MP Edge on Front Wheel Question

[MrFred]

I have an MP Edge (700C) on the front wheel. I've had it for close to a year and in general, it works well and I'm quite pleased with it. I have a question about the geometry that I have never completely understood. My bike has V-brakes and when I first installed it, I had to do a lot of unnatural acts to get the brakes set up properly. This was because I could not get the wheel centred properly between the forks.

On the side where the disc brakes would attach, there is a (threaded I think) piece that causes the wheel to be offset. See the picture attached. My question is what is that for and does it not force almost all setups like this to be offset? Or have I done something wrong with the install? I suppose dishing the wheel might help, but I've never attempted that. Any input appreciated.

[Bikemad]

Hi Fred,

It's not threaded, it's just a plain section of axle used to space the hub away from the fork, but it looks like the Edge has the disc mount spaced further from the fork leg to allow for the larger fork tubes used on suspension front forks.

You can see on the following pictures that my front Smart Pie has the disc mount slightly closer to the fork:



And the tyre is nicely centred between the forks:



But I guess some customers may have experienced clearance problems if this motor was fitted with a brake disc and installed on a bike with larger diameter suspension forks:



If GM had assembled the wheels with the rim correctly positioned centrally between the dropouts it should not have caused a problem.

I would first try to centre the rim by adjusting the spokes (loosen all spokes on the R/H side by two turns and then tighten all spokes on the L/H side by two turns, and repeat if required) to see if you can improve the situation. If that didn't work, I would place spacer washers on the R/H end of the axle and spread the steel forks slightly with a car scissor jack to accommodate the increased axle width.

Alan
 

[MrFred]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

The other thing I considered was grinding down the 1st 1/4 in or so of that (too long) disc brake spacer so some of it would fit thru the dropout. However, not sure if I might create more problems than I would solve as this is not my area of expertise.

It's working OK now, even off centre a bit, so I'll probably just leave it alone and try the dishing of the wheel at a later date, when I feel ambitious.