I’m trying to help out a mate who recently bought a new Giant aluminium road bike.
Easy one first - there are several small holes in the rims, about 1-2mm diameter. A quick Google search tells me these are for drainage, but I thought it was weird that they are located within the braking surface. The front brake pads seem to grab onto the holes creating a shudder under brakes. Does this seem right?
Number two - there is a definite ‘creak’ sound that seems to be coming from the integrated headset. It only really occurs when you have your weight forward and put the power down, although I did manage to replicate it by kinda shoving the bike over laterally at low speed. I can’t see any cracks or obvious signs of damage, has anyone experienced this before? Could it be the headset is not installed properly? He seems to think that the creaking began after he hit a pot hole, if that helps.
I told him to take it back to the shop as it is still under warranty, but it did get me intrigued.
There should be 2 (maybe 4 at most, in each rim) indentations that are about 1mm or so deep. My Miche wheels had one per side, making two per rim. Never had them grab. Try sanding the rim, might be an easy fix. I just had to realign my brake pads on one bike cause the pads were shaving the stickers on the rim and causing major shudder, so check that too.
The old ‘find the source of the creak’ game begins. Headset, BB, stem steerer pinch bolts, stem face plate bolts, front QR. Check them all.
Just take it back to the shop,
If this can’t be done the creak is just a game of elimination.
Start at the easiest to get to.
But if it was after he hit a pot hole and the rim is shuddering if be getting an opinion on some one that knows what to look for I’d hate for it to be a craked steerer or drop out and your mate lose his teeth.
How good is it being the go-to guy for a new cyclist? Especially when it’s family… Can’t just say do a fucking search for fucks sake, can’t just tell them to look on Sheldon and sort it out for themselves… Good times.
I had a friend tell me she is doing the ride to conquer cancer next year and wants a ‘racer’ to do it on, but only wants to spend about $300 and sell it once she’s done. I tried to explain the potential issues with that & she just kept cutting me off saying “but you’ll be able to help me find something nearer the time yeah?”
Creak could even be seatpost…
I had an annoying as fuck creak on my sw8 fiksay when putting power down out of the saddle… No amount of elimination could find it… Resorted to taking it to the LBS… Over a week later… Bike rebuilt with different components… No dice…
Randomly they decided to ride it without the seatpost in… No noise… Grease seatpost, reinstall… No noise.
Pretty much the biggest WTF factor ever, but that’s what it was! It NEVER sounded like it was coming from that area - Sound resonates through bike like crazy… More than I thought!
maaaaan, if she’s just gonna sell it (which i spose will be your responsibility as well) tell her to double her budget as it will make it easier to get her money back afterwards.
she also wanted to know about hiring a bike for it. I said riding a bike for the first time on something like the RTCC was asking for trouble. she’s a muppet really, no idea what she’s doing and will likely wing it & have a great time…