6/1/14 2:29 PM

A minor victory perhaps, but over an evil opponent - the dread, often confounding click/clank/squeak that can afflict even the finest, best maintained bike. I had noticed an almost imperceptible click on my new Sachs, and on our club Memorial Day Ride (a nice 80 mile jaunt throughout the White Mountains) it progressed to an annoying clank. Didn't affect riding at all, but it bugs me. Had a great ride, but resolved to get to the bottom of this. Once per pedal revolution. Eliminated the seat and bars. I know there is a progression of causes to investigate, been through it before on another bike and it turned out to be the chainring bolts. There are online dissertations on the subject by luminaries including Sheldon Brown and Kerry Irons.

My sense was that it had to do with the pedals, but your "sense" is pretty unreliable with this issue. Anyway, after cleaning the bike and lubing the chain (the click wasn't the chain because it is synchronized with pedal rotation, but I'd ridden through some rain anyway), I looked at the pedals. Tight in the crank, no bearing play. Then I looked at the cleats, not loose, but -aha! - I could tighten the bolts a turn or two. I thought, that could just be it, so after tightening the bolts and spraying some WD-40 on the pedals, I rode the bike up and down the road, blissful silence!

So I didn't have to mess with the chainring bolts or the crank/bb. Just goes to show what weird things cause noise. I love it when a plan comes together.

I use different shoes/pedals on my other bikes so this only affected the RS.

6/1/14 7:20 PM

And then there is the curious mixed bag of noises I've been having lately. Took the machinery of the seat post seat clamp apart and greased all contact points - that got rid of one type of noise. Pulled the cranks and BB and cleaned greased all contact points - another noise type gone. Then removed the pedals, greased the threads and sprayed silicone into the clamping mechanism. Dead silence for about 30 miles, and then a faint noise began to appear. I'm thinking I need to do the saddle clamp again but it gets annoying! I can't live with anything but a dead-silent bike.

6/1/14 10:05 PM

One rule about cleats that I always follow is to re-torque the screws/bolts after 24hrs.
Since the bolts are compressing polymers, there is always some settling over night that relaxes the bolt tension, regardless of how tight (or over-tight) that the bolts are tightened initially.

Similar to water-bottle cage bolts, where carbon cages or even a layer of paint settles to relieve bolt tension.

6/2/14 5:43 AM

...is quick-release skewers and the amount of noise they can create is surprising. My old Vortex was prone to the front skewer creaking whenever I got out of the saddle or sprinted (putting lateral stress on the fork). Lubing the skewer fixed that.

Recently, the Cannondale was starting to sound like an old washing machine every time I put any pressure on the pedals. I had completely disassembled the crank and bottom bracket and lubed everything. I did the same thing to the seatpost and made sure that the pedal threads were lubed and tight. The bars and stem got the clean and lube treatment, too. Nothing helped. On a whim, I tightened the rear skewer more than I normally do and the noise almost completely disappeared. I pulled the skewer and lubed everything that moved and it's been dead silent ever since.

Now, if only I could figure out how to permanently eliminate the dreaded Speedplay Zero cleat squeak...

6/2/14 8:03 AM

Can make a great ride an annoyance till you get to the bottom the source of the noise....

6/2/14 8:49 AM

I'm not as anal as some. I'm more abuot riding than the bike, so I CAN stand riding a bike that makes noise. Still, I strongly prefer a quiet bike...

I had a faint noise that indicates I have tiny marginal break rub, usually during slow climb on steep terrain. However, when I spin the wheels, they're free and don't come even close to the brake pads. While my wheels aren't "perfectly" true, it's quite true and again, nowhere near the brake pads...

Center the brake once more. Touch up on the wheel more careful than I did earlier. I thought it could be the spoke tension but they seem quite fine. There's no rub when the bike is on the stand, but only when I'm on the bike and climbing hard. Annoying the hell out of me with the thought I'm losing power when I need it the most!

It turns out I was looking at the wrong place!

I kept working on the front wheel because that SOUND like where the noise came from and that's the wheel that got taken off and put back on in most rides. The rear wheel hadn't been touched for ages and looks to be quite true.

But after I exhausted all adjustment to the front, I finally started to look at the rear wheel CLOSELY and noticed the brakes weren't as centered as perfectly as it could be.

I re-center the brake. Just to be sure, I checked the rear skewer too. Ha! They were not very tight AT ALL!

I think it's the combination of brakes being slightly off-center AND the skewer being rather loose, that I ended up with brake rub ONLY during hard efforts.

Not only the noise disappeared, the psychological effect that I'm putting out maximum power all the way to the ground rather than losing them to heating up the rim boosted my climbing speed by a full gear!

Hehe... the "simple" joy of riding a bicycle?

6/2/14 9:05 AM

April, if any wheel is going to drag on a brake pad it's usually going to be the rear. The force you put on the pedals twists and offsets the rear triangle of the bike toward the drive side even on a stiff frame so if the brake is off-center and/or the wheel a bit out of true or not clamped tight in the dropouts the rim can touch the pads.

Modern frames are typically so stiff this isn't much of a problem but I remember some old light steel, and particularly early "standard diameter" aluminum frames that flexed enough to cause ghost shifting.

6/2/14 9:19 AM

Ghost Shifting. I test rode a Litespeed Catalyst in the mid/late 90s. I could shift the front off the big ring at will with a hard push, then it would pop back up to the big ring after the change caused me to back off the pedals. It would take a low RPM mash. I wound up with the Classic, and I could get that to do the same thing a lot less often. Like when coming out of a fast turn and hopping hard on the cranks. Later got the newer Classic 2000 frame and could not get that to happen which I liked. ;)

6/2/14 9:58 AM

I had a squeek in a Dura Ace SL pedal and Sidi shoe that I never got resolved, so victory went to the pedal. I sold them.

6/2/14 11:18 AM

Front rim brakes often seen to rub whenever I am doing a track-stand, usually while waiting for a traffic signal. Same goes for riding hard switchbacks, though it is less noticeable since I am carrying a bit of speed.

Perhaps it's the frame's head tube angle putting a side-load on the wheel when the fork is turned to the side.
If the rear brake rubs I might never notice it, except when riding on a broken axle, then it gets noticeably bad.

My friend was getting a very bad crank creeking on a recent ride on the bike that I loaned him.
Half way through the ride, the left crankarm split open at the bottom bracket opening.

6/2/14 12:46 PM

I hear a distinctive "ticking" sound from the fork when braking. I suspect it's something to do with the quill stem (all of my quill-fu has gone over the past ten years or so). If it were going to kill me, I'd already be dead, but I want that bike to be quiet, dagnabit!

6/2/14 1:34 PM

That handlebar creak, I've had to put a drop of oil on quite a few handlebar clamp junctions over the years, and then there's the creaking sleeves that may need a drop of oil at the ends of the sleeve or at the hole in the sleeve that is hidden by the clamp.
I doubt that it's the quill itself.
It might be a loose-fitting crown race atop the fork crown.
My old Schwinns have almost all needed red-grade Loctite between the crown race and the crown race seat.

6/2/14 1:42 PM

quote:

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April, if any wheel is going to drag on a brake pad it's usually going to be the rear.

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