Terry Peterson posted some very helpful info in 2010 about this problem.
Unfortunately, it appears in (almost) 2014 that Kris Holm has not fixed it, and UDC no longer replaces these hubs, apparently because KH doesn’t cover them under warranty in this case. Josh said the Nimbus hub would never have this problem because it is welded instead of pressed. It is also a lot cheaper. He also said “All KH hubs creak,” and that the creaking won’t lead to any mechanical failure, so I guess I’ll just keep rolling and not bother replacing anything, but I thought y’all should know about this. I had thought it was a spoke problem at first, but when I tightened all my spokes 1/2 a turn, the noise only got louder and more frequent, becoming more of a clatter than a creak. I assume there’s no DIY remedy, but if anyone has any suggestions, please share. Would it be a bad idea to re-loosen my spokes?
Did your spokes need to be tightened? 1/2 turn can be a lot depending on how tight your spokes were to start with. Also how many spokes your rim has will factor into it also.
36 spokes. Tightening them was suggested by people on this forum and by Josh at UDC as a way to fix the creaking problem, I don’t think the spokes needed it, but tightening them at least helped to figure out that the problem was elsewhere.
You could take it into a bike shop and see what they think. If you’re confident with what you feel is right, do that.
When I built my first wheel I just kept taking it into my local bike shop and asking the owner “Do these spokes feel right?” First time he said no, so I took it home and worked on it some more. Second time he said it looked great!
Referring back to the original thread it’s interesting that in some cases Triflow was able to penetrate. I would suggest green loctite applied to the same spot, the body/flange interface. If your hub is making noise something is moving. The loctite should wick into the joint and set up once it’s in there.
Just a warning: green loctite is runny like water, and once it sets it is stronger than the blue. Make sure you don’t get it anywhere near your bearings.
Maybe I should have searched the forum more for this topic before starting a thread, but the fact that this creaky KH hub problem continues to exist 2.5 years after this thread was started seems worthy of note. It’s kind of surprising that KH hasn’t dealt with this problem by now. I suppose everyone who buys a new uni should first search the forums for each of its components, but that seems like a lot of trouble, especially when the components are in the KH price range. There’s even a post or two on Nurse Ben’s thread suggesting that these creaking hubs will eventually start to slip(!)
Hey jtrops, thanks for your always helpful posts! The only thread I found where somebody reported success at fixing this problem, though, it sounded like he had a lot of tools. A crank puller is about as sophisticated as I get these days, and anyway, I bought this uni less than a month ago. One guy on the forum said he had fixed it with green Loctite, but that it only held for one ride. For the vast majority of people reporting this problem, UDC just replaced their hub, but apparently that is no longer their policy.
It’s their published policy to replace anything that develops any kind of problem within 30 days. So they must be redefining a squeaky hub as not being a problem.
Yeah, that’s sort of what was implied to me over the phone, I think. The guy was talking pretty fast, and offered to sell me a replacement KH or Nimbus hub at a reduced price, so I guess he was acknowledging that the creaking hub is sort of a problem while at the same time assuring me that the creak wouldn’t lead to mechanical failure. But a number of people on this forum have suggested that creaky hubs do indeed fail. In any case, I’m not enormously heavy (185lbs), and aside from one-foot idling, I still haven’t done anything on that new uni that I didn’t do on my old $30 learner, so you’d think a KH20FL wheelset with a 2.4" tire… Anyway, thanks for posting that image of the quality guarantee.
“Clicky” is actually a better description than “creaky” for the sound coming out of my hub. Bearing pullers seem to come in an almost infinite variety of shapes, sizes and price ranges. Is there one in particular that you recommend?
I have a very simple and strong one, I’ve had experience with a few other ones. Most of the time they just bend or dont fit between the hub flange and the bearing. I bought mine at the local hardware store.
If I recall, the one I borrowed (free) from AutoZone looked like this:
There is clearly a lot of force involved and I was worried the bearing would just break apart. I recall snapping or creaking sounds as it slowly pulled off. I was nervous the whole time. But it worked for me, for two bearings, so I’d probably do it again this way if I ever need to.
The tool screws down and pushes against the end of the axle. I put something on the end of the axle so the tool wouldn’t hurt the axle hole/threads. I think I just used a flat handle of a small crescent wrench set on top. If you do this work, take care to analyze what you’re doing and make conservative judgments like this to avoid causing more problems.
