Hollow Rattle?



mseanschmidt

New Member
Aug 24, 2006
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Rode a set of Reynold's Attacks all year but they just replaced with a brand new set because of a defective front hub. The NEW set of Attacks came in to LBS yesterday and they installed for me. They had to remove my Campy 10-speed rear cassette and install on the new Attack wheel.

I went out on my first ride and for the first mile through my neighborhood, on smooth newly paved road, the wheels felt like butter! Got out on the main road and they felt great for 4-5 miles. Turned off onto a side road and started to notice a rattle noise maybe coming from center or rear of the bike??? Hmmm? Sounded almost like a bottle cage was loose and rattling as I went over the un-smooth parts o the road. Check over the entire bike and nothing was loose, everything looked good. Continued on and noticed a hollow rattle whenever the road wasn't smooth. When I had smooth road the wheels were PERFECT.

Took it into the bike shop right before they were closing and they put it up on the stand and said everything was solid. No further examination because they were closing.

Just went on a second ride and had the same problem. On any relatively good road the wheels are perfect. As soon as you get some bad road that is unkept or has not been paved for some time I get the rattle. It rattles when I crank or coast. Speeds up as I increase speed or the road gets worse. Jump over to a smooth part of the road and the bike is silent as a church mouse.

I rode the original set of Attacks for 3000+ miles so I know exactly how they are supposed to feel. There is something diffidently wrong???

Could the guy at the shop, not one of their mechanics but a young guy like an apprentice, put the wheels together. Could he have done something putting each of the cogs back on? Or is their something wrong with the rear hub or rim?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!!!!
 
mseanschmidt said:
Rode a set of Reynold's Attacks all year but they just replaced with a brand new set because of a defective front hub. The NEW set of Attacks came in to LBS yesterday and they installed for me. They had to remove my Campy 10-speed rear cassette and install on the new Attack wheel.

I went out on my first ride and for the first mile through my neighborhood, on smooth newly paved road, the wheels felt like butter! Got out on the main road and they felt great for 4-5 miles. Turned off onto a side road and started to notice a rattle noise maybe coming from center or rear of the bike??? Hmmm? Sounded almost like a bottle cage was loose and rattling as I went over the un-smooth parts o the road. Check over the entire bike and nothing was loose, everything looked good. Continued on and noticed a hollow rattle whenever the road wasn't smooth. When I had smooth road the wheels were PERFECT.

...

Could the guy at the shop, not one of their mechanics but a young guy like an apprentice, put the wheels together. Could he have done something putting each of the cogs back on? Or is their something wrong with the rear hub or rim?
Yes, check the lockring on your wheel to ensure that the cogs are not loose [i.e., ELIMINATE the simplest possibility, first]... it could be as simple as that based on an odd rattle I experienced from the rear of my bike a few years ago (on a Shimano cassette/freehub, but the same thing could be happening with your wheel) -- it took a rough patch of roadway for me to realize that something might be amiss, but it wasn't until I got home & took the wheel off that I realized that the lockring wasn't tightened, fully ...

FWIW. I cut an extra washer/gasket from the plastic cap from a milk jug (almost any "soft" plastic will do) to make snugging the lockring against the cassette easier without needing to over-tighten it. That can't be done with all Shimano-compatible lockrings, but Campy lockrings certainly have enough threads if you choose to add a homemade washer/gasket.
 
It could be the valve stems knocking around in the rims. If they can move at all put some tape around them.
 
- ditto , valve stem rattling in the carbon rim. Wrap valve stem with
white plumber's tape.

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