Rear wheel noise
 

Just noticed a ‘clunk’ sound coming from the rear wheel on my evening ride yesterday. Put the bike up on the work stand to check it out and everything seems ok, but there is a noticeable 'clunk' sound when you spin the rear wheel. I only notice it when the wheel is freewheeling, doesn’t matter if I’m on or off the bike. However, I do notice a roughness, for lack of a better word, when peddling – sort of a bump in the stroke. Doesn’t seem to matter what gear it’s in and I can’t find where it’s rubbing or bumping anything. I removed the wheel and reseated it, no change. I don’t have any way of checking the trueness of the wheel, but it sure seems to spin true. Chain is well lubed and there's no obvious sign of damage, wear or stress on it or the wheel.

The bike is a Giant Cypress DX with about 200 miles on it.

I plan on taking the bike back to the LBS, but its a good 2 hours away and that trip will have to wait until next weekend. Just wondering if there is anything I should check, or do, in the mean time? More importantly, does it sound like I could do more harm than good by continuing to ride until I can get it to the LBS?

-dave

At 200 miles the der cables may need adjusted and the sound might be the rear der jumping around. Cable is loose.

This is all still pretty new to me, what's a der cable?

-dave

Dérailleur cable.

Cracked axle?

Maybe? I noticed today that the cassette seems to have a slight wobble when I spin the tire. As the tire freewheels the cassette (maybe the wrong term - the thing holding all of the gear rings) wobbles up and down. The tire itself looks to be wobbling up and down when I look edge on. It's just a slight wobble, only noticeable when you really watch closely and there's no side to side movement that I can discern. Would this indicate an axle problem?

-dave

Thanks DMF!

-dave

Anyone?

It would indicate most likely a bent or broken axle. The freewheels have less support on the drive side, so tend to bent and snap more than the freehubs.

If you do infact have a freehub, not a freewheel, then it is also possible that the locking ring could be loose? Still possible that the axle is bent - I have not had extensive experience with freehubs, so I don't know for certain.

You will probably just need a rear axle.. It may be bearing noise also - could be a lot of things. Try to listen carefully close to the bike to discern where the clunk is coming from.

Would seem unusual for a brand new bike to have a problem like this. However, the streets around here are not best. Some should be probably be classified as off-road. Thanks for the responses guys. I'll haul it up to the LBS this weekend and hope that they can service it in one day - gas is getting way to expensive for back to back trips.

-dave

Sounds like your rear wheel needs serious truing.

I've had axles crack longitudinally because of severe acceleration (no, I'm not superman, it had a factory flaw)... it's happened to me twice over the years.

Called the LBS this morning to setup an appointment to have the initial re- adjustment made (just bought it a month ago and it has 200 + miles on it already) and the rear wheel problem looked at and was informed they do not work by appointment and would not commit to being able to do anything with it the same day I bring it up. Why? Because sometimes they just get to busy to work on bikes. Honestly – that’s what the guy said.

What the…?? I have to drive 2 solid hours to get it there and they cannot make an assurance to even look at it - even when I'm calling a week in advance to set an appointment! They assured me before I bought the bike that because of how far I have to travel (no bike shop within 100 miles of me) they would make every effort to service the bike the same day as long as I arranged it in advance.

Well, now it’s post sale.

Going to call the head office, but I may be looking for a new LBS.

That's absurd. At my bike shop (where I worked, I mean), of course certain jobs had to have work tickets generated, however if the turnaround time during the busy season grew to say, 3 days or a week, you could still write up a slot and then the person just comes in to drop off the bike that day. it's no great scheduling feat to simply say that first thing <insert day of week here> morning we'll work on your bike. That's totally absurd.

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Did you remind them of the fact that they told you pre-sale that they would make every effort as long as you had an appointment? Maybe ask to speak to the person who advised you of this. If they keep messing you around, don't be shy. Open a can on them.