Washer
******- Flat washers are commonly used between nuts
or bolt
heads and the parts that they tighten against. For most fasteners, it is desirable that the part that is turned by the wrench or screwdriver have a washer under it to protect the surface from the turning fastener. Flat washers are also commonly used to spread out the load when a fastener is attached to a thin or fragile part.
- Spacer washers are flat washers of various thicknesses just designed to take up space on a threaded shaft.
Lock washers have one or more directional teeth that act like pawls against the bearing surface of the fastener. These make it easier to turn the fastener in the tightening direction than in the loosening direction, so it is less likely that the nut
or bolt
will rattle loose.- Serrated washers have teeth on one side. These are typically used on nutted hubs
, with the washer between the axle
nut and the fork end
. The smooth side faces the nut, and allows the nut to turn without rubbing against the teeth. The serrated (toothy) side bites into the fork end
to help keep the axle
from slipping forward due to chain tension.
- Keyed washers usually have a tab poking into the hole, and fit over a threaded shaft that has a groove ("keyway") for the tab to slide through. Keyed washers are commonly used between a threaded bearing race, either cup or cone, and its locknut. The intent is that when you tighten the locknut, it presses the keyed washer against the threaded bearing race but does not cause the bearing race to turn on its threads, so it stays in adjustment.
Keyed washers are almost always used on threaaded headsets, often also used on the bearings of pedals.
Formerly, keyed washers were used on hub axles, but that has gone out of favor.
-
Anti-rotation washers
have a non-round hole and fit on a matching non-round shaft. These washers are designed to keep parts from rotating.Internal gear hubs often have combination serrated/anti-rotation washers. These feature a tab or tabs that fit into the fork end's axle slot. They are used to keep the hub's axle from twisting in the frame. (Internal gear hubs have one or more gears mounted on the axle inside the hub, and this gear has to resist some force from pedaling in the higher or lower gears . The force is in opposite directions, depending on the gear selected, so if the axle in not properly secured, it will twist back and forth, causing the axle nuts to loosen up.
- Radiussed washers are used for mounting caliper brakes to frames/forks. They are flat on one side, the side that the brake caliper is on. They are curved ("radiussed") on the opposite side to match the curvature of the brake bridge or fork crown.
Wedge bolt
- Wedge-type stems have the bottom of the shaft cut off at an angle, and the nut is cylindrical with an angled top surface to match the angle of the bottom of the stem shaft. As the bolt is tightened, the wedge-shaped nut is pulled sideways so that it presses against one side of the steerer, and the shaft presses against the other side of the steerer. Most newer stems are of this type.
- Expander-type stems have square-cut shaft bottoms, but have one or two slots cut up from the bottom of the shaft. The nut is in the shape of a truncated cone. As the bolt is tightened, the conical nut spreads the bottom edge of the stem shaft outward, pressing it against the inside of the steerer.
- Wedge-type stems:
- Provide a more positive lock against the steerer (which may be an advantage or a disadvantage...if the stem is too tight there is a greater risk of bending the handlebars in a crash.)
- Are easier to adjust. In most cases, just loosening the wedge bolt will permit the bars to be raised, lowered or straightened.
- Are cheaper to manufacture.
- Provide a more positive lock against the steerer (which may be an advantage or a disadvantage...if the stem is too tight there is a greater risk of bending the handlebars in a crash.)
- Expander-type stems:
- Are less likely to damage the steerer if overtightened.
- Do not require quite as deep an insertion into the steerer.
- Are harder to adjust, because it is usually necessary to knock the wedge loose by striking it with a mallet after loosening up the bolt.
- Are less likely to damage the steerer if overtightened.
It is vitally important that the stem extender (or stem) is not inserted so far that the wedge is installed where the steerer is narrowing, or it could come loose unpredictably.
When this happens, only the edge/corner of the quill or wedge contacts the steerer, and it is trying to "grab" a slanted surface.
This is sometimes a problem on smaller frames if you try to insert the stem or a stem riser too far down into the steerer.
Illustration by Nicholas Flower
See also Hands Up! Adjusting Handlebar Height
Wedgie
Weinmann
Welding
Westrick Rim
They combine the raised (or dropped, depending how you look at it) center that keeps rod brake shoes free from the risk of hitting the spokes, with the flat sides required for rim brakes.
Westwood Rim
Westwood rims are most commonly seen in the 635 mm (28 x 1 1/2) size, but they were made in most of the middleweight British sizes.
Whatton Bars
Wheel
Wheel Base
Wheel Goods
Wheel Retention
Wheel Sucker
Wheelie
A "nose wheelie" results when the front brake is applied hard enough to cause the rear wheel to lift off.
Wheelie Bike
Early wheelie bikes were home made by adapting a bike made for a small child for use by a larger child. They would use a frame from a 20" wheel child's bike, install tall "ape hanger" handlebars and a "banana seat" which extended back over the rear wheel. The resulting weight distribution created a bicycle that would do a wheelie with the slightest effort.
The American bicycle industry, led by Schwinn with it's "Stingray" and "Krate" models, jumped on this early '60's fad. They made a lot of short-term profit, but, I believe, this led to a serious long-term setback for the American bicycle industry.
Before the wheelie bike craze, there was a well-established progression of frame sizes for growing children, from 16", to 20", to 24" and finally to 26" wheel bicycles. The wheelie bike killed the 24" bike market, because these bikes would sort-of fit children who should really have been riding on 24" wheels.
Wheelie bikes also greatly re-inforced the idea that the bicycle was a child's toy, not a serious vehicle. Wheelie bikes were easy to do wheelies on, but their awkward riding position made them hellishly uncomfortable to actually ride more than a half-mile at a time.
Wheelie bikes in turn were killed by BMX bicycles, which are much more "rideable", but the 24" market never completely recovered.
Whitworth
He was also one of the first to establish a standardized set of screw threads and wrench sizes. Whitworth fasteners were used in British industry up until the late 1960's, when Britain adopted the metric system. The Whitworth system is now virtually extinct.
Whitworth fasteners used a 55 degree thread angle. The wrench sizes were confusingly marked, the wrenches are all larger than you would think. This is because the dimension given on a Whitworth wrench is the diameter of the bolt thread usual for that size wrench, rather than the size of the head. Some Whitworth wrenches even have two marked sizes, because the same head size is used with one coarse thread and a different diameter fine thread.
Some of the smaller sized Whitworth threads are interchangeable with S.A.E. threads.
Wishbone
Wooden rims
Wooden rims went out of style for road bicycles when rim brakes came in, but continued to be use on the track well into the '40's. They were eventually outlawed for competition because of their dangerous failure mode: When a highly-tensioned racing wheel with a metal rim was damaged, it would fold up, but it would stay together. Similar wood-rim wheels, when overstressed, would suddenly turn into a cloud of sharp, dangerous splinters.
Woods Valve
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| Woods valve | Schrader valve | Presta valve |
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Newer versions use a modern spring-loaded valve mechanism.
Wrench
Wrenches are divided into two families:
Box Wrenches have a complete loop that surrounds the fastener. They are substantially stronger than open-end wrenches, and are the best use for high torque applications, both because the wrench is stronger, and because it can contact more than two corners of the fastener.- Combination Wrenches are double-ended wrenches with an open end and a box end, usually for the same size on each end. This is the most useful and most common general-purpose wrench style.
- Open-end Wrenches have ends shaped like a two-tined fork. They normally have two parallel surfaces which bear against two of the sides of a fastener. Open-end wrenches are faster to put on to fasteners, and are the only kind that can be used where there is not clearance to slip a box wrench over the end of the fastener.(cone wrenches, headset wrenches, pedal wrenches and spoke wrenches)
Bicycle applications often call for special-purpose open-end wrenches:
- Cone wrenches and headset wrenches differ from normal open-end wrenches in that they are thinner than usual for a given fastener size.
I have an article about Cone Wrenches in my Tool Tips series.
- Pedal wrenches are thin open-end wrenches with heavy-duty jaws and extra-long handles.
- Spoke wrenches have taller contact areas than most wrenches and have short handles for use in the close quarters between spokes.
- Cone wrenches and headset wrenches differ from normal open-end wrenches in that they are thinner than usual for a given fastener size.
- Socket Wrenches, similar to box wrenches, surround the fastener. Unlike box wrenches, the outside of the head of a socket wrench is circular so that it can reach a fastener which is recessed into a hole. A socket wrench may have an offset handle, as with a peanut-butter wrench, but more often, the handle will attach to one end of the socket.
Most socket wrenches are part of modular systems, and have interchangeable handles available, including ratchet handles, torque-wrench handles, extensions, breaker bars, and screwdriver-type handles.
6 Point vs 12 PointSocket and box wrenches for hex fasteners come in two types, 6 point and 12 point.
12 point is good for box wrenches, because it gives you twice as many possible orientations to put the wrench on the fastener. This is especially good for working in close quarters, but is rarely an issue on bicycles. 6 point wrenches are stronger and less likely to slip. Generally, 6 point would be preferable for bicycle work when you have a choice.
- Nutdrivers are smaller sized socket wrenches with screwdriver type handles. These are often faster to use than conventional wrenches, and the screwdriver-type handle makes it unlikely that you'll strip the threads of a smaller nut or both. 8 mm, 9 mm and 10 mm nutdrivers are among my favorite bike tools. They usually have a hollow handle so they can even be used to run a nut down a long bolt.
I have an article about Nutdrivers in my Tool Tips series.
- Spanner Wrenches use pins to engage holes or notches in the fastener.
- Pin spanners usually use two pins which fit into a pair of holes in the surface of a fastener. Common bicycle applications for pin spanners include adjustable bottom-bracket cups and freewheel bearing cones. Some crank dust caps and headset lock nuts also use pin spanners.
- Hook spanners have an end shaped a bit like a capital "G". They wrap around a round fastener and the tail of the "G" fits into one of several notches on the fastener. Hook spanners are commonly used on bottom-bracket lockrings and track hub lockrings. They are also used on some headsets.
- Pin spanners usually use two pins which fit into a pair of holes in the surface of a fastener. Common bicycle applications for pin spanners include adjustable bottom-bracket cups and freewheel bearing cones. Some crank dust caps and headset lock nuts also use pin spanners.
- Allen Wrenches are hexagonal wrenches that fit into the matching hexagonal holes of Allen bolts.
- Spline Wrenches (including Torx, freewheel, etc.)
I have an article about Adjustable Wrenches in my Tool Tips series.
- Crescent ® Type Wrenches. Although "Crescent" is a trademark, it is commonly used in the U.S. to refer to a normal, angled head adjustable wrench regardless of brand. The jaws are set at a 30 degree angle to the handle to allow them to be used in tight quarters.
- Monkey Wrenches have their jaws perpendicular to the handle. They commonly open up much wider than crescent-type wrenches.
- Pipe Wrenches are similar to monkey wrenches, except that they have serrated jaws, which are designed with a bit of play which causes them to grip more tightly when turned in the appropriate direction. Pipe wrenches are primarily used for plumbing, generally have no bicycle application.
- Adjustable pin spanners fit a range of different pin spacings. The spring-loaded Park SPA-1 (green) adjustable pin wrench is the most useful one for most adjustable bottom-bracket cups.
