Creak in V20 front triangle

[Doug Kline]

My wife and I rode our brand new V20s for the first time this weekend. It went well. We could both ride it. Nothing spectacular, just up and down the greenway and around an emply parking lot at the pool. I built them both from framesets. My wife's V was completely solid. Mine had a creak in the front triangle that I'm at a loss to track down.

This is what I know:
1) when clamped into the Kurt Kenetic trainer, no creak. This is with the Kurt skewer that isn't quite long enough to use the cam, but just hand tightened.

2) when out of the trainer, with the supplied skewer, it creaks. I even switched skewer's between the two V20's.

3) I went through and made sure everything was tight and greased contact points. No luck.

It seems to me that the triangle is not held solid at the hub, no matter how tight I try to tighten the skewer. Has anybody experienced that?

As an aside, does anyone know of a skewer I can leave on the bike that will work with the Kurt Kenetic trainer? The skewer that comes with the trainer is about 5mm short and I'd like to not have to switch back and forth.

 

[LarryOz]

Hey Doug - Way to go!
Must take some pictures and post for us to see the V's.
I remember I had some weird creaking on my V once. It would not happen on my trainer (Wahoo), but it would happen whenever I was on the road.
I thought it was the front clamps for the longest time, but it finally was a couple of spokes just rubbing ever so slightly.
Not sure if this helps - but good luck!

(p.s. I am heading to Cary this Friday for my Mom's 80th birthday party (I think you met my folks at my Century record attempt in Oct). There are copious activities planned so I am not really sure if I'll even have a chance to get out on my bike.
I'll bring it though, just in case. Email or text (828-216-7860) me your address. Even if no time to ride, would love to see you guys and your new twin kids (the V's).

 

[Doug Kline]

I was thinking I should swap the wheels, but hadn't done that yet. Good suggestion. I'll try that tonight.

Larry, it would be great to see you this weekend, and get some tips from you first hand. I'm not quite ready to chase you on my V. Last time I chased you on my Ridley my wife was up the road and I got to conveniently use her as an excuse to drop off the chase when we caught up. LOL

I'll give a better set of photos later, but for now I have this low quality phone photo of Nancy on her first ride

 

[LarryOz]

Sweet looking ride Doug! Tell Nancy she looks great riding that V
Go, Nancy, Go!
I'll be happy to help. I can tell right now, Nancy needs shorter cranks. Her knee is already past 90 degrees and she still has yet to really pull the pedal all the way back.

For now, try and use this: http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/misc/crank_angle.asp to get an idea of what you think you need.

I 'll bring my adjustable cranks with me and we should be able to tune the crank-length for both of you really fast.
I'll bring whatever tools I'll need to temporarily swap them out for you.
It will be great to see you guys,
Larry

 

[jond]

My wife and I rode our brand new V20s for the first time this weekend. It went well. We could both ride it. Nothing spectacular, just up and down the greenway and around an emply parking lot at the pool. I built them both from framesets. My wife's V was completely solid. Mine had a creak in the front triangle that I'm at a loss to track down.

This is what I know:
1) when clamped into the Kurt Kenetic trainer, no creak. This is with the Kurt skewer that isn't quite long enough to use the cam, but just hand tightened.

2) when out of the trainer, with the supplied skewer, it creaks. I even switched skewer's between the two V20's.

3) I went through and made sure everything was tight and greased contact points. No luck.

It seems to me that the triangle is not held solid at the hub, no matter how tight I try to tighten the skewer. Has anybody experienced that?

As an aside, does anyone know of a skewer I can leave on the bike that will work with the Kurt Kenetic trainer? The skewer that comes with the trainer is about 5mm short and I'd like to not have to switch back and forth.

eek the annoying creak of aluminium frames.

plan 1. are your framesets the same size??? you could just swap with your wife sorry could not resist.

plan 2. start with one joint at a time and lubricate with silicone spray (but not the actual sliders on the boom) till you find the culprit. that has worked for me then relube the offending joint

failing that identifying the creak go to plan 3.

plan 3 music to ignore the creaks by

 

[LarryOz]

Doug,
The gray color is nice looking I we have clearly seen, but since you have "his and her" V's, you should really consider having them re-painted in the traditional "sky blue" and "pink".
That would be a "one-of-a-kind" pair for sure.
See you on Saturday I hope.

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

Doug,
The gray color is nice looking I we have clearly seen, but since you have "his and her" V's, you should really consider having them re-painted in the traditional "sky blue" and "pink".
That would be a "one-of-a-kind" pair for sure.
See you on Saturday I hope.

Fyi: sandblasting and powdercoating will run around $120.

 

[Jeremy S]

In the past, standard bike grease inside the clamps (boom and slider) has helped me with front triangle creaks.

 

[Emeljay]

I've had 3 squeeks that I eventually tracked down. Two were spokes as Larry has indicated, the other was on my Q at the seat attachment nut that I fixed with grease (a squeaky nut probably would not hurt anything unless a squirrel heard it or if there was a nut doctor in hearing distance). I found the loose spokes by just flexing the spoke pairs with my fingers. Then tighten very little, quarter or half turn at most, and finger flex again. Best to not over tighten or other spokes get stressed an break sometime later(I have experience with broken spokes with my loaded touring). Better yet to use a spoke tension meter, but who has one of those nifty tools(they are great I got one later and checked things out!)!!

 

[Doug Kline]

Creak problem resolved. Thanks guys! It was the wheel as Larry suggested. I swapped wheels with my DF and everything is nice and solid on the V. I hadn't notice those wheels creaking last time I rode on them, but I checked with my spoke gauge and sure enough there were loose spokes. I'll pull out the truing stand tomorrow. Looking at the wheel, it is unweighted in the trainer, so that must be why it doesn't creak in the trainer. I was focused on the clamping action as being what was different and was convinced it was the triangle creaking.

Here's the pair of V20's set up in front of the TV. I don't think I'll repaint them, they look nice in black. I haven't wrapped the handle bars yet, so maybe I'll distinguish his/her there. I also haven't bothered to put on front derailluers yet as I'd like to make sure the boom lengths are good first. Next steps are to figure out a better headrest and storage to replace jersey pockets. And it'll be a while before I clip in.

 

[jond]

you will find a plethora of storage solutions within this forum on the vendetta. enjoy. so cool his and hers. and the new paint scheme looks fabulous too. glad to see they have pride of place

 

[SamP]

Jersey pockets offset to the side actually work reasonably well.

 

[Doug Kline]

Thanks for that tip Sam. I was envisioning that stuff would just fall out of the jersey pockets.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Very nice and well equipped Doug. I've never notice the gauge in white on the boom before.

 

[billyk]

Late to the party, but running spokes can sound like frame creeks.

 

[LarryOz]

but running spokes can sound like frame creeks

Heck, mine where just walking and they sounded pretty bad!

 

[billyk]

Phone typing, worsened by autocorrect. Sorry!

I wouldn't mind so much if they sounded like creeks. That would be peaceful.