Diagnose Bike Noise

maklabouhlel · 29 Sep 2015 at 21:26

There's a noise coming from my road bike (Giant Defy). It's very obvious after 27 minutes on the youtube video. I took it to the store who said it's the headset bearing and changed it but this did not solve the issue. He said it would settle down once everything has bedded in but it's getting worse. It seems to be coming from the front of the bike. I've only had the bike a few days. Any ideas please?

Dup · 29 Sep 2015 at 21:39

If you put the front brake on and try to pus hthe bike forwards or backwards can you feel any play or recreate the noise?

How about pushing down on the bars?

maklabouhlel · 29 Sep 2015 at 21:47

Dup said:
If you put the front brake on and try to pus hthe bike forwards or backwards can you feel any play or recreate the noise?

How about pushing down on the bars?

Sorry, couldn't reproduce the noise. The only time the noise occurs is when the bike is moving, particularly over bumps and when I hit the front brake. I'm thinking it could be the front wheel hub.

lordrobs · 29 Sep 2015 at 22:11

If it is the clicking sound that you are referring to then I had similar on my bike (not as bad as that though) and it ended up being loose bolts on the headset. I torqued them all up and it went away.

bainbridge · 29 Sep 2015 at 23:32

Dup said:
If you put the front brake on and try to pus hthe bike forwards or backwards can you feel any play or recreate the noise?

How about pushing down on the bars?

It does sound like the stem. Have you tried really pulling the bars around to see if the sound is recreated?

maklabouhlel · 30 Sep 2015 at 04:56

bainbridge said:
It does sound like the stem. Have you tried really pulling the bars around to see if the sound is recreated?

I couldn't recreate the sound. The store have already stripped the headset in front of me and replaced the bearings with sealed ones. The sound only occurs with the wheels moving. I'll swap the wheels later and see what happens.

lordrobs · 30 Sep 2015 at 08:34

Sorry, I wasn't very clear, I meant the stem bolts.

Bike noises often throw themselves and you can be sure the sound is coming from one place and it is actually somewhere else that the problem is occurring.

maklabouhlel · 30 Sep 2015 at 13:10

Dup said:
If you put the front brake on and try to pus hthe bike forwards or backwards can you feel any play or recreate the noise?

How about pushing down on the bars?

Pushing down does indeed recreate the noise. Thanks. So replacing the bearings made no difference. What could be up?

maklabouhlel · 1 Oct 2015 at 14:52

maklabouhlel said:
Pushing down does indeed recreate the noise. Thanks. So replacing the bearings made no difference. What could be up?

They put a new fork and all is good.

Jonny ///M · 1 Oct 2015 at 16:06

Seems a bit extreme lol.

Bit of a clean and grease on the stem bolts with the correct torque would have probably fixed it.

maklabouhlel · 1 Oct 2015 at 17:08

Jonny ///M said:
Seems a bit extreme lol.

Bit of a clean and grease on the stem bolts with the correct torque would have probably fixed it.

I remember him saying there was a kink in it.

dunker · 2 Oct 2015 at 02:22

it's prolly fixable, worse case is over chased? headtube so the cups are ticking/creaking in there, does'nt matter how tight you adjust it, it'll make noise. fixed using a medium or high bearing retainter loctite stuff, fixed mine.

can get loud tickys from seatpost to seat clamp not being lubed and wrong torque, also saddle rails where they go into the saddle mould, some wet chain lube will keep em quiet.

as already kinda said, if the stem was'nt torqued up in an even "X" pattern and no teflon metal-metal lube used, can creak like a bad bugger from hell.

get youself a half decent 2-30'ish NM torque wrench and sockets, take it all apart, apply lube everywhere and torque it all up correctly, that'll atleast eliminate a lot of things right.

i'll bet a choc hobnob it's seatpost-seat clamp, that always sound like it's coming from the front of the bike to me.

dunker · 2 Oct 2015 at 02:24

oh doh, typed all that and the new fork fixed it

awesome.

Roady · 2 Oct 2015 at 11:11

dunker said:
oh doh, typed all that and the new fork fixed it awesome.

Still great info mate!

Headset noises are some of the worst to diagnose, I actually got some from grit/dirt between my front axle QR and my fork.

Noises can be a pain to diagnose, having a turbo can be a great way to recreate them in a 'controlled' environment - many times I've sat my bike on the turbo, given it beans and got the mrs to tell me where a click is coming from (just be careful not to knee her in the face...

)!

Diagnosed pedal clicks, cleat noises, loose rear spokes & numerous other things like this - they all sound like they're coming from somwhere else when you're riding it! :rolleyes: