Rear wheel true but not spinning freely!

So yeah...I noticed that my rear wheel doesn't spin freely...which really irked me because I rode my bike *once* since a recent tune-up. I don't have a truing stand, so I did the "turn the bike upside-down" method...but when the bike is upside-down, the wheel is perfectly fine. Spins great, no wobbling, nothing. Turn it back the right way and again the wheel doesn't totally spin freely.

It's not rubbing up against the fender; I've ruled that out.

What else should I be looking for??

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Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on August 6, 2016 at 11:31am

Nope, same direction.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 6, 2016 at 5:58pm

Is it possible that they preloaded the bearings when they tuned the bike up?  There's a bit of a debate, but a lot of knowledgeable people think that there should be a slight amount of drag when spinning a fully-adjusted wheel.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/cone-adjustment.html

Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on August 8, 2016 at 5:47am

I had it tuned up at Village Cycle Center, where I usually have the work done. I've never seen the wheel like this before after their tune-ups. For all I know it might have happened in transit afterwards.

Permalink Reply by David P. on August 8, 2016 at 4:30am

Leave the bike right-side up but elevate the rear wheel to unload it, then spin it to see if it spins normally or not. If it does, and the problem only exists with a loaded rear wheel, then normal riding loads are deforming the wheel. Since a wheel that was so under-tensioned as to deform from a normal riding load would be quite obvious, I think the problem would most likely lie in the hub in that case - I suppose bearings that are much too loose could lead to this symptom if the cones are loose enough when the wheel is clamped in the frame to allow the hub to deflect and the rim to hit the brake pads.

Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on August 8, 2016 at 5:49am

I've since had two rides of significant distance (5 to 9 miles -- to me that's significant :) ), and for what it's worth, my bike rides okay...no noticeable dragging or anything...(usually when the wheel is out of true I can feel it pretty easily...) Rear wheel still doesn't want to spin terribly freely, but it seems to work fine. Still, I'm going to have it checked out just to be safe.

Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on August 12, 2016 at 4:36am

Thanks, all, for your thoughts on this...

Took the bike over to VCC on Wednesday. They took a quick look, confirmed that the wheel was fine...the rear brake just needed an adjustment. Two turns of a screwdriver is all it needed. Thankful that it was something quick and easy (and free!) but I still feel like an ignoramus...

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