I'm not sure how this happened but it explains why my shifting has been awry lately!
What I don't understand is how there's any room without "flaring" the stays of the frame outwards? It looks like the hub shell and body are separating, as well as the cassette and hub 🫤
This is an aggressive hardtail I've been having a ball on after having my full squish stolen, but I was confident the cassette and spacings were OK as i built it under the guidance of my pedantic mechanic friend (gosh, I'm hitting the stereotype, aren't I?)
Our main trail we ride regularly crosses a river a dozen times, so I hate to think what's going on with the bearings in there!
So I'm curious if anyone had thoughts in how I'd hit this wrong (going by the pic alone, it looks almost like I've put non-boost parts into a boost frame, but thats mental and it was snug and fit right - there was no loose play. Yet, here I am...)
Also, since the bearings are essentially exposed and I don't know when it started, it might have been like this for a while? Certainly shifting has been something I've put up with for some weeks now... So what damage am I incurring when I've been riding on it?
I want to add that I am no expert mechanic but did this on a bike that had to be junked for other reasons but was able to straighten the backend out