Cracking sound after tune-up! Please help! Am I gonna die??

[rcannon100]

> They occur whether I’m coasting, pedaling,

Hum, that suggests not bottom bracket

> in or out of the seat

Hum, that suggests not the seat post

Are your wheels true? You make it sound like the sound is irregular. I am concerned that it is your spokes, but your spokes would be very regular. There is nothing sticking into the spokes like the chain going to far in or the derailer?

You say this occurred after full drive train replacement. I am concerned that maybe some of the parts did not match.

How old is the wheel? Can you localize the sound at all? Is it possible that there is a problem with the hub.

There is a GCN video about getting ride of creeks in your bike – and pretty much the advice is – if you cant identify it, take everything apart, clean it, grease it, and put it back together. Phoenix knocked off my mystery creek by greasing my seat post.

[KLizotte]

The wheels are handbuilt by Bill Mould (Spokes) and only about a year old. I don’t think the sounds are coming from the wheels. These are much more of a loud, metallic sound. It’s hard to tell, but they sound like they are coming from the bottom bracket area or a little to the back of the bottom bracket. I’m so annoyed because the bike didn’t make any noises before I brought it in.

It’s odd that the sounds occur under any riding condition. I guess the only common variable is that movement has to be involved (unless I slept through it making noises through the night). Sigh.

[paulg]

Hate to be a harbinger of doom but it could be a crack in your frame. When the noise occurs “whether I’m coasting, pedaling, or shifting, in or out of the seat, under load and not under load, clipped in/not clipped in.” you’ve eliminated a lot of things with those tests. Have a look at all the joints in the frame to see if you can see anything, sometimes cracks are hard to spot. Turn the bike upside down, and if it’s a little dirty (I apologize, if you keep your bike clean:o) ) then cleaning helps with spotting cracks.

Anyway I really hope it’s not that, but a cracking sound doesn’t sound good. Pinging could be spokes but you said that noise went away.

Good luck

[Emm]

I’m not going to be able to help you, besides to let you know the same thing (random cracking/hitting noise) happened to me with my last hybrid. It freaked me out. The shop looked at it multiple times, finally doing a full tune up, replacing chain and cassette, cables, checking bottom bracket, pedals, wheels, etc (everything was under warranty), and making sure the frame wasn’t cracked. And…no difference. The shifting improved dramatically with the tune up, but the noise kept occurring.

One shop mechanic finally asked me about my rides, which included alot of gravely trails. He theorized gravel got into the frame (possible with how my bike was built–it has some gravel sized holes that the cables go through, and the sound matched), but it still seemed a little far fetched.

I finally sold the stupid bike on cragislist. According to the shop it was 100% safe to ride, so I didn’t feel that guilty.

[Greenbelt]

I had a rock jam up into a shifter pulley recently. Mechanics had never seen that one before. Sadly, I surprise them a lot.

Agree with the suggestion to have the mechanics take if for a test ride. Some things can’t be discovered by spinning the bike in a bike stand.

[bentbike33]

Are you running a Shimano rear hub? Another thing to check is the freehub (i.e., the thing you put the cassette on that clicks when you spin it). I recently was getting odd sounds (not exactly like yours, but my bike is steel) and discovered that the bolt holding the freehub to the body of the rear hub was loose (the rear wheel also had inexplicable play that tightening the cone nuts did not fix). You need a 10mm Allen wrench to tighten it, and will also need to repack your hub bearings afterword.

If none of the above makes sense, go to the LBS.

Simplest way to check this, however, is to swap out the rear wheel if you have another, or if you don’t, check for some play in the rear wheel that feels like loose bearings.

[ronwalf]

@KLizotte 116022 wrote:

The wheels are handbuilt by Bill Mould (Spokes) and only about a year old.

If you have a spare set of wheels (even ones you can borrow from another bike), you should be able to test this relatively easily. If the pings happen while coasting, you don’t even need to readjust the derailleur (although you might want to make sure at least one brake works).

[KLizotte]

All these replies sound ominous. I have the old rear wheel; I’ll bring it with me and see what they think about me trying it out for a trial run. I don’t have any fancy tools aside from a set of allen wrenches so the LBS has to swap stuff out for me. I strongly suspect the LBS did not install something correctly since these noises only occurred right after my trip to the LBS. Normally this LBS does great work so I’m chalking it up to a fluke.

[Jason B]

Creeks are a pain. I built up a few bikes and they take are a while to eliminate all of them. This sounds a tad different from the normal creeks, which are simply dealt by tightening and greasing.
A loose cable will cause the chain to skip among other things, which appears to be dealt with. A stuck link will also cause the chain to skip, and may cause a clicking sound if the pin was put in improperly, but this sound happens when you are coasting, which negates the pin theory.
Check you rear derailleur to make sure it not hitting anything. Although improbable, a change in cable tension may have pulled it slightly which may be causing it to hit something. It may be hitting the spokes, or the chain my be too short, causing the RD to hit the cassette, even when coasting.
Make sure it is not hitting the spokes for that can cause epic failure. If it is hitting the cassette, adding a another speed link may be all you need. But with way, check the RD for can get messy, and it will be an easy to see if it is off. Make sure to check the RD in all the gears.
Just my too stinky scents.

[dkel]

It’s possible you have something inside the rim. My son’s bike came with a broken spoke nipple, which was immediately evident because of the dangling spoke, but the little bit that had broken off was trapped in the rim, behind the rim tape, and was rattling around in there. Even if you don’t have a dangling spoke, it’s possible some bit of something got in there, or chipped off of something, and is causing the rattling. You can test it by lifting the bike and spinning the wheel, or even better, take the wheel off and move it around in all directions by hand. If something is in there, you’ll have to remove the rim tape to get it out, likely, and it may require a lot of manipulating and gyrating.

That said, it’s more likely to be a hub bearing.

[KLizotte]

Dropped it off at the LBS tonight with the mechanic who saw me a couple of nights ago. He thinks it is probably a problem with the hub bearing. I checked the back wheel for anything loose floating around in the rim as dkel suggested but it was quiet. I also checked the spoke tension unscientifically. Nothing.

If it is the hub, then wow, a loose bearing can be LOUD! I mean really loud.

[KLizotte]

Well, I took the bike out for an hour today and didn’t hear the death rattle. Yah! The LBS replaced two donut shaped thingees (that’s a technical term) containing ball bearings in the front hub. I can’t believe how loud a bunch of errant ball bearings can be! So a word to the wise, if you have an aluminum frame with a carbon fork and it sounds as if someone is throwing pebbles hard at your frame, get your hubs checked out. And yes, the pings can be very, very loud.

The wheels are only a little over a year old. Am I supposed to get the hubs “serviced” every year? I haven’t had anything done to them except this repair.

Thanks for all your help.

[dkel]

@KLizotte 116174 wrote:

The wheels are only a little over a year old. Am I supposed to get the hubs “serviced” every year? I haven’t had anything done to them except this repair.

Cup and cone bearings are not as resistant to the elements as are sealed bearings, so they do need to be repacked with fresh grease periodically. The good news is that they can be serviced and serviced, and end up lasting a long time; the bad news is that if run them too long when in need of servicing, they can ruin the entire hub. Sealed bearings are more expensive, but they resist he elements better; they are either difficult or impossible to service, but they can be replaced, and they will never ruin your hubs, no matter how bad they get. Glad you got the problem fixed!

[KLizotte]

@dkel 116176 wrote:

Cup and cone bearings are not as resistant to the elements as are sealed bearings, so they do need to be repacked with fresh grease periodically. The good news is that they can be serviced and serviced, and end up lasting a long time; the bad news is that if run them too long when in need of servicing, they can ruin the entire hub. Sealed bearings are more expensive, but they resist he elements better; they are either difficult or impossible to service, but they can be replaced, and they will never ruin your hubs, no matter how bad they get. Glad you got the problem fixed!

I learned a lot from this post. So, next year when I bring my bike in for a tune-up I should ask for the hubs to be greased and repacked? I wasn’t aware that not doing this could ruin the hubs. Ouch. Also, next time I buy new hubs/wheels I’ll ask if they are sealed or not.

I forgot to note in my previous post that the sound did not seem like it was coming from the front. Bike acoustics defy all laws of physics if you ask me. Total cost of repair was $32 with WABA discount.

[peterw_diy]

@KLizotte 116179 wrote:

So, next year when I bring my bike in for a tune-up I should ask for the hubs to be greased and repacked? I wasn’t aware that not doing this could ruin the hubs.

Every year? That depends on several factors — hub/seal quality, riding/parking/storage conditions, mileage, etc.

Btw, when dkel says “sealed bearing”, he means “cartridge bearing.” All decent hubs have seals protecting the balls. It’s more useful and far less confusing to talk about “loose ball” (which most folks take to include retainer clip designs) vs. “cartridge” bearings.

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