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OPINION
When did I turn into a cycling ponce?
Fri, Sep 26, 2014 17:03
48
As I punched in my PIN to part with £100 for a pair of titanium QR skewers I noticed a light flutter in my stomach.
At the time I put it down to the fact that I hadn’t yet eaten lunch but on reflection it could have been what remains of the sensible me raising a muted objection that this was rather a lot of money to be spending on something I didn’t strictly need and for which there were numerous alternatives that didn’t cost quite as much.
My extravagance came as a direct result of an increasingly febrile hunt to track down the cause of an infuriating click. Over a period of several weeks I’d eliminated so many possible causes that it seemed incontrovertible to me that the problem lay in my skewers. (How’s that for questionable diagnostics?)
So I popped into a bike shop and browsed the options. What happened next will be depressingly familiar to cyclists everywhere: my initial rejection of the hilariously overpriced Ti option turned to mild desperation at the lack of an immediately available alternative, which then turned into serious consideration of the Ti option due to the salesman’s patter, which turned into a reappraisal of the Ti option (noting afresh the elegant, minimalist lines and feather lightness), which duly turned into one of those dangerous oh fukkit moments. Out came the card; off home I skipped, feeling thrilled and guilty in equal measure.
What the heck has happened to me? I used to mock people who were prepared to spend £100 on titanium skewers. I regarded them as pitiful weight weenies and slavish gadget boys. All the gear; no idea. And now here I am: one of them. Truly I am lost forever.
And before you ask, the click’s still there.
Anyone want to buy a pair of Ti skewers? They’re really nice.
Lifelong lover of most things cycling-related, from Moulton Mini adventures in the 70s to London bike messengering in the 80s, commuting in the 90s, mountain biking in the noughties and road cycling throughout. Editor of Simpson Magazine (www.simpsonmagazine.cc).
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48 comments
Oh dear, poor diagnosis and getting conned by a ripoff cycle shop....
The clicks I've fixed have been:
* dying pedal bearings; fixed by replacing pedals
* a loose pedal; fixed by upgrading to decent MTB pedals fitted tight with grease
* a dying bottom bracket
* dying wheel bearings
* dying headset bearings
* play clicks from parallelogram seat suspension which heavy Teflon based grease doesn't completely quieten...
I've never had a click caused by a loose QR skewer; I have had a back wheel slip because the QR bite surface what worn, but the Mavic wheel bearing was shot too, so I just replaced it with a new wheel with bundled new QR skewer.
I suspect that a Ti QR skewer may cause other problems because of the different mechanical characteristics.
I had a creak, I greased the bike to an Inch of its life (not over greased) for it to return after 2 rides.
I thought it must be the BB, after sysematically greasing everything again it did not disappear.
Then a flash of genius. It was the adaptor plate on the Speedplay fitment to my shoes.
Flamin' pain in the backside.
took up cycling this year and found out that it's pretty addictive once you start buying parts and stuff, much to my other halfs delight!
Where does the grease go, please? I thought you should avoid any grease/lubricant between the push fit bearing and the frame, as it could increase the likelyhood of creaking?
I have this clicking noise coming from my PF30 BB so would be keen to know how to fix it, please.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WSSFTQRS/selcof-titanium-quick-release-skewer
fifteen quid for these bad boys
Even less! They're a tenner now! Jeez rub it in why don't you?
Mate, nice blog, and you are indeed lost forever. Fifteen quid max on eBay for titanium skewers shipped from Hong Kong or Taiwan. And where do you think the ones from your LBS are made?
Mine work a treat..
PS: I've got some quantum digital micro-resonance audio cables for your speakers reduced from £249.99 to just £99.99 if you want..
I picked up a pair of Ti skewers with carbon levers for £15!!!!!!
Christ!
If it was £15 just to pick them up, how much to actually buy the damned things?
It was a Chinese eBay special: 99p buy it now but £15 postage.
Can't ever hear any clicking in this London traffic, especially with headphones on, so how bad do you all think it can get when you actually hear clicking in that environment???
Never mind clicking in bikes, when my laptop fan rattles really bad its time for more WD40
My Mavic Krysiums have a sometimes annoying clicking/rattle, it appears to be related to pedalling effort. I changed BB, chain, cleaned & stripped front rings & rear cassette. I think that the noise is a spoke nipple, so my next move is to get them into my local dealer for a tension check & general service.
I have had a similar experience several years ago with a set of wheels that eventually played a 'tune'! This would change if it was windy or wet...
My Ksyriums flex when I'm climbing hard - aside from the brake pad rub there is a strange sound - like a rattle sound rather than a constant note - maybe something drivetrain or spoke-related is rubbing on something - seems to correspond with the a particular part of the back wheel. (Any of this sound familiar?) Anyway, I've had the wheels checked and was told they were fine.
My experience of annoying noises - saddle rails inserting into the saddle shell. Bit of lube, nose and tail insertion points.
I have really bad tinitus when I am pushing hard on the bike and I ride with my hearing aids out.
can't hear a thing!
turn the radio up
My offering is the cup of the wheel bearing.
(This assumes of course that you have cup and cone bearings in your wheels - I don't know if cartridge-based wheels would give the same symptoms).
Anyway last year my commuter bike developed a constant clicking which was definitely coming from the front wheel. I stripped down the hubs and re-greased them, re-adjusted the bearings and it went away ... for a while ! Then it came back only a little bit worse. Another strip and overhaul - with nothing obviously wrong spotted and once again it was fine - for a few hundred miles but then returned. By this time I knew I could "make it go away" by tightening up the QR but I still didn't know why because the bearings themselves were properly adjusted after each strip and the cone lock-nuts were tight. Eventually nature took its natural course in matters of this kind and the hub failed. Not catastrophically. But the outer race (the cup which is a press-fit in the hub shell) had cracked in a circle - probably roughly in-line with where the balls would contact. Once the crack had gone full-circle it was obvious because even with the lock-nuts tight part of the cup was still loose and trying to fall out. I suspect what was happening before that was that it was partly cracked and the balls were clicking as they ran across the crack. But tightening the QR put just enough tension into axle to either close the crack temporarily or to make the balls run in a slightly different line so they ran quiet. Until the crack progressed to the point where it could click again. And further adjustment of the cones and tightening of the QR was simply going in this loop until the cup failed completely. In hindsight the design of the cup - with an external lip designed I assume to reduce ingress of water/muck - made it more difficult to inspect that area and I probably spent too much time looking at the ball bearings and the cones for wear.
You'll probably tell me now that you've got a cartridge-bearings in a HOPE wheel. FWIW mine was a pretty cheap Shimano stock wheel and they'd done c10K.
I do have cartridge bearings I'm afraid - wheels are Mavic Ksyrium SLS - but thanks for the detailed reply. This thread has made me realise just how many possible causes there are for a click...it's a miracle any bike ever runs quietly!
Been there and done that. Cartridge bearing are worse as they wear out in 6 months or 3000 miles of use and it took ages for me to find the noise as it was lateral play when they had no load on them.
I've fallen foul of the Titanium skewer thing only to realise they don't hold disc braked wheels in place no matter the tension, like mosy of these type of external cam skewers, so it was back to the old Mavic ones. Slightly heavier, but they NEVER move.
You Da Man
I've got some brilliant news for you...you have to buy a new bike!
I am about to embark on a quest of finding my mysterious click!
Wish me luck!
Well, the click is gone... What did I do? Nothing!
I pumped up my tires before going out for a ride, in a last ditch-effort, to locate mysterious click on my bike before I disassemble it. Well, the bloody thing was not there anymore! I tried everything to bring that annoying sound back... I sprinted, climbed, TT'd. I tried one foot pedaling, no hands, no feet. I even kicked both tires... nothing helped. Silence!
And what if that annoyance comes back at most inappropriate of times - long ride? I will not have a faintest idea where it comes from and how to get rid of it! It has a potential to ruin a nice day out on a bike at some point in the future. How can it be that an annoying problem, when resolved, is able to become even more annoying?!
P.S. At the moment, it looks like the most probable cause of disappearance of clicking sound on my bike is dramatic failure of my hearing...
How do you know it's going if it doesn't click or rattle?
If it's a push fit bottom bracket it could be it needs a bit of silicone grease. My new bike developed a click like the one you describe, greasing the bottom bracket did the trick.
Skewer related clicks and creaks are quite comment but can actually be the interface between mech hanger and frame. Tightening the skewer can mask it for a while but taking the mech hanger off and cleaning/greasing between it and the frame can solve such problems.
as above quote and furthermore, what solved it for me, was greasing the contact surfaces between forks and front skewer and rear frame and rear QR.... all squeaks gone...for now
Chain needs cleaning, then diesel and dry wax lube.
The chain then needs another clean and lubricating with a proper oil that doesnt wash off at the first forecast of rain.
Clicks: chainring bolts. Rings off, clean interface between rings and spider, re-tighten bolts.
i had a strange clicking noise when i was riding earlier today.. turned out that the bolt clamping the saddle rails needed a half turn
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