I broke the washer pictured here in half. Clean in half. I was able to tighten down my nuts enough to ride, and my chainline is fine, but I'm starting to worry that it's an important part that I have to replace.



a) What is this called? Spacer, washer, transmogrifier, what?!
b) Should I replace it? I think I should.
c) Does anyone who works at a shop in Chicago know if their shop carries one? Is it a part a general bike shop would have?

Thanks for your help, everyone.

F*ckin toldjah all!!! Just go to your LBS and show em what's up. They should have a replacement if they deal with track stuff at all. I'd get used to that phenomenon with those hubs, happened to me 4 times in 3 different places.

happens all the time from overtightening. you can get nicer stainless ones that don't break so easily.

also don't expect the replacement to look exactly like the one that broke.

Sorry that that post was almost entirely unhelpful. I would replace it and I'm pretty sure Yojimbos can do that for you.

I love that someone in London can refer me to a shop in my own town.

I got directions to a bar in the city I live in from a woman from a different continent last week.

Blame the WTO.

And I haven't ever even been to chicago. Oh Bikeforums.

I tighten to the recommended torque in the Park repair book and still manage to break the rear drive side like once every 2 months. Then again, I skip stop and hop curbs like it's goin' out of style. Which it is.

That's called a locknut, right?

I'm sure Yojimbo's has something. I bet Boulevard does, too...and you won't spend a whole afternoon at Boulevard.

https://loosescrews.com/index.cgi?c=H...d=166416229787

On my lunch-time furlough from the office I hit up Upgrade and Rapid Transit. Neither of them had the part- which is an axle-cone locknut (point chicagoamdream)- but they were very helpful nonetheless. I should definitely replace it as it's a locknut that holds the cone, duh, and the cone can come loose without it and skronk up my bearings and shizz. Next stop is Boulevard. I'm calling them first, though.

Yea, but you also broke like 5 seatpost binder bolts in one day!

Heyheyhey Ben: if you call Boulevard, see what kind of 1/8" chains they have (or really, just confirmation that they carry them). I need one quick, can't do the Yojimbo's thing today. Thaaaanks.

Alright here you go, I recently broke both of them off my rear hub as well. I just ordered some more from IRO.

Some things:

1. Like you said its an inner locknut.
2. Due to how much you have to torque down tracknuts for a rear wheel, they experience a ton of force and are therefore designed to break before the threads on the axle they are threaded on. Reasoning: It's easier to replace a nut than an axle.
3.To avoid breaking them on a bike with cartridge bearings, use two tools to tighten the both the left and rights side inner locknuts together simultaneously, ensuring that they are snugged up quite well against the rest of the hub parts. This gets rid of the space between the locknuts and the other parts. The space causes the nut to flex about the axle and eventually break due to the force introduced by really tight track nuts.
4. Don't do the aforementioned for cup and cone bearings, it'll make them too tight. Becareful about overtightening them even on cartridge bearings, you just want to get rid of any space between each locknut and the other parts.
5. When you go buy the replacement ones get more than what you need, its gonna happen again hahaha.

Those nuts are only extremely prone to breaking when you buy them from IRO/Formula. No other brand I've ever seen breaks like theirs do. Just get some higher quality ones and you'll be fine.

Well shucky darn. Anybody know of places you can buy those from... like just call up Phil and purchase a couple off of him ? haahaha. Thanks again fellas, and a few ladies.

yeah, i broke the one on the drive side side clean in half on my rear iro hub. my lbs hooked me up with a working replacement for free - thing is it's a bit narrower than the original.


can you order sets of outer locknut, washer, inner locknut for formula hubs online?

I've broken two on my surly hub. I called them and they sent me about ten in a bag, with like fifty surly stickers.

That's cool- I'll send you a SASE if you have any to spare. PMME. I stopped by a general LBS on my way home, and they grabbed a locknut out of their spare parts bin for me to use. It's close to the same width, it's knurled, and it fits. Problem solved, for now.