So last weekend out of the blue I had a strange creak on the 29". Yesterday when I wanted to practice my hopping skills on the trials uni, I noticed my left foot slipped on the pedal while riding. It turned out that the pin in the pedal was bent, so not the crank. I thought those pins would be strong enough for hopping. I use the trials around x-mas a lot for learning to ride backwards, but then I was mostly just riding. I think it is very strange that it now is bent. It should be able to handle my 85kg.
I was wondering, can unicycle pedals with pins also be bought in a local bike shop? So are they the same as can be found on bikes? Then I can just get a new pedal already today and donāt have to wait when ordering through municycle.com, which I would do otherwise.
Sure, they are just normal pedals. Nothing special about them. One of my unis runs pedals I just picked up locally from a sports store.
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Crap forgot that we are in lockdown, meaning all non-essential shops are closed until further notice. I donāt think the government sees unicycling as something essential. Bike Shops are only open to peeps who need their bikes for going to work and something needs to be fixed.
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I just tried unscrewing the pedal from the crank, but it was superstuck. Finally it came off and I had destroyed the threading of the crank as well. Great. Now I need new pedals AND new cranks
You might be able to save the crank using a threading tool.
We have the same rules in Germany, and I may have had succes with asking the guys in the workshop for a specific part, and they sold me one.
Itās unlikely that you completely destroyed the thread, usually just cleaning it up works. Normally just a brush to get the metal shavings away, then if there is anything funky a nail to get any burrs off, and only in the worst case youād need to have a bikestore chase the thread with a tap.
I find it very difficult to match the creak of the 29" Nimbus to any of the possible areas that are mentioned in the first post of this thread. I have been riding my Nimbus 29" for 5 years and rode a few thousand kilometres with it. The tire is starting to look worn too. Iām not a technical rider or hop with it most of the time. Just ride 10-15 kms with it every session. Anyways last month all of a sudden after a climb of a sandy hill, it started to creak. First not very much, but more and more as I got back to the car. I put it in the shed and didnāt want to ride it until yesterday. At every pedal downstroke (more on the right hand side than the left hand side), it creaks very loudly. I checked all the bolts and the wheel rotates freely just fine. Also the spokes seem to be ok. There is no play when rotating the wheel with my hands and trying to apply some sideways pressure. Only once I get on (and standing up, so not touching the seat), it creaks very much. My thought is that it can be the hub, but I donāt know how much a hub can creak. I fear that if I ignore it, which is hard because it is so loud, that I will run the hub out of the wheel, if that even is possible.
Has anyone had similar issues with a Nimbus 29"? As the creaking only happens as soon as I sit on it and try to take off, it will be difficult for an LBS to figure out why it creaks I reckon. They always look a bit funny at me when I enter their stores with a uni and they canāt ride themselves.
When you say your Nimbus 29", which one are you referring to? Got a picture?
Itās only very specific hubs that creak, but itās possible you have one.
Iād guess a worn ISIS interface as the most likely though. If you undo your crank bolts, how easily do the cranks come off? If itās any easier than a crank puller is required then you may well need to drop down to thinner spacers (or replace the cranks if the interface is severely worn).
I have some creaking too on my fat wheelset when getting on and when torquing hard. The hub being one piece and the rim carbon, I greased the ISIS interface to make sure it was not that. Unfortunately, the light creaking is still here from time to time. Checked with a LBS being concerned it may be some tensioning issue. The guy checked and told me the tension was good. Then he explained that spokes can sometimes rub and the wheel amplifies the noise. He suggested to apply some grease at every spokes crossing to help.
I personally decided against using grease to avoid the extra area attracting grime and dirt.
However, the ISIS interface was creaking loudly on my 29er before greasing while the spokes was quieter (just for a point of reference).
This is also suggested in the list (paragraph 10 Spokes). You should try it to check if this is whatās causing the noise. Wash it off later if you want.
This morning I took off the frame and wanted to ride it as a UW to see if it would still creak. When holding the cranks horizontal and pulling one up and one down, I can hear a creak. I find it difficult to determine if it is a spoke or something with the hub. This morning I went to the LBS and he could tighten the crank bolts more. He thought it was just that. I thought I had checked those. He also suggested to put grease on the bearings, because one had some rust on it.
I can feel the spokes and they are all at the same tightness, but I donāt know how tense exactly they should be.
So, simply greasing the interface often wonāt stop creaking, and even if it stops the noise itāll potentially make any movement in the interface worse. It should be greased for assembly and to stop corrosion if itās a steel axle, but not to stop creaks.
So, you do want them tight, but no matter how tight they make them (so long as youāre using spacers), if thereās play in the interface, it wonāt take long for the noise to reappear.
Iād really recommend seeing how easily the cranks go on/off before just cranking down on the bolts more. If you can hear/feel a creak when pulling the cranks by hand, itās highly unlikely to be the spokes.
Something a bike shop may well be unaware of is that we use spacers (and different sized ones for different setups), as on a bike there are no spacers, rather a solid stop as defined by the ISIS standard. If you have an issue on a bike, your options are to tighten the bolts as much as possible and hope itās good enough, or buy new cranks.
Thereās no simple answer to this one really, but probably ātighter than they are right nowā. The bike shop should have been able to advise on that one though as you can pretty much treat a unicycle wheel and a bike wheel the same.
ISIS cranks donāt use spacers right? I felt a bit silly. This morning I took my Nimbus for a spin and the creaking was totally gone. I had a ride of about 15km both on- and off-road with climbs. I thought I had checked the crank bolts, but apparently not good enough. In any case I was very happy that it was all working again. The 29" inch is one of my most favourite uniās
ISIS canks use spacers, you might ruin your cranks if you donāt.
See Does all ISIS cranks need spacers?
ISIS cranks should always have spacers. The only time you shouldnāt use them on a unicycle is with an older generation Schlumpf hub where they cannot be used without likely causing damage to the hub.
I have a Nimbus 29" from 2015, which has been very nice to ride on and by now I must have ridden a few 1000 kms with it. Last year the clamps on the brake disc started making a sound while riding, so I figured the hub must have been slightly twisted. I took it to the LBS who asked if I really needed the brake, so I took it off. The LBS also tightened the cranks for me. Now that I donāt have a brake anymore, it still creaks when riding. After closer inspection I noticed that the creaking is from the spokes and some of them rub each other (the paint came off where they cross).
I am wondering if this really is something that should be fixed or that a bit of play is ok on the spokes. When just riding and making rotations there isnāt any creaking. It is just when mounting while twisting the wheel to be able to take off. Possibly my mount is too forced, I donāt know.
I think eventually the easiest fix will be to get a new wheel for it.
Iād say if it is not broke, donāt fix it. Just make sure your spokes are tensioned correctly and if it works, just ride it. My 36er will make a little noise sometimes under heavy load. It has for thousands of miles and caused no problems.
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There are some alternate āsolutionsā to unicycle noises, which you may or may not want to include in this system. A few examples:
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Wear headphones with music; creaks and clicks are gone!
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Try to ignore the sound and see if your mind can take it
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Unable to locate the source of the sound? Follow the suggestion above until it gets louder/more constant, then it will be easier to diagnose
These come to my mind from the years I spent riding/listening to my (2003) Wilder Muni with Profile/Poznanter hub. It only creaked when you pedaled hard. Unfortunately it was a Muni, which meant you had to pedal hard if the trail was interesting. It could be quieted by having the bike shop remove, re-grease and re-install the cranks; you would get approximately one creak-free ride. This problem was eventually solved by upgrading to a uni with a lot less than 48 splines on the hub. Which finally happened in 2016.
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I thougt Iād bumb this one as I just got a question about some creaking sound from a 36āer. Thereās a good chance a lot of people here didnāt know about the truobleshooting list which can be found at the beginning of this thread
By chance I started to have a clicking sound (again) on one of my unis and was just thinking about this thread myself.
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