Replacing Rear Bike Wheel - Stuck?

Question

I must be overlooking something obvious.

I'm replacing a rear bike tire for the first time. Everything went smoothly until I tried to put the tire back in the dropouts. It wont get back in! It's not bent, but it seems like one side will pop in, but the side with the cassette wont go back in. I have the derailleur pulled back and made sure it was on the smallest gear.

What am I doing wrong? Thanks so much for your help!

--> as an afterthought, there's one thing I may not have done right, but I'm not sure how it would affect this: I didn't to anything to disengage the brakes when removing the wheel - it came out fine without doing so and I couldn't find any levers or cables to switch or disengage. Could this be it? How can I right my wrongs?

Answer 1

i think what is happening is that your rear dérailleur is holding your wheel from entering the drop outs. usually you should give the derailleur a tug back ( pull it with a finger ) to ease that spring action. the wheel should now be free to drop into that dropout.

Make sure you also insert that wheel in correctly between the chains

Answer 2

BTW, It's actually called a wheel - A tire (or tyre) is the rubber material which covers the rim of the wheel.

Either remove the quick release on your brake system (don't forget to put it back afterwards) or let down the air in your tyre and it should go in no problems if what you say is true about your chain being in the right position.

Answer 3

You might try clicking the rear derailleur to the highest gear (7, 8, 9, or 10 - the smallest cog).  That positions the derailleur as far from the wheel as possible.