How to Adjust a Bike's Hub

Video Transcript

"Hi this is Jeff from the Two Wheeler Dealer. Today I'm going to show you how to properly adjust a bicycle front hub. First thing to remove the quick release, do this by just unscrewing the nut on one side, sliding it out. Now most hubs come with a rubber seal basically around and you are going to want to remove this. The easiest thing is just take a small flat screwdriver, pry it underneath it should pop right off. Once you remove the seals you've then exposed the cones and the lock nuts. The cones butt directly up against the bearings as the inner bearing surface. Now this particular hub is too tight so I'm going to show you how to loosen it. For this you'll need a couple of specialty tools which are called cone wrenches. Most front hubs typically use a thirteen millimeter, these go right on the inside of the flats of the cones. And I'm going to basically loosen them, turning them counter clockwise and tightening them into the lock nuts. And it's just a real slight movement, maybe a sixteenth of a turn and then you want to spin it and check it. Make sure that it's running smoothly with no excessive play. Right there it's still a little tight. Right there is running pretty smooth, but when you wiggle it up and down there's a small amount of play in there, so for this to take that little bit of play back out I'm going to use two seventeen millimeter wrenches on these lock nuts. Turning them counterclockwise into each other tightening them. Just a real slight turn as well. They're all real fine adjustments. And check it, right there is perfect basically looking for a smooth as you can get it with minimal amount of play. And that's how to properly adjust a bicycle front hub."