Hi everyone, does anyone know what the problem might be with a creaking sound coming from the hub of my uni. It sounds like the bearings might be screwed and are grinding a bit. I’ve been starting to jump off stuff a lot and its only a standard 24" Nimbus. Is there anything that I can do to find what’s wrong and fix it, and is it likely to die soon as I’m worried it’s falling apart.
Thanks
Matt
Check the basics:
Are the crank bolts good and tight?
Are the clamp bolts reasonably tight, but not too tight?
Are the pedals tight?
Tip the uni up and spin the wheel. Does it spin freely? Is it notchy?
Jumping might damaged the bearings. You could share the load by loosening the crank bolts and turning the outside part of the bearing 90 degrees, then tightening the clamps again.
My guess is a slightly loose crank is most likely.
Or is it your knees?
Yeah sounds like your cranks are loose, the bearings are very unlikely to be damaged by hopping on them. Don’t ride until you’ve sorted what it is that’s wrong because you may kill it otherwise. Tighten the crank bolts to about 40 ft.lb, grab the cranks and give them a good tug around with your hands to see if they can move atall, this is a very rough indication of if they’re ok or not. If you’ve ridden on loose cranks then you may well have scrapped them and possibly also the hub. If tightening the cranks stops the creaking but it quickly resumes and you find that the cranks have come loose again then remove them and re-install them using the technique described several times on this forum (just Search for it). If this doesn’t do it then they’re probably beyond saving, and a new pair of cranks and maybe a hub wil be needed, which is an expensive business. Good Luck.
Check the spokes, this can cause a creaking noise.
same thing w/ me i was all good until i started dropping and hopping now it creaks a little. i havent taken care of it tho , i need a new one soon so im just gonna let it break wen it does (some how it hasnt yet, iyts a 20" sun and ive done many 1-2 foot drops) and probly get a torker
yea check everything i have a dead uni because i didn’t check it and crank arm strips same time my rim tacos what a great night that was
I’m adding my vote for a loose crank. Though, I’d also check the bearing clamps and make sure they aren’t too tight. In any case, check the crank bolts immediately. They may need tightening even if the cranks feel tight when you hand-test them.
My 16-inch (adult-size frame) makes a very faint “eeky…eeky…eeky…” sound as I ride it. You can hear it only when the gym is quiet. It took me forever to figure out that one of my spokes was broken at the hubward end, and rubbing against another spoke as the wheel turned. I haven’t done anything about it.
Definately cranks. If you don’t tighten them, you will need to replace them.
Roger
That’s brilliant, thanks for all the help everyone! I only rode it for a short time like this so hopfully it’s won’t die just yet.
My brand new Torker 26" LX started creakin after only two days…I tightened the arms, but that didnt make the sound go away.
Oh well, no biggie, alloy can get noisy under all that stress…I wanna get new shorter arms anyway