the shot like a real man. Writing "Oh bugger" on the ground in his own blood, then apologising quickly for profanity infront of a lady he died a gentleman.

In escence, QRs should be taken with a pinch of newt, under a full moon. Mud may be used as a sweetener if desired.


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## HJ (1 Dec 2007)

Jacomus-rides-Gen said:


> Nuts and QRs are totally different Ikea storage boxes of badgers, _that_ is quite how different they are. I remember, back in the day, when QR meant Quick Run, Albert is coming. Now he was a lad, strong as an ox, but about as sharp as water. We didn't have powershowers back then, but some lucky boys got hosed off in the garden, others mainly had lumps of coal thrown at them.
> 
> Aye, nippers these days aren't bred the way they used to. If you couldn't survive 2 weeks naked on top of "Lone Man's Hill", well, that first zebra would never come home to you, at the most one could expect a ferret.
> 
> ...


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