shockcord

Can anyone recommend a bike shop in Tucson, Arizona to work on tandem wheels. My wife and I have an older Cannondale road tandem with Phil Wood hubs and Mavic rims and the front (I think) is making a creaking noise on every revolution. It does not happen when I lift the front wheel off the ground and spin it, nor does it seem to be the computer sensor, but it sure sounds like it's coming from the front wheel when we are riding. The spokes feel snug, but I am wondering if they are not tight enough. Thanks for any input.

TandemGeek

If it's a Mavic T217 welcome to the club; there are two possible sources.

The most likely... The T217s use a plug to align the rim halves at the weld joint. It fills the rim cavity between the spoke holes on either side of the weld joint and is held in place by two peens on the inside surface of the rim. You can see these marks on either side of the weld if you remove your tire and the rim strip. The easiest fix is to use a small pin punch to make the existing peens deeper.

Also a possibility... The T217's used ferrules on both the inside and outside spoke holes. When they get loose they start to make a real racket. If you can find the offending ferrule you can usually stop the noise for a while with a drop of superglue, but it will likely come back. More times than not, you'll have multiple ferrules making noise.

dfcas

I agree that it is probably the rim joint,but there is another possibility-sometimes the nipples creak in the eyelets.

This is free,so I'd try it if I were you.Put a small dot of oil on each nipple,then spin the wheel to help it migrate into the eyelet.wipe off the excess,and give it a try.This was common on Open Pros,so maybe you will get lucky.


dan

zonatandem

3 good knowlegeable shops in Tucson for tandems/wheels:
Fairwheel Bicycles near the U of A 884-9018. Owner is Ralph.
Tucson Bicycles, Swan and Sunrise 577-7374. Manager is Brian.
Andy Gilmour, framebuilder, 991-0287.
Tell 'em Rudy sent you.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem