Quote Originally Posted by laura* View Post
Are you releasing the brakes? Many brake mechanisms have a way of temporarily releasing the brake cable's pull allowing the pads to swing out, thus clearing your tire. Mountain canti's and V-brakes will unhook, while road calipers may have a lever to twist.



Perhaps your frame spacing is slightly too narrow? Some frames need to be gently spread to fit a wheel back in.

Does your quick release have the two springs? (Narrow ends toward the axle ends, wide ends toward the QR mechanism and nut.) These springs push the QR parts away from the frame dropouts.
The tires that the bike came with are slightly too wide for the brakes, so it'll hang up even with the brakes open. Easily dealt with--just give it a bit of an extra shove.

The QR does have springs.

The reason I'm guessing that the wheel isn't sitting neatly in the dropouts is because I end up with brake one shoe or the other rubbing. I'm not sure I should need to hold the wheel in place to (try) to prevent this!