Slight spoke ping when climbing...

[typ993]

I had the same issue with a 32-hole 2-cross laced rear wheel. The spokes may be unevenly tensioned. When you are climbing, also out of the saddle, much more power is put through the spokes. If they are crossed, when you accelerate, gravity wants you to go down, while your power wants you to go up so the wheels suffer inertia. The rims don't rotate at the same speed as your hub for a split second, and the spokes can ping as the move together, and in the hub holes, also the nipple in the rim. It isn't anything to be alarmed about and comes as a side effect of having a higher spoke count wheel with less tension in each spoke.

Wow, can't believe this thread just keeps on going! But I hate my bike making any kind of noise.

While I see your point, the Rolf wheel is a low spoke, high-tension wheel, the opposite of what you have. I think my rear has 16 spokes.

 

[rustynuts]

I'm sorry , but that's not quite correct. The idea behind "flexing" the wheel is to stress relieve the spokes at the bend (as they enter the hub) by yielding them a bit. The bend area of the spoke has a large amount of residual stress from the manufacturing process, which can lead to premature fatigue failure if not corrected.

The ironic part is that the method you describe doesn't stress the spokes past yield, so it doesn't do anything at all. To properly yield them, you need to grab a pair in your hands and give them a really good squeeze, preferably before the wheel has been tensioned and trued.

John Swanson
www.bikephysics.com

Perhaps the term "flexing" the wheel has different meanings in different countries (I'm in ye olde England ).

When I build wheels I'll pre stress the spokes of the wheel prior to tensioning, using the method you describe (squeezing pairs of spokes together).

The idea of flexing the wheel is to relieve spoke wind up caused through tensioning the spokes, not to stress them, as once spokes are tensioned they start to twist when the nipple is turned. Pressing against the side of the rim whilst the hub is against a hard surface will relax tension on one side of the wheel and allow the spoke wind-up to be released. This release of spoke wind up produces ping type noises. If the spoke wind up isn't relieved before the wheel is ridden then the wheel will ping on the bike until all the spokes have unwound themselves.

One other possible cause of the noises could be slightly corroded spoke nipples or rim eyelets, as today I had a customers bike with a creaking wheel that was cured by oiling the eyelets allowing the spoke nipples to move more easily.

 

[bobbyOCR]

Wow, can't believe this thread just keeps on going! But I hate my bike making any kind of noise.

While I see your point, the Rolf wheel is a low spoke, high-tension wheel, the opposite of what you have. I think my rear has 16 spokes.

Ah. High tension spokes are mysterious creatures. The tension combined with power transfer could be doing anything. Are the rims in good shape? no cracks or damage? I'll make a guess and say the hubs are slotted for bladed spokes. It might be that. I agree with you aswell, noise, especially from the rear, is really irritating. Try SRAM if you get a chance, it is dead quiet.