What's new

Silence is Golden

Phil

Maximum Pace
Sep 1, 2007
1,816
55
I like to think I'm getting good at tracking down clicks and squeaks on the bike, and at the same time try not to obsess as much as I used to about them. But...

My Guerciotti had been creaking terribly recently, especially during out of the saddle, high-torque efforts. Had this before and it was often the BB; so I spent an hour or so removing the crank, removing the BB, cleaning inside the bracket (full of grime, haha, culprit found), re-lubing and re-assembling nice and tight.

Headed off today for a lunch ride and the whole frame is creaking worse than ever! Oh well, I didn't tighten the pedals, maybe they're the culprit. Or the handlebars? Hmm. Starting to get annoying...

Then I suddenly remembered I haven't checked the quick releases recently. Get off. Rear is fine, front is okay but I guess it could stand to be a bit tighter. Tighten a quarter turn, close the lever. Get on the bike, start riding.

Absolute, total, silence.

A reminder again, when chasing noises do the easy stuff first.
 
Phil,

By coincidence, I had exactly the same issue, and went through all the checks, just like you did.

As with you, my front QR lever was buggered. Went back to the standard Mavic one (40g heavier...) and it is all silent again.

Weird that we should have such a similar problem at the same time!
 
More than 50% of those viewing this thread will check their wheel skewers this evening just to make sure...myself included :warau:
 
Great post,Phil.
Indeed a memo to check the easy stuff first.
We all tend to think that the creak,click,clunk,etc must be something major....but as Phil just pointed out it is often something the complete opposite.
 
As with you, my front QR lever was buggered. Went back to the standard Mavic one (40g heavier...) and it is all silent again.

Yeah, I've suddenly gone a bit weight weenie and these are new titanium skewers. Going to keep an eye on them and if it recurs then back to the Durace stock skewers.

That said, I've had the thing happen before with non-weenie skewers, so not necessarily their fault (more likely user error...)
 
Again, same here. These were Ti skewers.

I still have the Ti one on the back, but for the front I am back with more heavy duty Mavic one. The front wheel gets a lot more unusual twisting that the back, so the front skewer must be having a hell of a lot of non-linear loads applied to it, hence it eventually (after about 6 months) giving up the ghost.
 
The Ti 'weight weenie' skewers have decent clamping pressure - but not really designed to withstand severe twist of the fork blades which may occur much more on the front than the rear. They are great when you want to shave grams off wherever you can - and / or you are a 'quiet' rider to begin with and not throwing your bike all over the road like a cat chasing a rat. But do be careful about over clamping your skewers! Cause in fact, you'll actually start to bend the hub! This will cause even more hassles as you are putting angular load now on the bearings which were not designed that way and risk fracturing your hub along the bearing support races.

If you are heavy on the bike then I'd suggest going to a simple skewer - nut combo and not use the cam lock type. This will let you torque the skewer down properly and guarantee your clamping pressure is within tolerance while at the same time having the most solid grip on both fork ends.
 
On a recent ride, I pulled up at a red light and as I was shifting my bike around I noticed the front wheel seemed loose.

My quick release had...released!:eek:

I tightened and closed it and continued riding.

Moral of the story: check your quick releases regularly.:eek:
 
Back
Top Bottom