Rear wheel hub binding?

[funkyrobot]

Did my first ride on my brand new Specialized Allez today. First ride for 8 months and it was bloody hard work.

I know I'm unfit, but it seemed quite hard to ride the bike. So when I got home I spun the wheels to see if anything was amiss. The rear wheel makes about 3 revolutions and comes to a halt quite quickly compared to the front.

Could the hub be too tight, or is this normal for a brand new rear wheel? I guess the rear doesn't as well as the front due to the freehub?

Or am I just unfit?

[lufbramatt]

Brake dragging? is it rim brakes or disc?

[ChrisMCoupe]

Being a brand new bike, I'd first eliminate the obvious before looking at hub bearings, although the freehub could be a bit overfilled with grease which would work free over time. Rim brake or Disc? I'd make sure nothings rubbing anywhere first or if the wheel is correctly mounted in the dropouts.

[funkyrobot]

Rim brakes. Nothing else is rubbing. Have checked the brakes etc.

Wheel is nice and central in the dropouts as I only put it in the other day.

I guess riding it and see how it goes is the thing to do? As you say, could be overly packed with grease making it drag for now.

[lufbramatt]

If its making 3 whole revolutions it wont be noticeably dragging during riding- for it to be noticeable it would need force to turn and stop straight away. It's probably fine.

[funkyrobot]

Ok. Thanks for that. I thought any sort of drag on the wheel would affect riding.

I had a bike fit for this bike and my position is slightly different to the way I have ridden in the past. Could be that and me being unfit.

Oh yes, and I forgot food today. Such a rookie mistake. After 1 3/4 hours I was struggling to keep upright.

[ChrisMCoupe]

Also check how tight your QR is, the additional force the QR applies to the bearings might be clamping them a bit tight, try loosening off the QR a bit a see if it makes a difference.

If it does, then it's best to slacken off the bearing compression a little.

[funkyrobot]

Thanks. I'll check that.

Just remembered I haven't removed the rear wheel yet since it came from the shop. Only the front.

[millen]

Actually, I was thinking of asking, what's a normal free spin duration for a rear wheel on a road bike?
If I hand crank to a fair, not excessive, rpm in the bike stand on small ring + smallest sprocket I get just 35 seconds of spin. Is this reasonable? Novatec hubs with 15,000 miles on them now. Obviously the front will spin until I get bored. I was hoping this might explain my slowness