That elusive noise...

[karlt]

...spent hours the other day repacking the bearings in Boy #2's hubs because of a scraping noise that happened once per revolution. It came back today. Closer observation - noise only happens on the lowest gear, and only when freewheeling.

It was the bloody chain scraping on the stupid' plastic dork disk... All that repacking and cone adjustment for nowt!

[Stewart H]

I spent a happy hour truing up a wheel this week for exactly the same reason

[Paul Smith SRCC]

If I had a penny for every hour wasted trying to find the source of a noise, drives me mad if I can't work it what it is, oddly it doesn't if I know though, I can leave it from ages if it's not something sinister! Longest time to find a source turned out to be my frame fit pump flexing!

Paul

[Brucey]

but then again.... very often a noise is a presage to a more serious problem. If you have an instinct to investigate such noises, I think it is best if you don't completely ignore it.

cheers

[Paul Smith SRCC]

but then again.... very often a noise is a presage to a more serious problem. If you have an instinct to investigate such noises, I think it is best if you don't completely ignore it.

cheers

Good advice, why it does drive me mad if I can't instantly diagnose a noise, it may be well be something starting to fail, cranks for example may creak as a crack gets deeper, the problem with that is it can result in a nasty moment that can end in a fall.

[albal1]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

[531colin]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

handlebars, headset, brake hoods if you hold them, Q/R skewer, pedals, cleats, pedal thread in the crank, chainring bolts, spokes, spoke reflector, ......

[cycleruk]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

Could be anything.
Possibilities, frame flex, headset, cable under BB, bottle cage bolts, chainring bolts.
I have had brake rub due to wheel flex when climbing out of the saddle. (sorted by more tension on spokes). Get someone to ride with you and see if they can hear and help to pinpoint it.

I had a clicking noise one day - turned out to be a shoe lace catching on the crank.
I seem to find that my carbon frames have more noises than my steel ones.
I hate a noise that I can't cure. I have a squeeky shoe and I'm at a loss on what to do about it. Tried various "cures" but no luck.
Any body want to buy a shoe?

[JohnW]

.................I had a clicking noise one day - turned out to be a shoe lace catching on the crank....................

Oh heck yes.........I had that a week or two ago, and the first time in half a century that I remember it having happened.........it was indeed, the end of a shoe lace.........and it shouldn't happen........and like Paul Smith says (above), it drove me crackers for thirty miles . I could hardly believe my stupidity when I found it - so obvious when you know.............

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

...spent hours the other day repacking the bearings in Boy #2's hubs because of a scraping noise that happened once per revolution. It came back today. Closer observation - noise only happens on the lowest gear, and only when freewheeling.

It was the bloody chain scraping on the stupid' plastic dork disk... All that repacking and cone adjustment for nowt!

Should'nt be that close
This is what can happen if you remove it......

[albal1]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

Could be anything.
Possibilities, frame flex, headset, cable under BB, bottle cage bolts, chainring bolts.
I have had brake rub due to wheel flex when climbing out of the saddle. (sorted by more tension on spokes). Get someone to ride with you and see if they can hear and help to pinpoint it.

I had a clicking noise one day - turned out to be a shoe lace catching on the crank.
I seem to find that my carbon frames have more noises than my steel ones.
I hate a noise that I can't cure. I have a squeeky shoe and I'm at a loss on what to do about it. Tried various "cures" but no luck.
Any body want to buy a shoe?

thanks, i say any gear, but while testing again i rode in the big chainring, no noise. ( i dont climb in big ring) Not rubbing on front mech. Tested pedals,cleats,headset,handlebars,cable under BB,chainring bolts,crankarm bolts, will order a new chainring as it is worn bad, new chain might not like it. Am not convinced of this tho.

[mattsccm]

Been swearing at my notoriously unreliable SRAM BB for months. I did everything to stop it creaking . Umpteen types of grease , dry, greased and flaming slimey. tight, slack the lot. Swapped wheels, tried wheel a with cassette off wheel B and vice versa. Gave up and resigned to buying a new BB. Last night I swapped to a Shimano cassette instead of a SRAM. Creak gone!

[CREPELLO]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

Go around every fitting and interface and slightly undo each one in turn and give it a blast with something like GT85 and re-tighten. Then ride. By doing each fitting in turn eventually the creak should disappear.

Then you can decide whether you want to regrease it or not. Sometimes a repeated spraying is enough to kill the creak for good. I like the GT85 because I reckon the teflon in it alos helps keep the creak at bay.

[Scunnered]

i have a noise on my Felt Z25. Only happens out the saddle on climbs, in any gear. New BB fitted, chain and cassete. I'm puzzled. A creaking sound. Any ideas?

I had a creaking noise when climbing out of the saddle, but also when in the saddle going over bumps. I traced it to the steerer tube / fork crown joint. I now have replacement forks (good customer service from Winstanleys) and no more creaking.

[karlt]

Hi,

...spent hours the other day repacking the bearings in Boy #2's hubs because of a scraping noise that happened once per revolution. It came back today. Closer observation - noise only happens on the lowest gear, and only when freewheeling.

It was the bloody chain scraping on the stupid' plastic dork disk... All that repacking and cone adjustment for nowt!

Should'nt be that close

No, it shouldn't be, but it was, hence the noise