Hickeydog

I got a pair of Open Pro/Ultegra wheels and while they are as slick as a pair of moose lips, the rear hub makes a rumbling noise when you crank the pedals. It doesn't make it when it's coasting, just when the pedals are turning. Also, it's only audible when I'm in the big ring and on the 3 smallest cogs. I am also using a brand new chain and cassette. It sounds like something is loose and vibrating, so I opened up the bearing and re-seated the cones. It still makes the rumbling. Is this natural for hubs to rumble, or is my new wheel defective?

joejack951

If it's only rumbling in those three smallest cogs, I'd check your rear derailler adjustment and make sure that it's tracking straight with the rear cassette. It could just need a small tweak to the high stop screw. A slightly misadjusted rear derailler, especially with a new chain and cassette, will feel rough and be slightly noisy. BTDT.

Hickeydog

So my hub isn't bad? It's just the derailleur. That's good.

FLYcrash

It's not even that the derailer is bad, just that it needs adjustment.

Derailer adjustment can be ticklish. Just a month or two ago I replaced a dead derailer on my friend's old road bike along with the cabling. Getting the (indexed downtube) shifting to work acceptably crisply and quietly took the better part of an hour. (But I confess that the bike was well-used, the new derailer was a low-end Sora unit, and the housing was not compressionless.) In your case it might be worth it to play around with the adjusting barrel that changes the effective cable length to see if the noise goes away.

I don't know the status of your frame, but if it's seen some use the hanger might have gotten bashed out of alignment, causing noise.

LarDasse74

It is also possible that your new chain is not meshing well with your old chainrings. When I swapped out my chain a few summers ago the chainrings were too far gone and I had to replace them too... and a grinding noise was how I knew.

joejack951

Possibly. It was just a guess on my part. I think it's highly unlikely that the hub is bad given Shimano's reputation, that you described the problem as only occuring in certain gear combinations, and my similar experience which was cured by adjusting my rear derailler. In my case, I had the high stop set too far outwards and a 1/4 turn of the adjusting screw had everything running smoothly whereas prior to the adjustment, my two smallest cogs felt rough and rumbly.

Panthers007

If it's a new Ultegra hub, I''d suggest overhauling it and packing it with fresh grease - then adjusting it properly. I suggest this with new hubs regardless of whose or what. Might well be a derailleur problem, but I had a similar situation with a new Ultegra. It arrived tight and pretty much out of grease.

DieselDan

Once in a while you get a hub or BB that was assembled when the grease gun was low or out of grease and it got by QC. About 1 in 125 new bikes I get need the rear hub repacked because it was low on grease, but these are E-110 coasters, not Ultegras.

ehilge

Assuming everything is adjusted right, its possible your new chain and cassette just need to be worn in. When I got my new road bike last spring I thought I wasn't adjusting the rear derailleur correctly. But I talked with the other service guys at my shop at and they said it was just the fact that everything was still brand new so theres still sharp edges on the cassette and such. Essentially, there are a lot of things that will make noise. After a couple weeks of good riding the sound went away. I almost hate to recomend to just keep riding when you have a noise that sounds like somethings loose but its a possibility,

Nessism

I agree with ehilge. New chains and cogs often need some miles to wear in. This is particularly true with Shimano parts from my experience. Not sure if this is a sign of poor quality or what not but after 500 miles or so everything usually quiets down.

Hickeydog

Alright. I re-packed the hub (it was low on grease) and the rumbling is still there. I guess I'll see what blows up tomorrow on my break-in ride.