Shimano WH-R550 Wheels - Popping Noise?
 

Just took my new ride out for a maiden voyage yesterday, and was hearing little 'clicking/popping' noises coming from the front wheel. Sounds like spokes/nipples, but the none of the spokes seem loose. The wheelset was purchased used, but with low miles and in great shape. How can I check the actual spoke tension? Or should I just go through each one and give the nipple a small and equal tightening? Or could it just be the nipples moving a little in the hub mounting holes? Enquiring minds want to know:) ....

B'Dog

It's rather strange for a used wheel to make those sounds. The only way to check spoke tension is with, well, a tension meter, which costs like $50 or something. Short of that, you can flick each one with your finger and listen to the ring they make to see if any are significantly higher or lower pitched.
Tightening all the nipples is not a good idea, that's asking for trouble with your wheel. The nipples shouldn't be able to move in their holes if they have enough tension on them.
Your local shop should be able to sort this out pretty quickly.

lube your nipples

It's possible that the last thing the previous owner did to those wheels was to re-true them. If that was done and they were not subsequently stress relieved then there is a good chance that is probably what the popping sounds are coming from. If you don't intentionally stress relieve spokes that have been re-adjusted, it will happen (as a matter of course) over time as you ride the bike.

If this popping persists after a few rides, then it may be something else. If it goes away and the wheels are true, then ride and enjoy ;-)

Pardon me? I mean, I'd feel so.... dirty. And my tongue doesn't reach that far anyway (dang):D

Lube 'em with what? I've got some Dumonde chain lube in a small bottle with a syringe needle on the end, that would put a drop right where needed....

B'Dog

Tell me more about stress relieving wheels, enquiring minds want to know....

B'Dog

Ok, I openned a can of worms here ;-( One of the big problems in building a wheel is called "windup". This is when a spoke turns at the same time you are turning the nipple. With flat/aero spokes this is very obvious, but with round spokes it's not. One of the dynamics of how a bicycle wheel works is that spokes are alternately stressed and unstressed with every revolution of the wheel. If a spoke is "wound up" then it will try to "unwind" itself when it becomes unstressed. When the spoke unwinds it will make a noise due to the tension that it's under. The trick is to unwind/unstress (aka "stress relieve") the spokes as a part of a wheel build or re-truing. There are many ways to stress relieve a wheel and many opinions as to how to do it. So, I will provide a link to the Sheldon Brown wheelbuilding page and another link to a whole list of discussions on stress relieving (from rec.bicycles.tech). One important thing that I will add ... If you use a method of stress relieving that involves squeezing pairs of spokes together, it's important to use gloves. If you don't, you can incur nerve damage in your fingers. I found this out the hard way. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have my finger recover (very lucky!). Please use padding.

Ok, here's Sheldon's page (it's all good, but pay attention to "Spoke Torsion" and "Stress Relieving
the Spokes":

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Here's the r.b.t. page:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...rch+this+group

If you haven't been exposed to r.b.t. before, the discussions get pretty emotional at times, so be warned.
If you read between the lines there is a lot of great information there. Lot's of experts there, but it's up to you to believe what you will.

Hey buddy get your butt over to the road forum and post a photo of my....err...your bike. :D

Patience, Grasschopper:D ....

Stick a fork in it, it's done:p . The proud adoptive father will be posting baby pictures soon:) ....

B'Dog

Thanks for the links, I'd already given Sheldon's a look-see yesterday. I don't think it is related to unwinding, these are aero spokes and nicely square to the rim. Maybe they just need a drop of oil on the nipple where it goes through the hub....

B'Dog