Greetings, all -

I am beset by an unidentifiable (by me, anyway) noise from my rear wheel - a rhythmic pinging that sounds with every revolution. It sounds like something plucking a spoke, but I can't see anything that would be doing so. And why only once per rev? Could it have something to do with spoke tension? Something inside the rim? Wheel is older, 36-hole Campy hub, on an early 90s Ritchey Road Classic. I await your wisdom and thank you in advance,

Bob

I have had pings from spokes and dork discs. The other option is theres a spoke nipple banging around inside the rim.

Check our spoke tension. Pinging could be a sign that your spokes are moving around too much because of loose, under-tensioned spokes. A good LBS can check the wheel for you and have it re-tensioned if needed. Or,......you can do it yourself if you are willing to learn how to tension and true wheels. But remember that you cannot take too many chances with wheels, so it's worth the time and money to keep them in good shaped.....

what's a dork disc?

It's those metal or plastic frisbees usually installed between the spokes and the freewheel to keep the rear deraileur cage and wheels from diving into the spokes and ruining both derailleur and/or spokes, if the owner did not adjust the derailleur lowest gear limiter appropriately.....thus the "dork" in "dork disc"......

^If you have to ask...just kidding.

A "dork disc" is a plastic disk that is installled (usually on mid-range or lower bikes) between the lowest cog and the spokes on the rear wheel to prevent the derailleur from inadvertently getting caught in the spokes. This often results in very serious damage to the frame, wheel and rear derailleur.

Check to see if the RDER is touching a spoke.
Does the problem only happen in 1st gear?

Check the tension on the drive side spokes. Tap them with the plastic handle of a screwdriver. The notes should be close. If one is flat(lower) then tighten that spoke. Sometimes if spokes are loose and rub where they cross they can develop a little groove that pings. You may be able to replicate this by standing beside the bike and mashing pretty hard on a pedal to flex the frame and wheel.

By all means, check your spoke tension(s), ensuring that all are even with one another. Next, look at every spoke/spoke cross over. I experienced the ping each revolution before and it turned out to be spoke wear, at the cross overs. In the worst case, the excessive wear was causing the spoke to jump out of the wear spot and then ping against the spoke when it landed. Very hard to figure out.

Thanks guys -

Had 'er up on the stand last night and yes indeed, there was a spoke on the back wheel non-derailleur side that was pretty much just hanging there. I tightened it up and after about 20 minutes screwing around getting the wheel back in true the whole thing ran smooth and silent, as it should. I hate a noisy bike. So I learned how to fix a ping and what a dork disc is. Pretty successful all around. Regards,

Bob