[COLOR= rgb(51, 51, 51)]After riding my Cinelli Experience for about 8 months, I finally got the setup right. I'm 50 yrs. old and this is my first road bike. The top tube was a little bit long for me, but I made do until I got the proper sized stem. I started out with a FSA Plasma bar/stem combo which I thought would work since I used a cheap stem and bar with equivalent dimensions to verify fit. What I didn't foresee was that you had to mount the shifters quite low on the FSA. So I was about 10mm shy of being somewhat comfortable on the hoods. Anyways, my bike is setup perfectly now. I raised(substantially) the seatpost(300mm) to where it needed to be and moved the seat all the way forward(I have a 25mm offset seatpost). Here finally is my issue. Before I did my setup the bike was very quiet and smoothe. But since I raised my 300 mm carbon seatpost so the bottom is about 2 to 3 inches below the top tube/seat tube junction, that is when I started getting the chattering over road imperfections and even slightly when I shift. I guess one option is to get a longer seatpost. I don't know if they make them 400mm for a 27.2 diameter or not. I'm not sure 350mm would totally mute it since I raised the seatpost by 70mm. I'd rather have a little more weight than the bike chatter. I'm sort of thinking since I raised the seatpost there is a lot of cosmetic damage, and instead of repainting, just cut it down so when I buy a replacement post, I could drive the old one down close to the bottom bracket before I install the new one. I was even wondering if insulation foam in a spray can that expands would do the trick. Or maybe I should stop typing and one of you would have a better solution. Thanks in advance.[/COLOR]
Chattering aluminum frame
- Thread starter landdnl
- Start date
Over the winter I went from 23 to 25mm tires inflated to 90 front 100 rear. I weigh 165 lbs. I still have them on. One thing I failed to mention was now that I'm in the proper position(closer to the bottom bracket) my speed has increased substantially thereby contributing more to the chatter but the chatter is quite noticable even at 10 to 15 mph.
"Over the winter I went from 23 to 25mm tires inflated to 90 front 100 rear. I weigh 165 lbs."
Lower than what I run.
Not that I would ever drive a seat post stub into a seat tube in an attempt to stabilize it (how far down is it sized/reamed? Or is it back-bored/DOM?
I think you're on the right track with a 350 MM replacement post. I don't know what material your current seat post is, but you might try going to carbon for it's damping qualities.
Lower than what I run.
Not that I would ever drive a seat post stub into a seat tube in an attempt to stabilize it (how far down is it sized/reamed? Or is it back-bored/DOM?
I think you're on the right track with a 350 MM replacement post. I don't know what material your current seat post is, but you might try going to carbon for it's damping qualities.
I'm not really understanding this part.
Cosmetic damage to the post or the frame?
And it's not really clear what it is you want to do with the old post. You want to cut off the seat clamp and shove the remaining post into the seat tube? More loose metal inside the seat tube doesn't seem like a good idea if something is rattling already. But I might be misunderstanding what you mean by chattering. Is it rattling, clicking, ticking? A photo would be great. Also, are you extended past the "minimum extension line" on the seatpost?
I have heard of clicking on CF frames when the seatpost extends past the internal seat collar. The remedy was to cut the post so it didn't extend beyond the collar on the inside of the frame. I am familiar with this because it happened on my Tarmac (and the suggested remedy fixed) but I am having difficulty understanding what you are trying to accomplish.
Btw I have an older Experience and love it. Glad you got yours dialed in.
Since the old post was so far down into the seat tube originally, a lot of wear is exposed now that I've raised the seat substantially. I was thinking if I can't get a new 400 mm seat post at 27.2mm, then I might try cutting this seat post down and inserting it into the seat tube before I put a new one in(300mm). That way I have plenty of reinforcement along the wall of the seat tube to minimize chattering. While we're on the subject of noise, I use Gore Ride On fully sealed cables which are very nice but sometimes the derailleur cable(rear) makes some noise at the point where it enters the frame and butts against the frame cable stop(derailleur tension is set properly). It is annoying and compound that with the noise that i'm writing about and it sometimes sounds like the frame is about ready to fall apart when you hit a substantial bump in the road. Do you have the same issue as far as the cable stop noise? Other than that I love the frame. I'm not in 100% perfect shape, but this bike can get up and go with the best of them.
I would not attempt to deaden the sound of your frame by intentionally driving the old seat post shaft down into the frame tubing. At best you're guessing that your noise is related to a hollow seat tube but you'll likely never get that old post out again and it just shouldn't be necessary.
I'd take it one step at a time and try to figure out where the noise is coming from. Does it only happen when pedaling but not while coasting (could indicate bottom bracket/crank or seat issues). If it happens while coasting does it happen when standing and not seated (helps eliminate seat issues). Is it related to headset adjustment or headset age or handlebar clamping or hubs or something else?
Tracking down noise in a bike can be really frustrating as so many things are interconnected and the sources of weird ticking or clicking or creaking can be misleading to the person actually riding a bike but take a divide and conquer strategy and you can usually nail it down in time. Same thing for the shift cable issue. That sounds a bit like a loose cable, does it only happen when shifted into your smallest rear cog when there's less tension on the cable. Or is it the housing slapping around a bit on bumpy roads. Again take it one step at a time, for instance try wrapping a bit of electrical tape around both the cable housing and the chainstay to see if that eliminates the cable noise, that could help pin down a rattling cable housing or pay attention to whether it happens in all gears or just when there's minimum tension on the derailleur cable.
Good luck,
-Dave
I'd take it one step at a time and try to figure out where the noise is coming from. Does it only happen when pedaling but not while coasting (could indicate bottom bracket/crank or seat issues). If it happens while coasting does it happen when standing and not seated (helps eliminate seat issues). Is it related to headset adjustment or headset age or handlebar clamping or hubs or something else?
Tracking down noise in a bike can be really frustrating as so many things are interconnected and the sources of weird ticking or clicking or creaking can be misleading to the person actually riding a bike but take a divide and conquer strategy and you can usually nail it down in time. Same thing for the shift cable issue. That sounds a bit like a loose cable, does it only happen when shifted into your smallest rear cog when there's less tension on the cable. Or is it the housing slapping around a bit on bumpy roads. Again take it one step at a time, for instance try wrapping a bit of electrical tape around both the cable housing and the chainstay to see if that eliminates the cable noise, that could help pin down a rattling cable housing or pay attention to whether it happens in all gears or just when there's minimum tension on the derailleur cable.
Good luck,
-Dave
I have the Experience model a generation before yours. The bike runs pretty quiet, even over the rough stuff.
I'd follow Dave's strategy about nailing it down and finding out the exact circumstance under which the noise is generating. I.e pedaling or not, standing or not, torquing or spinning, what gears, etc. Sometimes a noise sounds like it is coming from someplace but it's not. I coulda sworn up and down I had a clicking coming from the Crank/BB some time back. Turned out it was the front hub but that was discovered only after a couple hours of troubleshooting. Good luck.
How about this for a wild guess:? the post is so long that it was touching the top bottle-cage bolt, which wasn't done up properly. Raising the post has let the bolt free to rattle more.
What about some leftover weld or alu in the frame that was moved or dislodged when the post was moved?
What about some leftover weld or alu in the frame that was moved or dislodged when the post was moved?
I had a Cinelli Proxima, which was the forerunner, and it felt nice and stiff and fast. Unfortunately, the chain stays stuck out too far, so my "toes out/heels in" foot position meant that my heels would always whack into the stays. They changed the aluminium from Columbus Zonal to Airplane, so i dunno if that makes them ride any different.
The Xperiences, at least the 2009-2011's are back to Zonal. My heels are good but I do remember in days of yore having a bike with that problem.
But just took a quick look at the heel spacing on mine and with an ever-so-slightly toe out position I got about half an inch between heel and stay. looking at Yahoo images of the Proxima, the stays are definitely shaped differently.
I've still got the defaced photos. 
Believe it or not, this is a 56 -- well, it's a "large", with I think had a 55.7cm effective top tube.
Incidentally, these frames were something like $2200 in shops here when they first got here, and I got this shop soiled one for $800, which was a decent deal at the time.
Believe it or not, this is a 56 -- well, it's a "large", with I think had a 55.7cm effective top tube.
Incidentally, these frames were something like $2200 in shops here when they first got here, and I got this shop soiled one for $800, which was a decent deal at the time.
Ah, right. So they obviously changed them. Thanks.
Hmm, i could've bought another one then. Ah, well. I considered buying one of these black ones last year, but I couldn't find a good picture of the chain stays, and then a cheap CAAD8 popped up on Ebay in the mean time, so I changed my mind.
http://www.totalcycling.com/a-z/frames_road/frames_cinelli/FR_EXPERIENCE_BLK.html?currency=AUD&gclid=CIjI84GWvrcCFaZKpgodj38A1Q
Hmm, i could've bought another one then. Ah, well. I considered buying one of these black ones last year, but I couldn't find a good picture of the chain stays, and then a cheap CAAD8 popped up on Ebay in the mean time, so I changed my mind.
http://www.totalcycling.com/a-z/frames_road/frames_cinelli/FR_EXPERIENCE_BLK.html?currency=AUD&gclid=CIjI84GWvrcCFaZKpgodj38A1Q
Ah yes, that is the current gen Experience. The paint jobs on these babies are far superior to the previous. They skinnied up the seattube for a slightly more compliant ride as well.
I had originally thought OP's chattering may have had something to do with the internally routed derailleur cables which are new to this model.
Ha, yep, mine looked like it was just stuck on a wall and painted with a fire hose -- over-spray all over the joint, but nice and thick. Even the BB threads had a thick coat of paint on them. In fact, that's why I got it cheap: because someone tried to put in a BB will all the paint in there, and slightly damaged the threads.
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