pic: Dented IFI Wheel

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Drew Hopman

We must have got a bad batch of them, because all 6 that we got are way out of tolerance. It took about 45 minutes to put each one together, bc the tread material was to short. At first it caused out chain to pop every time, because there was a high and low point from the chain caused by the sprocket holes not being drilled in the center. And I have also herd some horror stories from down south that the bearings tear apart after about a week and a half of use from more than one team….

Did you assemble them with a shaft down the middle of the bearings? I don't know if that's in the instructions, but it is absolutely imperative that you do this. If you omit that step, your wheels will likely exhibit the misalignment problems described, and your bearings will be very unevenly loaded. The bearings themselves are relatively good quality (probably ABEC-3), and have never caused a problem for our team (either on IFI wheels, or on dozens of other applications over the years, where we used identical bearings).

My only real concern is with the press nuts; I realize that that's a concession to cheap manufacture, but I really hate the things. (They can, if overtightened, strip out.)