Are the spokes on my coker supposed to ‘ping’? It’s a sound similar to what I would expect if the plastic bit on my shoe laces were draging against the spokes. But they aren’t.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Cathy
this happens a lot to a lot of people. just make sure nothing mechanically wrong with the wheel and if so, then ignore it and it will usually go away.
Nothing to worry about, if the wheel looks straight.
If you ping all the spokes one by one, you may find one that rings “flat” or not at all. If so, you could ask your local bike shop to nip it up a bit tighter. It’s a small job. If you remove the wheel from the frame, and remove the tyre and tube, they might not even charge you for a 2 minute job tightening a couple of loose spokes.
A spoke cycle wheel is a dynamic structure like a suspension bridge. The load on each spoke changes as the wheel spins. The spokes are under slightly varying degrees of tension anyway because no rim is absolutely perfect.
Each spoke crosses three others, coming into physical contact with two of them. As the loads change, the spokes may rub slightly which can make these noises. Also, the spokes will expand or contract with changes of temperature, and the surfaces will become more or less slippery with changes of humidity.
Nothing to worry about.