The Chainlink

On my way home last night, my rear wheel abruptly started clicking. Within a mile it sounded as though I was having a full-on popcorn-making fiesta. My first thought was a couple loose spokes, but upon inspection it seems unlikely. Now I'm thinking it is the hub. Anyone experience this phenomenon? I greased and repacked the hub this past October and haven't had a problem with it since (except a loose spoke a couple months ago.) so it seemed a little soon.

Views: 1425

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

What kind of hub?  A freehub+cassette or a hub+freewheel? Brand/model?

hey spence - what is the gear configuration ? cassette, single-speed (fixed or free) ? does it happen only when you pedal or also when you coast ? can you reproduce the issue by standing and holding the rear wheel above ground and pedaling by hand (or in a repair stand) ?  or the same setup and rotate the wheel by hand ? sometimes these issues only happen with weight on the bike (i.e. the rider sitting and pedaling)

 

DB (maybe the bike is watching a movie and got the munchies...sorry)

I was actually hoping that my bike was magical AND could make popcorn, but unfortunately it is too good to be true.

It's a 7 Speed freewheel on a late 80's Suntour AT hubs attached to a Bianchi of the same vintage. it happens when the rear wheel is spinning regardless of pedaling (which ruled out the bottom bracket). I did have a free-wheel essentially blow-up on me in the middle of dearborn/wacker last fall shooting ball-bearings at innocent passer-byes. But, I actually pulled the wheel off the bike this morning and spun it and I can hear it when holding the hub axle...which leads me to believe it is a hub problem. Which I don't understand as I haven't done anything different in the past 10 months since I repacked it and this is just my commuting bike, so it's not seeing huge miles....probably a little over 1000 since I last repacked it. Unless it's my freewheel trying to kill me again : (

dan brown said:

hey spence - what is the gear configuration ? cassette, single-speed (fixed or free) ? does it happen only when you pedal or also when you coast ? can you reproduce the issue by standing and holding the rear wheel above ground and pedaling by hand (or in a repair stand) ?  or the same setup and rotate the wheel by hand ? sometimes these issues only happen with weight on the bike (i.e. the rider sitting and pedaling)

 

DB (maybe the bike is watching a movie and got the munchies...sorry)

Your moving parts probably need more butter.

Did you reuse the bearings when you repacked? 

That sucks i have a sim noise in my front wheel i was told it is the spokes rubbing on each other, not sure i buy it.

Could be the bearing cups inside the hub.  I had an old BMX hub start doing that and when I pulled it apart the cups had basically disintegrated.  All because I didn't repack soon enough after riding through some sand.

If your cones are pitted, replace them with the proper cones for your hub and brand new balls.  if the cups are pitted, you need a new hub.

Rubbing spoke noise is real, I read it in a rando blog once, so it must be real :)  Also read a few drops of chain lube fixes it.. Of course yours might be a different issue.

Deet 4.5mi said:

That sucks i have a sim noise in my front wheel i was told it is the spokes rubbing on each other, not sure i buy it.

Definitely sounds like the hub. You really have to be sure you clean everything out, that you have good cups/cones, new ball bearings, plenty of good grease, and that you're using proper cone wrenches to tighten your lock nut. I *cough* have a friend *cough* who used to have hub issues because he though he could just tighten down his hub with a couple adjustable wrenches.

RSS

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service