I’ve had my nimbus trials uni for a couple of months now. It started to make slight clicking type noises every now and then, but it wasn’t consistent or very common so I just sort of ignored it (don’t know how smart that was) but in the past day or so it got louder and started happening more so I’ve stopped riding it. I’ve read other threads about clicking or loose cranks and stuff, a lot of which say that loose cranks are characterized by creaking noises but clicking is mentioned too, but the clicking or popping isn’t consistent in a certain spot or anything, and it click’s when I’m not pedaling either (hopping or something) and sometimes it doesn’t click at all. only ever clicks under pressure though.
Not too experienced with unicycle maintenance as this is my first real unicycle, worried I might damage something but I don’t want to make dealing with this harder than it has to be.
It’s not the seat or anything, and its not the pedals. I checked the cranks; how can I be sure I have tightened them enough? This is probably a stupid question, but how exactly can I tell if some spokes are loose? They all feel pretty much the same but idk.
This won’t help you, but I thought I’d share. On one ride I experienced clicking and even felt a very noticeable dip in the crank arm at the same point in my revolution. I immediately hopped off and checked things out. After some checking I reluctantly got back on and started riding again. No clicks or wobble. Another mile or so down the trail and it started again. Come to find out that the cause was a small part of the tread of my shoe slipping on the bear trap pedal. On the down stroke the tread would click and the slippage made it feel like the entire crank arm had dipped, on the up stroke the tread would silently get back in position. Now when it happens I just twist my foot around on the pedal and it goes away immediately.
My older uni would click and “proing” when applying pressure to go up steep hills. It that case it was a combination of loose spokes and a missing seat bolt. The seat bolt worked its way loose and got lost out on the trail somewhere. I’ve had this happen twice, so now I check my seat post bolts every month or so.
eh, I don’t think its my pedals, because it still clicks a bit when I stand on my cranks. Would I be able to feel it in my feet if it were the spokes? not a lot, just really faintly. It could be spokes because I have been practicing unispins lately and hit the spokes with my feet sometimes when trying to land em (I’m not that good yet).
Jbtilley, when you say “proing”, dyu mean like a twanging type sound? Because that’s sorta what i’m getting.
Well sometimes it can seem like a twanging but other times its a heavier click that I can feel in my feet (it’s not my pedals though). Would the spoke problem also account for that?
The crank bolts should be very tight, 25 foot-pounds, which is probably as tight or tighter than you can possibly make them with the tools you’re likely to have (unless you have a torque wrench). So just tighten them as much as you can.
Pluck the spokes like a guitar string; they should all sound about the same, and the tone should be relatively high.
As a matter of urgency, you should make sure the cranks bolts are on tight enough. Certainly, if the hub is a square taper one, riding with a loose crank bolt will quickly destroy the hub, crank, or both (I suspect the same is true of splined hubs).
As for how tight- somewhere on here there’s a thread which gives an exact value for those who have the right kind of tool (torque wrench?)- if, like me, you just use a crank spanner, then ‘very tight indeed’ is the answer i.e. make sure the tool is on properly, lock the wheel in place by straddling it, then pull up and tighten it till it pretty much can’t be any tighter.
Do the same on the other side, then re-check every few weeks.
Under no circumstances should you ride it if you suspect the bolts are loose- walk it home and tighten them up.
Yeah I don’t have a torque wrench or anything, just used an allen wrench on it which probably isn’t that effective One of them was a bit loose, and I tightened it as much as I could with the allen. Still haven’t been riding though just in case. Are spokes as important to immediately tighten as cranks? doing the plucking thing a few of them were a bit lower than the rest.