"mystery" sound from wheelset

bike writer

My American Classic 420 wheelset is making a rather odd sound. Almost
like a rubbin sound of metal on metal, not a grinding.

It occurs when I get out of the saddle and sprint or hammer up a hill.
The build is 20/24 DT aero spokes (radial front, 3x rear) with
titanium qr's, and I was thinking that maybe the aero blades are
making the noise.... but it doesn't do it when I'm in a straight line
and/or in the saddle at any speed. Only when I lean the bike over to
put the hurt to the road; the lateral load is doing it I'm guessing.
The skewers are tightened down properly and my calipers are a good
distance from the rim, and my 23c tires are always between 100 and 115
psi. I'm only 165 pounds.

Is this typical with AC 420 wheels or other deeper dish rims? Or is it
the spokes?

Thanks.

daveornee

Bike Writer wrote:
> My American Classic 420 wheelset is making a rather odd sound. Almost
> like a rubbin sound of metal on metal, not a grinding.
> It occurs when I get out of the saddle and sprint or hammer up a hill.
> The build is 20/24 DT aero spokes (radial front, 3x rear) with
> titanium qr's, and I was thinking that maybe the aero blades are
> making the noise.... but it doesn't do it when I'm in a straight line
> and/or in the saddle at any speed. Only when I lean the bike over to
> put the hurt to the road; the lateral load is doing it I'm guessing.
> The skewers are tightened down properly and my calipers are a good
> distance from the rim, and my 23c tires are always between 100 and 115
> psi. I'm only 165 pounds.
> Is this typical with AC 420 wheels or other deeper dish rims? Or is it
> the spokes?
> Thanks.



What can you eliminate by substitution? QRs, Substitute front wheel
only, rear only, loose spokes, rim eyelet movement, spoke crossings,
etc. Loose cassette lockring, cassette moving on cassette body? Mike has
some more on his site as does Park Tool.
http://www.chainreaction.com/noises.htm
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help...squeaking.shtml



--

David L. Johnson

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:51:43 -0700, bike writer wrote:

> My American Classic 420 wheelset is making a rather odd sound. Almost
> like a rubbin sound of metal on metal, not a grinding.

> making the noise.... but it doesn't do it when I'm in a straight line
> and/or in the saddle at any speed. Only when I lean the bike over to
> put the hurt to the road; the lateral load is doing it I'm guessing.
> The skewers are tightened down properly and my calipers are a good
> distance from the rim, and my 23c tires are always between 100 and 115
> psi. I'm only 165 pounds.

First guess would be that the wheels are deflecting enough so that the
brake pads are rubbing. If it is not that, it could be something rather
bad in one of the hubs.

Do you have a spare set? Easy to swap out one wheel, test, then the other.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but
_`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox.
(_)/ (_) |

bike writer

"David L. Johnson" <david.johnson@lehigh.edu> wrote in message
>
> First guess would be that the wheels are deflecting enough so that the
> brake pads are rubbing. If it is not that, it could be something rather
> bad in one of the hubs.
>
> Do you have a spare set? Easy to swap out one wheel, test, then the other.

Thanks to all that replied. Tired (scared of what might be, really) of
the sound, I took it down to the local guru mechanic to the stars(ex
world cup/women's challenge/etc.) and he told me it was a case of the
taller/thinner/resonating 420 deep dish rim. The road vibration was
going through the spokes and echoing off inside the 420's 34mm rim.

He took the wheels apart and said they are perfect, and that I could
quit fretting over the "pending" implosion of spokes, rims...

mtoverton

"bike writer" <bikewriter71@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3b916445.0404221651.52f6ec60@posting.google.com...
> My American Classic 420 wheelset is making a rather odd sound. Almost
> like a rubbin sound of metal on metal, not a grinding.
>
> It occurs when I get out of the saddle and sprint or hammer up a hill.
> The build is 20/24 DT aero spokes (radial front, 3x rear) with
> titanium qr's, and I was thinking that maybe the aero blades are
> making the noise.... but it doesn't do it when I'm in a straight line
> and/or in the saddle at any speed. Only when I lean the bike over to
> put the hurt to the road; the lateral load is doing it I'm guessing.
> The skewers are tightened down properly and my calipers are a good
> distance from the rim, and my 23c tires are always between 100 and 115
> psi. I'm only 165 pounds.
>
> Is this typical with AC 420 wheels or other deeper dish rims? Or is it
> the spokes?
>
> Thanks.

I have this problem with my Rolf Vector Comps. It took some time to figure
it out and the problem may be different with your wheels. I heard a
"creaking" when I got out of the saddle and was hammering. Turns out it was
condesation (or something?) where the spokes lace to the hubs. A touch of
Tri Flow at each spoke soon resolved the problem. If I fail to do this a
couple of times a season the "creak" comes back. I have passed on this
lubrication just to see if the noise will reoccur and with time it does.
This only seems to occur in the front wheel. Go figure! These are deep dish
rims with aero spokes for the record. This attempt at a quick fix for your
wheelset can certainly do no harm and just might be a solution. Michael

daveornee

<SNIP> I have this problem with my Rolf Vector Comps. It took some time
to figure it out and the problem may be different with your wheels. I
heard a "creaking" when I got out of the saddle and was hammering. Turns
out it was condesation (or something?) where the spokes lace to the
hubs. A touch of Tri Flow at each spoke soon resolved the problem. If I
fail to do this a couple of times a season the "creak" comes back. I
have passed on this lubrication just to see if the noise will reoccur
and with time it does. This only seems to occur in the front wheel. Go
figure! These are deep dish rims with aero spokes for the record. This
attempt at a quick fix for your wheelset can certainly do no harm and
just might be a solution. Michael

This posting reminded me of a Ritchey Wheel issue that is resolved with
a drop of TriFlow on a hub seal that has gone dry. I think there is
mention of that issue on the Ritchey site FAQ. Maybe a message to the
tech contacts at American and/or a visit to their Tech FAQ might find a
specific resolution to this one.



--

bike writer

Thanks. Couldn't hurt to test this out.