Rolf Prima Elan aero wheels

I have a new bike, Orbea Orca with Dura Ace 10 speed, am Rolf Prima Elan aero wheels. On some mountain climbs two days ago I had an annoying creaking, seemingly from the left crank/bottom bracket area when in the larger cogs and when I was bearing down hard on the cranks.

My LBS checked the bottom bracket tightness and said all seemed fine, but they suggested the creaking was from cross spokes rubbing from wheel flex during harder climbing efforts (even though my ears were telling me it was coming from the BB). They put some drops of lube on meeting spots of the cross spokes.

I have not had the opportunity to tyr to duplicate the effort yet to see if they were correct. Anyone have any history with these wheels or this issue?

Nice wheels & bicycle.
I rode a bicycle just like yours and really enjoyed it.
I experienced the creaking sound while climbing near Vail Pass. Even though the owner of the bicycle never had the problems, my weight and riding style brought out a creaking noise. It turned out to be the rear wheel bearings. The shop that replaced the bearings said the Clydesdales like me will expose the creaking tendency when climbing out of the saddle after the wheels have beeen ridden thousands of miles. The head mechanic explained it to me that radial cartridge bearings have that tendency when under extreme loads.
See if you can get another rear wheel to test ride with to help eliminate your rear wheel as the source of the creaking noise.

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David Ornee, Western Springs, IL USA

It is the spokes rubbing each other under the stress...it is a wear point on the spoke...squeeze the crossing area of the spokes and you may feel the wear area skip out of the wear groove at the contact area...the lube might help....I eventually placed little 2mm mylar squares that I made between the crossing point and the creak was gone and the mylar is so small that it is unnoticable...great wheels otherwise.

Roofrak

Thanks. What wheels were you riding...? I will keep the cartridge bearings in mind as i troubleshoot this. I am 170 lbs. so I don't think my weight is an issue, although these are pretty minimalist climbing wheels at 1300 grams a pair. They also only have about 450 miles n them so bearing wear should not be an issue. Maybe these are just light an creaky wheels by nature?

Thanks. Interesting idea to use mylar. Did you just cut up a yard bag? Which wheels do you have, the same as me?

Hi
you need to use a plastic that is stiff and will not compress between the spokes. BTW. most spokes get a wear groove between the contact area. I have an earlier version of your wheel...I have almost 2 years of use on the wheels 8000 km ....3000 km of which were done on a Tacx I-majic trainer ( riding live on the internet..a real blast!)....I weigh 145 pounds ...I run 135 pounds of pressure in my tires...they are fast and the wheels make a nice sound when they role .....my friends don't like the way I climb and I weight train my legs for even stronger climbs...and the wheels perform just fine.
Roofrak

Thanks...funny post...I bet your friends don't like the way you climb. I used to weigh 145 when I was racing duathlons in the 90's. That's a great weight. Don't drink too many milk shakes, bro...one day it will catch up. I'm 168 right now and turning 42 yrs. old...and I don't climb like I used to but I climb pretty OK...

I am going to figure out how to eradicate the squeaking and protect the spokes from the wear groove. I'll let you know what I come up with. I am thinking about trying a little plasti-dip periodically...or finding some kind of industrial solution...

www.plastidip.com