Folding Bikes - Is your folder noisy or silent?

Hi all,

reading about whistling and creaking birdies made me wonder if there are very noisy folders and others that tend to keep quiet. What sounds do your folding bikes produce, can you track it down and stop it - or does it belong to the bike no matter what you do and do you perhaps like it (some love the sound of a Speedhub)?
My brommi sounds: "rattle rattle rattle" especially when going over rough terrain. I could not figure out what it is so far. I suppose it derives from the roller wheels and the chaintensioner or the mudguards.
My Carryme has always, not only when coasting, a clear but full hub-clicking "drrrrrrrrrrrr"- and is otherwise absolutely quiet.

Also can you say something about the components perhaps. Like some tires for example the Marathon supreme:"sing".

The merc is silent.

In its early days I did have to tighten up one of the crank arms to get rid of an annoying creek and I took off the little roller wheels. Nothing else makes a noise.

My bikes are relatively silent. One time I had a pedal bearing begin to go. It took me forever to find it. Occasionally, the Bike Friday makes a creaking sound. I figure that it is time to lube the rear hinge.

About the same as my non folders.

It took me a long time to track down the source of the squeaking on my Vitesse and in retrospect it originated from the most obvious area, the frame hinge contact area. No more squeaks, but my Sturmey Archer XRF5 hub is noisy and stupidly inefficient.

Mine are noisy, but keep in mind that at 230 lbs. I'm at, or just above, the weight limit. In order to reduce noise I need to make sure everything is tightened properly and lubed properly, but I still end up with squeaks and groans. I doubt I could ever eliminate them entirely.

--sam

No creaks or groans under my fully dressed 205-207 lbs. on either the Boardwalk S1 or the NWT.

Initially I had quite a bit of cable "chatter" on my NWT. Some judicious use of black zip-ties eliminated most of it.

Went through the aforementioned clicking sound on the S1 last year, but my bad pedal fell apart within a day or two spilling the beans on what the problem was.

my concept city...boy. The seat squeaks.

Mostly silent. The drivetrains tend to be noisiest. But I tend to worry about noise till I find it. The Birdy mudguards tend to make a bit of noise over rough terrain.

I also investigate new noises immediately out of concern for frame cracks or the folding mechanism developing play. Nothing of consequence on my Swift so far. In fact the noisiest bit has been my Brooks saddle. I found several good remedies for that in the other forums and its been pretty quiet since. The only other sounds comes from the drivetrain, mostly in 1st and 2nd gear. Think those cogs are still not broken in since I rarely use them.

Downtube 8H. There is a very quiet squeek while pushing the bike slowly. I think it is the rubber cap that covers the axil bearings on the front wheel. Yesterday while standing up to make it up the last bit of a steep hill I heard lots of complaining from somewhere. A little unnerving but nothing blew up.

my Dahon Mu SL is silent, except when i go over a big pot hole.... if i'm not mistaken, it should be normal forany bike going over a pot hole to make some sort of noise

My Swift has a resonance in the frame that I haven't heard before--kind of a "ting!" when cables tap or buzz against it. I sort of like that it has a signature pitch, but it occasionally gets annoying, so I ziptie as needed.

However, there are two sounds I love about it. One's the clicky pawl and ratchet whir when it coasts, and the other is a smart little clang when shifting into some gears.

My Dahon Matrix was silent for the first couple of months, but the fold and seatpost were pretty frustrating sources of noise after that. I had to clean them thoroughly and often.

My CarryMe makes noise too. Unlike the OP, mine does whrrrrr sound when I'm riding and klank sound when I hit some bumps. The klank sound really perplexed me until I found out the sound came from the roller wheel behind the luggage carrier.

My Sturmey Archer hub has a fairly loud whrrrr sound but it is meant to be normal, I think. Some creaks here and there when I pedal hard but not much.

My Strida 5 has a silent ride, but really noisy brakes. You can hear those suckers whining from a ways off. I need to take it in and see if the shop can do anything about it. No problem in terms of funtionality, just annoying.

Wow, thx for all the replies so far :thumb: I like to hear more.


My CarryMe makes noise too. Unlike the OP, mine does whrrrrr sound when I'm riding and klank sound when I hit some bumps. The klank sound really perplexed me until I found out the sound came from the roller wheel behind the luggage carrier.

macross, probably our CarryMes sound the same? what you call "whrrrrr" is probably what I meant by "drrrrrrrrr"? The clicking of the hub that is, its a little too loud for my taste but I very much like the tone of it.
The "klank" I never heard but I changed the little roller wheels right away to some grind skate wheels with better bearings.

I think you're right. My description of the sound is probably identical to yours. :D

And I will follow your path and change my original roller wheel with a better one. Thanks.


Wow, thx for all the replies so far :thumb: I like to hear more.



macross, probably our CarryMes sound the same? what you call "whrrrrr" is probably what I meant by "drrrrrrrrr"? The clicking of the hub that is, its a little too loud for my taste but I very much like the tone of it.
The "klank" I never heard but I changed the little roller wheels right away to some grind skate wheels with better bearings.

I have been surprised at how silent both my DT IX and BF NWT have been. It has been a bit too easy to sneak up on other riders and pedestrians. They both occasionally make a bit of noise, but very little to speak of.

While riding the DT recently I noticed what I thought were birds nearby making chirping sounds. Since it isn't the season for that kind of behavior, it caught my attention. Being a fan of nature I was enjoying hearing them and wondering what they were up to, this late in the season. I was enjoying hearing them, but something didn't seem right. It began to sound repetitive and varied little in volume.

The next day I noticed that it was happening again, but in very unlikely locations. It was also a fleeting sound, and erratic. By paying close attention I noticed that I only heard it when riding next to a solid surface, like a parked car or the wall of a building. Finally it dawned on me that it might be the bike(or my knees, God forbid!). Doh! It was either that or I had birds following me around on my bike.

I took a while but I finally found the culprit. A rack support I had made had lost its rubber protective strip and was rubbing away at the powdercoating, while making subtle, distant sounding "bird calls". Mystery solved, and I now have a quiet DT again. Sure miss those birds, though!

Another silent Dahon MU SL here!

My Mini is mostly silent, but not perfectly so. Still, when it makes a noise I don't understand, I take the time to figure out what it is and, usually, correct the problem. My chain has one or two places where it ticks every time it goes around, and I have so far failed to correct that one. Also, when I pick the back wheel up off the ground and spin it, it sounds really terrible, like the ball bearings are made of irregularly shaped stones; but it rides smoothly, so I guess it's okay.

My Brooks Champion Flyer on my Pocket Llama creaks sometimes but not always. On another bike I once spend a long time trying to track down a clicking sound in my crankset that turned out to be the end of my shoelace hitting the crankarm every revolution.

My Tank Micro 16 is silent.
My Tote Cycle has a clicking sound from the rear hub when I coast. I think all Sturmey Archer 3 speed hubs make that noise when coasting.
I've never heard a bike moan, creak, pop, or groan ... the bike rider, maybe, (myself included) but not the bike itself.

My Swift has a resonance in the frame that I haven't heard before--kind of a "ting!" when cables tap or buzz against it. I sort of like that it has a signature pitch, but it occasionally gets annoying, so I ziptie as needed.

However, there are two sounds I love about it. One's the clicky pawl and ratchet whir when it coasts, and the other is a smart little clang when shifting into some gears.

My Dahon Matrix was silent for the first couple of months, but the fold and seatpost were pretty frustrating sources of noise after that. I had to clean them thoroughly and often.

Good to meet you on the path today. Forgot to mention that in the Winter, it becomes feasible to turn off the path at Peter Stuyvesant High School and to stick to the water on your way to work. Give it a try.

Nice meeting you, too! I'll PM you about that route...

My Diblasi used to squeek alot uphill,due to the many pivot points in the frame.
But 2 noises that occasionally can occur with my dual drive mezzo are;
Ocassionally the chain catching device that guilds the chain when folding catchers the chain guard on pedalling.This makes the bike sound like it needs oiling desperately.cure? a good kick to bend it back.
Ocassional clicking in lowest interal gears, but they dont get used much.

My comments are about my Qile Duo folder pictured below, which I've owned since May 2008.

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/edwong3/QileDuo-1.jpg

This bike has about 4,000 miles now of mostly city riding, and I can say that there are no creaks, groans, moans, etc. During the last two months of 2008, I used the bike to commute to my then job, and had to ride on a number of rough brick streets. The frame itself is as quiet as a non folding one.

In the past, there was a creaking noise coming from the saddle. I sprayed the railing where it contacts the saddle's frame with WD-40, and that fixed that.

We had some rains here in Orlando almost two weeks ago, and rode through a lot of puddles with dirty water. Well two days after, the rear shock started to make a creaking noise. Again, WD-40 to the rescue! I sprayed the four contact shock mount points, and no more noise.

The only unusual noise that I can detect comes from the front hub. It will occasionally make a quick, low volume "clank". Most of the times, I don't hear it. Another is the more familiar "knock, knock" sound coming from the bottom bracket as I pedal. That too happens very rarely, and mostly when the day is colder. Both issues are adjustments that are needed. By getting those taken care of, my bike would be completely silent. In reality, the "whirling" sound from the tires rolling is the most noticeable noise.

Edward

The Swift I used to have had some creaks when I got it. Tightening the seatpost quick releases and using silicone lubricant on the stem joint solved the problems.

My Birdy had an annoying creak from new (see Birdy thread) which I recently fixed. It turned out to be the "maintenance free" pivots for the front suspension that needed grease.

Both bikes have oversize aluminium frames, and rattle/ting when cables knock on them.

in reponse to edwong3 (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=109306)

I would check thoese noises out if you are sure they are coming from these locations. As both could cause more expensive replacement costs.

If your front hub bearing have gone it can cause the hub body to go egg shapped if left too long and reguire a new hub and rebuilt wheel.

The bottom bracket coming loose can strip of the frame thread, ooch!

IMO better to strip ,( or pay for someone else to), and check it over, and get a service into the bargin, than risk wondering what it is.


Regretts, I had a few, but quite alot to mention.

My Jetstream is very silent. Sometimes there is this sound ”Aaaargh!”, when I fall on a slippery winter road (Marathon Racers).

My three 2005 Dahon Helios P8s have had significant squeaks in the main latch and also the stem latch. These squeaks wouldn't be a problem except that take quite a while to track down and have quite a variety of causes. Sometimes you need to grease a certain location on a latch; sometimes you need to tighten the latch screw, sometimes you need to make an internal adjustment in the latch head. There was also a squeak that turned out to be due to loose front crank bolts. Aaaand squeaks caused by the pedals.

My Tikit hyperfold has had two squeaks: one standard one, and one that was due to my own experimentation, and also easily fixed once I figured out what I had done. The first squeak is in the c-clamp on the folding stem. When the c-clamp loses its lubrication, it starts sticking and squeaking. This is standard maintenance on the bike: you just grease the clamp and you're done.

The second squeak was a puzzle and an embarrassment. When I stressed the seat, pushing it away from the handlebars, the whole top tube would make a significant creaking sound. It sounded like it was centered at the braze-on which keeps the hyperfold cable taut. Greasing the cable a bit didn't fix it. I even called up Bike Friday to talk about the possibility of a failure in the top tube when I finally nailed it: to protect the paint I had put a clear sticker on the back of the top tube, near the rear triangle, where a "cup" on the Tikit's rear triangle pushes against the top tube when unfolded. After several months the pressure had caused my sticker to fold over slightly, so when the cup rubbed against it, it vibrated. That vibration was then amplified throughout the top tube, making it sound like it was coming from somewhere totally different. Duh. Just peeled my sticker back and reseated it and everything was hunky dory. I feel like a moron.

What sounds do your folding bikes produce, can you track it down and stop it - or does it belong to the bike no matter what you do and do you perhaps like it (some love the sound of a Speedhub)?


For a while my NWT had a creaking sound in the seatpost. I began to think that it was a "feature". Then I loosened the seatpost quick release, pushed the seatpost firmly back into place, and re-tightened the quick release. Creaking sound gone.

I suspect that folders have more opportunities to have funny sounds, but they can mostly be chased down and quieted.

Speedo

I've noticed some "chain noise" coming from my chain, gears and derailleur... I just had the chain lubed. I guess I'm going to have to adjust the derailleur again...

My old Triumph is pretty solid and silent in the frame. The chainguard is bent outwards and the crank arm hits it every time it goes around, but that's something I just have to work back into place.

My new NWT squeaks when I pedal. Especially on the right side. It started after a week or so and I suspect it comes from the stock pedals.

I will try a new set of pedals this weekend.

Kam

My MuP8 had a painful sounding creeeeek at every push of the pedal, notably one side, a few weeks after I got it. The LBS took a look at it, and it turned out it was the BB (casing?) The mech. reassembled it with some lock-tight sealant, and it was fixed. :)

After that, my entire drivetrain was clacking waay too much, and too frequent..The Neos derailer would come out of synch every other week! And it was the sound of improper allignment..:mad: I have to climb a crazy hill on my way home from commuting, and use 2nd/1st gear regularly..I'm assuming the mashing is what did it in. The Neos was replaced with a shimano105 derailer, and all's been silent since! :thumb:

Rgds,
K.

My Bike Friday Tikit is pretty silent. My Giant Halfway on the other hand makes all sorts of noises.

--sam

On my Downtube Mini, the Sturmey 8 hub keeps getting louder as you get into the higher gears, but that is normal. Otherwise, nothing but tire/wind noise.

My Bike Friday is silent. I'm light, though (127#) so that helps.

My 2008 Brompton is nice and quiet, except for the normal 'click-click-click' sound when coasting. For a few weeks last summer, the bike was making a nasty rattling sound. Turns out the bolt holding the rubber suspension piece was loose.