Bicycle Mechanics - Popping sounds coming from front wheel area

Hello everyone, I am new to biking and I have to say Biking is much funner than jogging or driving for that matter, but on to my question. I have a Trek Navigator 100 and recently I have been noticing a popping/cracking noise coming from the front of the bike. I dont think anything is slapping the fork and its not the shock because I can compress it and hear no noise. The pop sounds are light and random and only occur when I have weight on the wheels not when I spin them in the air. I know I am not being very specific but any ideas?

Thanks for the help,
Nick

Yep! Uneven tension on the spokes, more than likely some are under-tensioned. You could try to feel them yourself and tighten the loose ones, but without some basic understanding of what they should feel like you could do more harm than good. I'd take it to the shop and ask them to true/tension the wheel. Should cost you about $20 or so. Catch it now before it fails.

Thanks for the reply, I am taking it for its first tune up tommrow.. first one is free.. lol..some noise is coming from the stock chain because it has a couple of stretched links. Im a heavy guy and I ride in the higher gears for a better workout, is the Sram pc-68 a good chain?

That's what I'm riding for a chain on my road bike. I'm just a hair under 200 lbs. I think I have about 500 miles on the chain so far without any measureable stretch. They don't actually stretch, what happens is the holes where the pins go through wear, allowing some play. It's usually pretty even, not a couple of links, but they should be able to measure it for you.

Higher gears...bad for your knees and not better if you are trying to be less of a heavy guy. Higher RPM is where it's at, more efficient and a better cardio workout. Not so low a gear that your lungs give up before your legs do, but you want to be feeling it about equally in both for a balanced ride, and the right amount of stress on your drive train. And knees.

Thanks for the tip, I figured the higher gears+harder to pedal= better workout, but I understand your point, with the chain I noticed a couple of links that are noticeably larger than others. Bad thing is I only have 100 miles or so on it... is it harder on the chain to ride in higher gears?

Not sure what chain comes on the Trek 100, but even a cheap chain shouldn't stretch weird. Maybe a master link or something? Point it out and ask them about it when you take it in. Higher gears will generally be harder on the entire drive train, chain, cassette, chainrings. Your putting more stress on all of it. Think about trying to start your car from a stop sign in second gear all the time.

Gotta help me out here...WTH is a Trek 100? I'm trying to find specs and I'm not finding the bike. What type of bike is it?

Trek Navigator 100, http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1210600&f=27
that should bring it up, yeah I should have known better than to ride in higher gears, I hope I havent hurt anything else...

Gotcha. Chain isn't listed in the specs. With only 100 miles it's doubtful that you've actually hurt anything. Even the front wheel is just a matter of it being a mass machine built wheel. They probably trued it enough to adjust the brakes when they built the bike but that's about it. If you haven't hurt your knees yet, you probably haven't hurt the bike yet.

I didn't notice more than one link out of shape, it may be a master link but I'll have that new chain in a week or so. Do you think they would notice if anything else was messed up during a tune up? Is it a long process to "true" a wheel?

I wouldn't put on a new chain unless you need it, so ask the mechanic what they think before you spend money. They should notice anything out of whack during the tune-up. Most shops want to give them a decent lookover at this time so that they can save themselves some trouble in dealing with warentee issues.

Trueing a wheel shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, and that's if it's messed up. It's not hard to do once you have a feel for it.

Thanks for the help, I always enjoy a forum that people are mature and like to help others. So, should I suggest what the problems may be or should I let them just look for it first? Lol

BTW, when you were looking at the specs, what did you think of them. I know its not a top end bike by anymeans but I wanted something comfortable and reliable at an entry level price.

Thanks for the help, I always enjoy a forum that people are mature and like to help others. So, should I suggest what the problems may be or should I let them just look for it first? Lol

Mechanics, Vintage, and the commuter threads are the best!

Yeah, some forums suck, they never help new people they just chat amongst themselves... lol