Rim eyelet click...click...click...click...click

[Colin_P]

It is driving me mad, or a bit madder than I am already.

I've got a front wheel click that only happens when the wheel is under load, i.e. with me on the bike. On the bike stand it is silent and I cannot replicate it.

Having done a bit of searching it seems that it is likely to be the spoke / eyelet / rim junction causing this. As is typical the "internet" has various strategies on dealing with this;

1, lubricate the the spoke nips and let a little work down onto the rim eyelet
2, tweak the spokes a bit.

I think I'm going to try both and i'll report back the results.

Question is; has anyone else ever had this and more importantly successfully dealt with it?

 

[mythste]

It is driving me mad, or a bit madder than I am already.

I've got a front wheel click that only happens when the wheel is under load, i.e. with me on it. On the bike stand it is silent and I cannot replicate it.

Having done a bit of searching it seems that it is likely to be the spoke / eyelet / rim junction causing this. As is typical the "internet" has various stragegies on dealing with this;

1, lubricate the the spoke nips and let a little work down onto the rim eyelet
2, tweak the spokes a bit.

I think I'm going to try both and i'll report back the results.

Question is; has anyone else ever had this and more importantly successfully dealt with it?

Might be a bit of grit actually between the spokes as they lace over each other. Slide a baby wipe between them and see if anything comes free! You might feel a bit of a grind between them when pinched which would point in this direction.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It is pretty common and using both suggested strategies together usually cures it for a while. I say both strategies, because the creaking happens between the underside of the nipple head and the inside of the rim eyelet. The area is effectively sealed because of close contact between nipple and eyelet, under tension. The oil cannot get in there without a bit of manipulation. Higher spoke tension is also better than lower, if you can achieve that.

 

[Colin_P]

Thanks @mythste and @Yellow Saddle ,

As suspected it was the spokes, I wound them up a lot tighter and the noise is gone. No oil used.

Oh what fun wheel truing is, a black art that I'm not very good at, got it good enough though, I'm sure with more practice I'd get quite good at it, took me ages.