Help! Is my back wheel about to fall off?!?
Cosmic_Spanner
anyone can give me:
Yesterday I noticed my scoot (a vespa et2 that was new in december)
started feeling funny under braking (it felt like it wasn't pulling
straight, which is especially worrying when you've only got two
wheels!).
Now, I don't recall doing any evil knievel jumps and my mechanical
experience is with 4 wheelers, but when I took a look at the back
wheel, I noticed that it was quite "loose". Worse still, the wheel
itself felt quite hot (although it is right next to the exhaust - is
this normal?) - from my experience with cars, that's a good sign the
wheel bearing's gone, right?
Now, the bike always did have a surprising (for me) amount of lateral
play on the rear wheel - you could push and pull it about 5mm even
when it was new but I just assumed this was normal (since it was like
that from day one).
Now, I can't see the bolts that hold the wheel on (obscured by the
exhaust) and the only bike I had to hand (parked on the same street)
to compare it to was an ET4, but the back wheel on that had no lateral
play in it whatsoever, so I'm quite worried.
Is it going to fall off? Is it going to get jammed suddenly and throw
me off? Am I being paranoid? Help! :)
MasterBlaster
"Cosmic_Spanner" wrote
> Now, the bike always did have a surprising (for me) amount of lateral
> play on the rear wheel - you could push and pull it about 5mm even
> when it was new but I just assumed this was normal (since it was like
> that from day one).
And how old was the pimply-faced kid that assembled it at the shop?
"I can do that... I seen a scooter once!"
> Now, I can't see the bolts that hold the wheel on (obscured by the
> exhaust) and the only bike I had to hand (parked on the same street)
> to compare it to was an ET4, but the back wheel on that had no lateral
> play in it whatsoever, so I'm quite worried.
I'd tend to think that either your wheel bolts weren't done up properly, or the
main axle bolt/nut. Something's not right, and there should be no play.
> Is it going to fall off? Is it going to get jammed suddenly and throw
> me off? Am I being paranoid? Help! :)
Entirely possible, odds say yes, no, and we'll do what we can.
don-ohio
Hi,Cosmic! Shouldn't be
much play at all.Either take it back to the place you bought it,or to
a competent mechanic.You got a shop manual for it?Get one.If it's got
drop-in ball bearings and not sealed bearings you may need new ball
bearings and races.That looseness affects chain adjustment,causes
brake drag,ruins your stability,alignment,and is likely to cause a
serious accident.Don't ride it again until a competent mechanic
assesses the problem.BYE!
Cosmic_Spanner
wednesday and will be staying on ice until then..
Bit annoyed that it might have been faulty (although not as bad as it
is now) from day one - I'll definitely be checking out any other ET2s
I see in the workshop.
Cheers,
--
cosmic spanner
don-ohio
That's the way to go ,Mike!Safety first makes for less splints and
bandages,I always say!Hope you get it fixed right.BYE!
Cosmic_Spanner
large bolt which had worked itself totally loose. Fortunately, there's
a pin/catch that ultimately prevents the thing coming completely off
and that's pretty much what I was riding around on.
Now it's been fixed (& serviced) it goes like a good'un and it handles
much better than I'd ever known it to! doh!
WonderingWhy
If you really enjoy it you should see if you can get yourself a
service manual for it...Read it and learn...It'll pay for itself many
times over...Try these URLs...
http://www.moped2.org/main.htm
http://mopednet.tripod.com/moped.htm
http://ntspares.com/mopeds.html
On 10 Aug 2001 09:36:09 -0700, mi...@twoshortplanks.com
Cosmic_Spanner
> Hopefully you'll have many more happy years with it..
> If you really enjoy it you should see if you can get yourself a
> service manual for it...Read it and learn...It'll pay for itself many
> times over...Try these URLs...
Cheers!
Unfortunately, being a new (yeah, I know ;) scoot limits the amount of
maintenance I can do on it myself without jeopardising the warranty.
But I am now thinking of buying something a little older that I can
play about with and get my hands dirty (scream if you wanna go
faster!)..
--
M.