I went down a couple of weeks ago after hitting a pothole. Both the bike and I survived although I lost a little blood. The front rim picked up a ticking sound when turned slowly. I took the bike to the LBS who took the rim and tube, tire off and found all the spokes intact. The Mavic Equipe rim wasn't bent and was still true and he claimed something had broken inside the rim but wasn't serious and that riding with the rim would not present a problem. After I took the bike home I removed the tire, tube and strap to look for the problem but couldn't find anything. I spun the rim in my hand and there was no ticking sound but when I mounted the tire the ticking came back. I can't see the problem and can only hear it. It's very pronounced. Has anybody experienced this or would speculate about the problem?

The biggest single cause of low speed rim ticking is small bits free to move around inside the rim. Often when rims are drilled, small chips fall into the rim. Makers shake them as best they can, and they fall out on their own if the rim has no eyelets. But if the maker doesn't get them all before installing the double eyelets, they're stuck there forever.

Some also don't shake out because they're still attached to the inside lip of the hole as large internal burrs. They'll stay in place for a while and eventually break off and cause rattles. The typical rattle caused by these only happens at low speeds, al they flop around like clothes in a front load washer. With higher speed, the wheel is in spin cycle and they're stuck in place on the outer wall.

Of course there might be something else going on, but if the wheel is aligned, and the braking in ever, indicating no variation in width, then just ride it and don't fret. If it really bothers you (it shouldn't) you can try to localize the area in the rim, and either see if you can work whatever it is down to the valve hole and out, or drill a small hole through the inner (sire) side of the rim, and inject a blob of grease or glue and try to trap it.

Another possibility is that the tire valve is knocking against the side of the hole in the rim.

check spoke tension. you may have knocked the wheel/rim out of true or loosened one or two spokes when you hit the pothole.

I have the same problem with my Mavic A719's. Don't worry about it. Centrifigal force takes care of it once you start moving. Mavic uses some bit of metal to align the rim ends during construction and that little chunk of metal can sometimes come free. My front rim ticks when I walk the bike and the back one doesn't. Feel free to ride. Al

Frankfast, One of my CR18 rims had a piece of flashing come loose when they were new. The rattling was just too much to take and while it took more time than I wished, the little bit fell out. I also lucked out once removing a piece of welding rod from the RHS chainstay through the rear derailleur cable stop's screw hole. That happened on my first try and I was amazed as it usually takes longer to remove a pick from a flat top hollow body!

I didn't have to with the rim, but plan two was a shop vac.

Brad

That sounds exactly like the noise I'm experiencing. It's annoying but not enough to go out and purchase a new rim. Thanks everybody for the help.

This is probably the culprit. It's easily fixed on a rim like the A719: go to the home-improvement store, buy a can of "expando-foam" canned insulation, and inject the rim at the joint. The foam will expand and immobilize the metal "slug" that was used to align the ends of the rim for welding. If the rim has no spoke holes in the bed, you can drill one just large enough to slip the can's injection straw through.

Another option is to support the rim on the edge of a 2 x 4, then peen the rim bed with a blunt nail. You'll probably see Mavic's own peening marks, in fact. It may take a pretty substantial divot to immobilize the slug this way; I'd rather use the expando-foam if it were me.