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Zipp 303 tubulars repeated ticking

Love my new zipp 303 tubular wheels hate the constant rhythmic ticking sound they're making, imagine you had some double sided sticky tape stuck on the sole of your shoe, highly irritating.

Been back to my lbs 3 times and it just keeps coming back, they deflate tyres spot a suspected dry patch, re glue it, leave overnight and then few miles into a ride its back with a vengeance and just gets worse. I'm running continental competition tubulars in 22mm size.

It's the first time I've used tubulars and wish I'd just stuck with clinchers, anyone else experienced something similar and found a solution?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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16 comments

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DavidC | 9 years ago
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Further to the spoke advice, my rear Zipp clincher occasionally makes noise. Instead of at the end/nipple, a drop of oil where the spokes cross is the fix, and it lasts quite a while before needing to be reapplied.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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Just
oil
the
spokes

It's not rocket science.

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Gkam84 replied to crikey | 9 years ago
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crikey wrote:

Just
oil
the
spokes

It's not rocket science.

It seems to be totally alien to people who rely on everything a LBS tells them....

Avatar
Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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There is a REALLY basic and simple test either you or the bike shop could carry out to find out where exactly on the wheel the noise is coming from.

Those sticky coloured dots you get for marking things on a calendar, get a mixed pack of those, 5 colours I think, then every third spoke or so that are matching at the either side of the wheel, so if yellow is at the bottom, yellow is also at the top, place a different colour, go out for a little spin around the block with someone, every time you hear that noise, make sure they see which colour is at the bottom of the wheel.

This way you are narrowing down the area of the wheel that is making the sound. You then have two areas to focus on, being the top and bottom of the wheel on X colour. eliminating the rest of the wheel.

If it is the tyre like they think, it sound be a simple thing to find, if it is the spokes and most of us think, it should also be a simple case of tightening up one or two of them. As happens with ALL wheels, they are set at the right tension when built, off of a bike, as soon as you put a frame, components and a rider on there, the tension soon needs a slight tweak.

Personally, if you have been back to a LBS more than 3 times with the same problem, I'd be loath to use them again, unless you really have no other option and cannot do it yourself.

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dazzle | 9 years ago
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not yet, but I'll give that a try next...

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crikey | 9 years ago
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Did they oil the spokes?

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dazzle | 9 years ago
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quick update, my lbs checked the valves, speed sensor on the front hub, quick releases, spokes, shoes, cleats, pedals, the tick/click noise is still present when I'm pedalling, I've used dura ace c24 clincher wheels previously with this bike and they were fine no problems, so it can't really be gears/cassette?

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mobydick64 | 9 years ago
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Another vote for the valve stem tapping the wheel on each revolution. Speaking from my experience with deep section carbon wheels.

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dazzle | 9 years ago
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It's not the valve I've got a little thing on that holding it in place, I'll mention the spokes next to my lbs. definitely no pinging/tinging type noise though?

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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If the LBS think it is the tyres, that says to me they are not confident with their own skills on gluing tyres, so I would avoid them for that job in future.

Pretty sure it will be the spokes though, never heard a tyre, even if it wasn't seated right making a ticking noise.

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monty dog | 9 years ago
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Does it 'click' every rotation? Valve stem tapping on the rim every rotation? Try applying some electrical tape to the valve stem to see if it stops

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Flying Scot | 9 years ago
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Ive no idea why they're farting about with the cement, it's not that. It goes away as they're probably getting the glue down the spoke holes and that lubes them... For a while.

Do as the lads suggest, it's very common.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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It's the spokes, try it.

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dazzle | 9 years ago
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I don't think its the spokes because when my lbs reglue an area of the tyre it's fine a for a few miles, front tyre was making loads of noise then that got sorted, now it's the back tyre starts very faint rotational ticking, definitely no spoke type noises I'm hearing but you never know maybe that's next...:-(

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crikey | 9 years ago
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It's the spokes.

Take the wheels off, put a drop of oil on each spoke end at the rim, then stand next to a radiator and give them a turn every so often.

It's the sound of spokes under high tension re-seating with each revolution; it's not a major issue, but it does get annoying. The most common cause is people washing their bikes too vigorously!

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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Sounds more like the spokes rather than a tyre, might just have one or two needing nipping up, else they will have a pinging/ticking noise.

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