What Have You Fettled Today?

[GuyBoden]

With different shoes on yesterdays ride, I moved my saddle 3mm higher, it was a big job, but I was up to the task.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm going to try putting a spare BB on my singlespeed bike to see if I can finally stop recent annoying noises from it. A new chain has helped, but not eliminated the problem. I think everything was wearing out at the same time! I'll report back later...

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Tightened up the rear hub cones to take out a bit of play. Quick job as taking out play just involves removing QR and adjusting non drive side.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Changed the pads on our lasses bike yesterday and clean the chain on a couple of my bikes

 

[ColinJ]

I'm going to try putting a spare BB on my singlespeed bike to see if I can finally stop recent annoying noises from it. A new chain has helped, but not eliminated the problem. I think everything was wearing out at the same time! I'll report back later...

Aaargh! I forgot that one of the spare BBs was Italian thread and tried fitting that... I switched to the English-threaded one, then forgot that I had turned the bike round so I was trying to screw it in the wrong way. I got flustered and put the left crank on the righthand side. I corrected that and then ended up with both cranks facing in the same direction!! Short of completely destroying the threads on the BB shell, I couldn't have messed it up more...

Anyway, eventually the replacement BB felt good and sounded nicely silent. But for only 1 km!

I swapped the pedals for another pair. The bike sounded nicely silent. But for only 1 km!

This is doing my head in! Changed chainring, quiet for a while, then noisy again. New chain, quiet for a while, then noisy again. Replaced BB, quiet for a while, then noisy again. Replaced pedals, quiet for a while, then noisy again. The lockring is tight. The stem bolts are tight. The headset is ok. The bottle cages are bolted in properly. The QRs are fine. The spoke tensions are good...

The noise sounds like it is coming from the front half of the bike but I have been caught out like that before! Now I am wondering if the fault is in the freehub. I have another singlespeed rear wheel on my turbo trainer bike. I'll try swapping that in tomorrow...

If it isn't that, what could it be? A hidden crack in the frame or some other obscure fault like that?

 

[Punkawallah]

Is the saddle tight? You could try greasing the mudguard bridge. Been caught out by both of these :-)

 

[DCBassman]

Following on from the Great Drivetrain Swap between the Scott and the Revell, and as a consequence getting the Scott to play ball with its front mech, the swap will be reversed. It will mean a mismatched cockpit on the Scott, but I've managed to live with that on the mixte, so...
This puts the mixte back to pure "Silver Machine" looks, while the Scott is a colourful mess anyhow.
Sounds like a plan!
I'd put both to 8-speed, but can't get/afford the parts, although I've been entertaining evil thoughts about some of the extra wide range ZTTO cassettes to be found here and there. 11-40 8-speed, anyone?

 

[ColinJ]

Is the saddle tight?

I just checked the bolts - they are tight

You could try greasing the mudguard bridge.

I just have a rear mountain bike mudguard bolted on to the seatpost and that bolt is tight.

One thing I noticed last night is that the noise seems to be worst when pedalling easily, and gone (or almost gone) when pedalling hard. Maybe it IS the freehub...

It is a strange sound. Not the usual clicks, clunks, or ticks - more of a clicky tinkling!

Some people might question why I am making such a fuss about a little noise. The reason (apart from it being irritating) is that I have had sudden bike failures in the past after ignoring such noises!

The noises started on my 100 mile Garforth forum ride recently and I was worried that the bike might break down miles from a railway station. I will be using it on a 105 mile Humber Bridge ride in 2 weeks time and I want to have sorted it out and have done some test rides before then.

 

[Spiderweb]

I just checked the bolts - they are tight

I just have a rear mountain bike mudguard bolted on to the seatpost and that bolt is tight.

One thing I noticed last night is that the noise seems to be worst when pedalling easily, and gone (or almost gone) when pedalling hard. Maybe it IS the freehub...

It is a strange sound. Not the usual clicks, clunks, or ticks - more of a clicky tinkling!

Some people might question why I am making such a fuss about a little noise. The reason (apart from it being irritating) is that I have had sudden bike failures in the past after ignoring such noises!

The noises started on my 100 mile Garforth forum ride recently and I was worried that the bike might break down miles from a railway station. I will be using it on a 105 mile Humber Bridge ride in 2 weeks time and I want to have sorted it out and have done some test rides before then.

I was cycling with a friend last week and his bike was making quite a high pitched fast rattling sound so we stopped to check it over. We went through everything with Alan keys, all tight enough. I took his front wheel out and bounced it on the tarmac, it rattled, I held the valve and did the same again and no rattle.
I was out with him yesterday and he’d wrapped tape around the valves where they pass through the rims, all quiet as a mouse now.
He has a fancy bike with carbon rims and valve extenders, this may be different to yours Colin but worth checking, I’ve heard of this happening with alloy rims too.

 

[ColinJ]

I was cycling with a friend last week and his bike was making quite a high pitched fast rattling sound so we stopped to check it over. We went through everything with Alan keys, all tight enough. I took his front wheel out and bounced it on the tarmac, it rattled, I held the valve and did the same again and no rattle.
I was out with him yesterday and he’d wrapped tape around the valves where they pass through the rims, all quiet as a mouse now.
He has a fancy bike with carbon rims and valve extenders, this may be different to yours Colin but worth checking, I’ve heard of this happening with alloy rims too.

I've had a similar problem in the past. The valves on this bike have those little screw-on collars and I made sure that those are tight. Mind you, it is still possible that something is moving around there. I'll check again - thanks.

 

[cyberknight]

Back to the LBS
BB started creaking again after a couple of miles , i am getting a bit miffed

 

[ColinJ]

Actually... 'creaking' is a better description of the noise from my bike.

I'm about to put another rear wheel on to see if that fixes the problem. If it DOES then I know where to focus my attention. If it DOESN'T then I will start getting seriously concerned about the cranks and frame because I have checked or replaced virtually everything else!

 

[si_c]

Actually... 'creaking' is a better description of the noise from my bike.

I'm about to put another rear wheel on to see if that fixes the problem. If it DOES then I know where to focus my attention. If it DOESN'T then I will start getting seriously concerned about the cranks and frame because I have checked or replaced virtually everything else!

I was about to suggest that you carefully inspect the welds and joins at each spot on the bike, so dropouts, bridges, tube intersections. I had a constant creaking on my Felt, turned out to be the top tube/seat tube weld.

 

[Arjimlad]

New bar tape today 😊 went for something discreet and understated.

 

[cyberknight]

Back to the LBS
BB started creaking again after a couple of miles , i am getting a bit miffed

sorted they reseated bearing , the crank arm was loose and tightend up rattling shifters for free so i bought a new pump whilst there