Creaking wheel?

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Hi folks.

I bought a Nimbus 29 two weeks ago and have been doing approx’ 10-15 on it each day. I’m noticing an irregular clicking/creaking sound in the wheel, particularly when turning or leaning on the peddles uphill. Any ideas what might be causing this. The peddles and cranks are secure. Any advice would be appreciated?

2

[LIST=1]

  • Spokes
  • ISIS
  • bearing
  • bearing on axle
  • brearing in frame
  • ... [/LIST] Check your spoke tension first, try to tighten you cranks ...

    Do you use spacers for your bearings? My bearings were loose on the axle and creaking. spacers helped.

    • 3

    If you put a drop of lube at each spoke where it touches another spoke it will tell you if it’s low spoke tension. If the noise goes away you need more tension, if it doesn’t then the problem lies elsewhere.

    For such a new uni it seems likely to be the low spoke tension or the bearing caps. If your caps are too tight, or too loose it can cause creaking or clicking noises. Basically you want the caps as tight as possible without impeding the smooth rotation of the wheel.

    The first thing i would do is to tighten the crank bolts. If your wheel came with the cranks installed you may not have ever had a wrench on them.

    4

    Hi there

    Sometimes the source of the noise can be the pedals. I had an annoying clicking noise in my 26 uni few months after buying it. The sound seemed to come from the wheel, the hub etc… It was impossible to pinpoint. The pedals were nicely fit into the crank itself but something whithin the pedals (bearings?) made them create the noise (this noise would only happen when actually riding the unicycle not when spinning the wheel without riding it). I only found out about this because someone suggested to try a different set of pedals. Might be worth trying… :slight_smile:

    5

    You could have also tried wheelwalking :wink:

    6

    I’ve had creakings several times, usually it’s the cranks getting a bit loose, but I’ve also replaced several pedals due to bad bearings and once had to replace a KH hub because it was mis-machined.

    My first attempt to fix is to tension the crank bolts with a ratchet. Little bike type hex wrenches are all too short to get the needed torque.

    7

    Good suggestions already. If those don’t get it, you might also check the seatpost clamp and the nuts or bolts under the seat. Your hips wobble as you pedal and I’ve had creaks from loose hardware under there. I also had that once from a cracked seatpost that was just about to break in two, but hopefully that’s not in play for you at this stage of the game.

    A rhythmic noise like that can be really annoying, especially if you start noticing it maybe 10 or 15 minutes into what’s supposed to be a long ride. Actually for me, most of them time it turns out to be something like the end of a shoelace flapping against the crank once per revolution or a zipper pull on a pack or jacket bouncing along as I ride.

    8

    Thanks everyone

    Thanks everyone. Great input. Will check all the above. :slight_smile:

    9

    As has been said, switching out your pedals will quickly identify the cause or allow you to narrow your list of hypotheses; just be sure to actually ride on the new set for a while, turning and climbing.