Eyenigma

I'm new to road cycling, a recent convert from MTB. So forgive the newbie question. But I'm experiencing a strong rattle in my Bianchi going over any kind of mildly rough terrain. In other words any kind of tiny cobbles or typical road imperfections will bring it on.



I've checked the allen bolts on the fork to stem. The stem to neck. My thinking was that it might be the cables vibrating against the carbon. But even when I grabbed the cluster in my hand to ensure they cleared the frame, the sound was still there. Strangely putting weight on the posts seems to mitigate it. If I take my hands completely off the bars (in a controlled fashion) It seems to get much worse.

Is there a bearing or a bushing that might have gone bad? I've never taken apart one a front end on a road bike. I'll take it to my LBS, just looking for any input so I don't seem like a completely neophyte. Thanks in advance.

*Attachment shows what I've checked

Eyenigma

I should clarify, it's more of an audible rattle. Not a vibration. I don't really "feel" any rattle through my hands. It jut sounds more like a vibration.

bmcer

Never mind... I responded before reading all of your post Sorry

69chevy

Loosen the stem bolts and then tighten the fork cap. When it's tight, re tighten the stem.

Sounds like headset bearings aren't preloaded.

f4rrest

I get this on my Allez every few months when the headset needs to be removed and regreased. Getting it wet makes it reappear faster.

If you Bianchi is new, it's unlikely to need this maintenance yet.

Jofu

Silly question maybe... But is it possible it's simply the shift cables bouncing and hitting the handlebar? My bike does that on rough roads.

Geoff

the_freewheeler

a lot of helpful info here:

Clicking and Creaking sound/noise checklist

Dan333SP

Probably a slightly loose headset. It can be just loose enough to make a rattle on rough surfaces but not give you that clunking motion under front braking that usually signifies that you need to tighten it up. Mine started making the same noise yesterday during a race, I dropped the fork, regreased everything, and tightened it back up. Problem solved.

Also, it may seem too obvious but sometimes those are the things that get overlooked. Is your front skewer tight?

RollCNY

Standing over the bike, clamp the front brake on and rock the bike forward and back. Loose headsets will show up immediately as play or a clunk.

Lazyass

I don't know what kind of computer you have if any, but you should check that. I have two Cateye Strada wireless ones, one I bought and another that came with a bike I bought. They both rattle on the mount. Took me forever to find the culprit. I never could come up with a fix so they will sit in my parts bin until the end of time.

Dan333SP

A little padded tape of some sort between the mount and bar would do the trick.

Lazyass

No, it's the bottom of the computer itself touching the plastic mount that it snaps into. It rattles just barely enough to drive you crazy and there is no space to put a tiny piece of tape, paper, ect between them to tighten it up. And even if you could do that it would probably prevent you from pushing down on it to change functions. These computers suck.

vasuvius

I had a similar problem. On bumpy roads, the brake cables moved up and down about 0.5 inches and hit the mount for the computer.
Took me a long time to diagnose.
I angled up the mount enough so the moving brake cables wouldn't hit the computer mount.

Dan333SP

That's annoying. Maybe just smear some grease in there? If it's thin, it would hopefully still slot into place on the mount and might dampen the noise just enough so that you don't notice.

rm -rf

A loose internal steerer piece.

My Bianchi Infinito had the same annoying noise. I assumed it was the internal frame cabling. But a thread on another forum had the answer. There's a heavy plastic plug or cylinder that sits on top of the steerer tube expander plug. It's loose and rattles constantly.

See the thread here. Here's the discovery post.

One other poster mentioned his crossing shifter cables had two inline adjusters hitting each other.

The cylinder is a little too small in diameter to brace the steerer tube, but it's a thick, strong plastic. So I left it in. But I cut some strips of electrical tape and taped from top to bottom, leaving a tape ear sticking up so I can pull the plug easily. I kept adding tape until it needed to be slightly pushed down into the steerer, instead of the normal loose fit. No more noise!

Leave the stem tightened with the two bolts, just remove the top cap and you should see the black cylinder. Turn the bike upside down and it'll fall out.

The black cylinder on the bottom. It's the exact height of the expander plug.

rm -rf

Yeah, do this too. It's a good idea to check it occasionally. When my bike was new, the stem shifted a little on the carbon steerer, and I could feel the slight clunk when I did this test. I had to readjust the stem a couple of times. Now it's good.

From the other thread:

Bunyanderman

It could also be the front inner tube valve hitting the rim repeatedly. That's mainly found on carbon rims.

Eyenigma

Thanks guys, all great things to look at. Will inspect with my LBS to see if I can isolate the issue. Great places to look, especially the Bianchi specific stuff.

rpenmanparker 

OP, keep in mind that the side bolts on the stem can be tight and the headset still be loose. Those bolts just lock in the setting (preload mentioned earlier) done by the top bolt on the stem cap. If the headset is loose, you have to loosen the side bolts, tighten the top bolt (not too much, just until the headset is firm) and retighten the side bolts.

knobster

I had this on my new bike. Was driving me crazy because it's really difficult to determine since you only hear it while riding. Found what it was. The valve stem has a nut of sorts on it which wasn't tight and really shouldn't be to the rim so I removed it and the noise stopped. If you want to keep it, back it nearly off and put the stem cap on to where they meet each other so it's tight against that nut.

Sy Reene

I heard a rattle on my bike which curiously would go away after riding for a while. Discovered it coincided with all of my ice having melted in my front water bottle.

goenrdoug

I'm enjoying this specific rattle with this specific computer right now.

I'm thinking of some sort of rubber 'foot' or something normally intended to be stuck on to the bottom of a bookshelf or whatever -- commonly bought in packs of four at home depot or something.

I'll follow-up once I figure something out. It's driving me crazy.