Flex?

Yes.

It sould be pretty tight, but not so tight that it's overly difficult to loosen the QR. It needs to 'sister' the hanger to the dropout and part of the force that makes that whole system work comes from a tight skewer.

A skewer that's not tight enough could let the hanger fail from hard hits (rocky terrain, jumps and drops) and it will usually fail in a way that ends up with the rear derailleur jammed into the spokes of the rear wheel. Happened to my son's bike three times within a few months before we figured out that he was not tightening his skewer tight enough. Hasn't happened again since (been two years now).

turfbike said:

when you tighten or close your qr skewer on your back wheel should it be so tight that you see the frame or rear triangle flex in some?

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Shouldn't the hub act as a separator and keep the hub from being flexed/squished?

EDIT: Oops! What I meant to say was: Shouldn't the hub act as a separator and keep the rear stays from being flexed/squished?

kapusta said:

Shouldn't the hub act as a separator and keep the hub from being flexed/squished?

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If by hub (the first hub you wrote) you mean axle locknuts and by hub (the second hub you wrote) you mean frame then yes, it should limit how much the frame gets flexed, however tolerances of frames and hubs are not exact (due to expansion/contraction of frames in the welding process, manufacturing discrepancies) so this is why sometimes there are gaps between the frame and the hub. It's normal. Personally, I'd rather be dealing with dropouts a little to big than the opposite. Pulling the stays apart to fit a wheel is a pain.

Deep.

peedrama said:

If by hub (the first hub you wrote) you mean axle locknuts and by hub (the second hub you wrote) you mean frame then yes, it should limit how much the frame gets flexed, however tolerances of frames and hubs are not exact (due to expansion/contraction of frames in the welding process, manufacturing discrepancies) so this is why sometimes there are gaps between the frame and the hub. It's normal. Personally, I'd rather be dealing with dropouts a little to big than the opposite. Pulling the stays apart to fit a wheel is a pain.

Deep.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I corrected the above post.

I understand what you are saying, but I think I read the OP's question a little differently. I thought the OP meant that the rear flexes as the QR goes from tight to REALLY tight. I would think that would only happen if one of the dropouts were bent and the extra force was needed to straighten them.You don't need to tighten the QR very much to take up that sort of discrepancy you are describing (dropouts being a hair wide).

The original post is vague but I can't see someone ruining their drop outs (ie bending them) except for situations of malice or a lack of common sense.

The flex is normal.

I've had old steel roadbikes get their stays stretched to accomodate a hub with a slightly larger OLD (3-4mm) without any issues.