My wheels makes noises

[JonB]

Hi

My wheels makes noises, almost like it hits something, but i cant find it. It only makes noises when i sit at the bike, so i cant see the problem. What can i do to find it? It's a regular noise that increases in regularity as i drive faster. If i drive really slow it appears to stop?

 

[MrSteve]

Check spoke tension: I tap them and listen to them ring.
A loose spoke will sound dull when tapped; or will ring at a lower pitch
than the other spokes if it is only a little loose.

Actually, my first and best guess is the wheel bearings.
Make sure they're clean, greased and properly adjusted.
If they are, then check to see that the cups (the part of the bearing
that seats in the aluminum hub) are properly seated and are snug.
If the bearing cups are a little loose in the hub, they will make noise...and the noise will get worse
as the loose bearing cup(s) wear out the inside of the hub.

My last guess would be the brake shoes, rubbing on an out-of-round wheel rim.
In that case, truing the wheel will cure this.

-Steve

 

[Nemesis]

Just a thought but you could watch someone else ride around in circles. I would vote for spokes as well, I've had a similar experience.

 

[Mark B]

My guess would be spokes, too. It might be worth it to take them in to a bike shop for truing and tensioning.

Mark

 

[JonB]

Mark B wrote: My guess would be spokes, too. It might be worth it to take them in to a bike shop for truing and tensioning.

I was already planning on doing that. I noticed that my frontwheel does this as well, but less often, and while not as dangerous if a cruzbike frontwheel colapses, i'm sure it isnt pleasent if it does while i ride it.

 

[Rick Harker]

Hi Jon,

I'm not sure if we have the same wheels but mine came with softish spoke tension.
This is usually the case with wheels that are hard to set and true. I retensioned mine and trued the wheel also. Handling will also be effected by light tension as the wheel will distort under load.
The bearings on my wheel are sealed units but can be adversely effected if the inner and outer races are out of alignment. You can check this by removing your wheels then spinning them whilst holding the axles. If you feel a light rumble the next thing to do is release the lock nuts and repeat the process. No noise = too much tension on the inner race. same noise = bearing problem. Remove bearing and roll freely in your fingers. Should be smooth with only the slightest resistance from the seal.

Hope this helps towards any trouble shooting.

regards,

Rick.

 

[JonB]

Rick Harker wrote: Hi Jon,

I'm not sure if we have the same wheels but mine came with softish spoke tension.
This is usually the case with wheels that are hard to set and true. I retensioned mine and trued the wheel also. Handling will also be effected by light tension as the wheel will distort under load.
The bearings on my wheel are sealed units but can be adversely effected if the inner and outer races are out of alignment. You can check this by removing your wheels then spinning them whilst holding the axles. If you feel a light rumble the next thing to do is release the lock nuts and repeat the process. No noise = too much tension on the inner race. same noise = bearing problem. Remove bearing and roll freely in your fingers. Should be smooth with only the slightest resistance from the seal.

Hope this helps towards any trouble shooting.

Thanks, but i let my bike mecanic fix such problems.

 

[Rick Harker]

Hi Jon,

Let us know what the findings are.
Hope you're up and riding soon.

Regards,

Rick.

 

[JonB]

Rick Harker wrote: Let us know what the findings are.
Hope you're up and riding soon.

Sure, will do. I am riding it at work today, just some 5 km through the city, so i hope i dont have problems on the way home.

 

[JonB]

the sound is getting worse :-( i better get this fixed soon.

I was at a recumbent club this evening, it was great, really interresting people. They listened to the noise and said it was the spokes. They also told me how to fix it, and that i should use 2-3 hours on it :-( they said a pro should use half an hour. So i will find a bike mecanic. Maybe i should have bought 2 * $50 and paied someone to fix the wheels ;-)

I also found out who should make my wheel with a dynamo hub + mount the light, and the wheel with a nuvinci. And a schlumpf highspeed drive should i need that option, but i dont think so. Except that the nuvinci might just be a too small improvement over the stock 8 gear on my freerider.

The 11-32 teeth cassette seems to give me a gain ratio of 2.6-7.7. Nuvinci has 2.5-8.7. Those 7.7 are too low on downhills, hopefully soon on flats as well. I dont need in the bottom, but those 8.7 sounds nice.

 

[Rick Harker]

Hi Jon,
If you're a little bit of a tinkerer you can gain some experience with your spoke problem providing you can afford to travel by other means if things go wrong.
The problem with spokes losing tension will be a point in time where they will literally loosen themselves within a 10-15 km distance making the bike look like a circus bike with extremely wobbly wheels. If you go on a long bike journey and this happens in the middle of nowhere you need this experience before spokes and the wheel breaks of worse still, an injury.
Get yourself a spoke tensioning tool, preferably from a noteable manufacturer and the right size. The spokes on my Sofrider are 3.2 mm. Check first.
Support your bike's wheel off the ground and remove the air pressure from the tyre. tape a pen or pointy object on the frame close to the rim.
Out of round is where the rim will change in its radius.
Out of true is the side to side movement.
General specification will say something like .5 mm is ok but .1 is achievable depending on the quality of the rim and the join. Make allowances at this area of the rim.
Start with the out of round correction first. Tighten the spokes opposite to the highest point and at half turn increments only. Keep going until it looks reasonable.
Then start with trueing the wheel by tightening the spokes to "pull" the rim into alignment. If the spokes seem very tight then loosen spokes to "go" away from that line. Spin the wheel after every couple of adjustments and check how things are looking.
This is not an entirely hard thing to do for a general or emergency procedure. It does take time and patience, even for the experts. Higher quality wheels are much easier strangely enough.
At worst if it goes wrong the LBS can rescue but from what I can ascertain Jon, you can do it. If it seems daunting then the LBS.

If you're interested I'll post some pics to help.

Regards,

Rick.

 

[JonB]

thanks, but i am not that much of a tinker, at least not now. I am in the middle of writting my masters thesis, and i dont want to spent 2-3 hours pr. wheel if i can just pay some mecanic to do it. And i live in a small apartment with no kind of tools to hold the wheel.

 

[JonB]

i just dropped the bike at my mecanic for a gear and spoke tuneup. I'll get it the same afternoon, so i'll soon let you know how it worked out.

 

[Rick Harker]

Hi Jon,

Under your circumstances your choice is best. But later in time, especially if you plan on cycle touring it would be worth the time to gain experience.
Hope everything works out well and good luck with your masters.

Regards,

Rick.

 

[JonB]

i just got the bike back. it cost me $10 ;-)

 

[Mark B]

JonB wrote: i just got the bike back. it cost me $10 ;-)

That's cheap enough. Out of curiosity, did the tensioning/truing take care of the problem?

Mark

 

[JonB]

yeah i forgot to answer that part. No more noises But i havent tried it for a long ride, just a few hundred meters home.

 

[Kamatu]

Hmmm, I'll have to ask how much it costs the next time I talk to the LBS guys. At that price it might be worth it since both my tires are at least a little out of true, but not enough for me to worry about right now.

 

[JonB]

Kamatu wrote: Hmmm, I'll have to ask how much it costs the next time I talk to the LBS guys. At that price it might be worth it since both my tires are at least a little out of true, but not enough for me to worry about right now.

I think i got a heavy discount for 2 reasons. 1) it wasnt the owner and 2) they were borred and had nothing to do. They might not have used that much time on it anyway, which justifies the low price. Finaly, the x-change rate might not be completely right. If i do a direct xchange, it makes the price $20, but the salaries in denmark are higher, and i have to add 25% vat, which is why i did not just use the direct xchange rate, but half.

 

[Rick Harker]

Fantastic! For that little money, forget buying tools.

Its good you have it returned so quickly. My LBS won't work on my Cruz but will work on individual selective items - for a price.

happy riding,

Rick.

 

[JonB]

Rick Harker wrote: Fantastic! For that little money, forget buying tools.

Its good you have it returned so quickly. My LBS won't work on my Cruz but will work on individual selective items - for a price.

Thats just rude. It's a bike almost like all other. The parts are the same, and it is the parts that needs replacement, not the frame.

My mecanic did say that they could not fit the luggage rack, or that it would be very expensive if i had them do it. But they did mount the fenders, and sold me one lock. The other lock i found in another shop because they did not have it.