When I hop and even ride ride, sometimes my unicycle makes a weird creaking noise. It seems like my cranks, hub, and just everything are pushing down on my spokes making them make the really loud noise of a bunch of spokes being pushed together, anyone have this similar problem, is threating, should I take it to the lbs and get a check up on it or what. I Have tried tightening the spokes myself, but they just kept doing it.
this is a normal problem, usually solved by tightening everything including the spokes. that’s how I fixed it, anyhoo, I think there is a better way, someone with more experience will probably post here in a second.
Yeah, well my weight is what is really making them do it bad. My friend, he weighs about 145 or 150 or something and it dosen’t do it for him, unless he hops on it, then it slightly does it. And I weigh 220, and it does it everynow and then when I push my crank down.
Are you sure it’s the spokes …?
Is the sound at a certain point in the wheel rotation ?
If so …
Take a look at the axle where the bearing holders are …
(remove the bearing holders)
See if you have scrapes on the axel where the bearing holder was…
If you do … you need to file the bearing holder like I did.
You might try simply ignoring the creaking of the spokes (if that is in fact what’s making the noises) and see if the noise goes away. When my dx24 came the wheel was actually built off center. I simply loosened all spokes on one side and tightened them on the other (1/4 turn at a time of course) until it was centered. After this I experienced some creaking, but a friend advised me to just deal with it. If the tension is ok and you’ve checked that none are too loose or too tight, the creaking will likely just work itself out and stop. My experience is only with my own and friends uni’s creaking from time to time, but I do not believe that its a sign of a real problem.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
-Jeremy
We are pretty sure it’s the spokes, becuase when we push them together it makes the same noise we hear when I am riding. But I will look at the axel. Should I look only on the axel, or on the axel and bearing holder?
If you have scraping … you will see loss of paint on both surfaces.
… you could try some WD40 on the spokes
there are some places on my spokes wehre there is paints missing where they intersec.t
I think tightening your spokes will probably fix the problem, then they won’t move around and rub on each other.
ahhh … I was wondering about that myself …
My DX is still relatively new… so, mine doesnt do that yet…
I’d spray the spoke interestions for awhile , until they ‘settle’
My unicycle is only close to two weeks old. I am hell on unicycles, I am probably buying a KH 2005 model in a couple months whenever I get my 500 bucks. I figure it isn’t anything to problematic but i’m just kinda scared becuase I broke my LX becuase of my weight, and now this is starting to happen.
My trials is making funny noises, and I need to tighten the spokes. I’d bet that’s your problem, though without a really good description, I don’t think there’s anything specific to say. tighten everything. cranks, bearing holders, spokes, the works.
That’s a good thing to do as a general principal.
Tightening all the spokes evenly won’t help. Look for extra loose and extra tight ones, and just deal with those. Only tighten them all if they all feel loose.
my DX had a similar crackling sound when i first got it, so i tightend everything and it got worse, pulled it apart and the bearing was cracked, the whole wall of the bearing was caving in,
wasn’t happy, ment i had to wait a few more weeks to ride it, till i received my new bearing.
I’m gonna take it to a local bike shop tomarow, or today. Hopefully they know enough about unicycles to help me out.
TORKER IS THE DEVIL
The Torker DX is a good uni, you just have to take some initiative to assemble and tune it properly. Ignoring the problem or squirting WD40 on the spokes it not very good advice…unless you want a toasted your wheel in a few weeks.
The DX wheel is built by a machine and needs human intervention to get it up to par. My came making a horrible creaking noise when you rode it…it was from the loose spokes. In the bike shop we always had to true up the wheels of the mass produced bikes we sold…that’s one of the reason you pay more form a bike shop (or uni.com?).
Taking it to a shop is the best thing you can do.
if you WD40 your spokes there is a chance you will get it on your rimstrip your tube or your tire. this will cause your tire to dry out really quickly and CRACK! that would be bad.
once you get the wheel trued and the spokes tensioned. take the wheel off the frame and take the cranks and bearings off and put anti seaze on the splines the spacers and the inside of the spline cranks. you can get anti seaze at any automotive supply store. i buy it in single serving packets looks like ketchup packs for 1$ each. use one for each side.
reatach tightening the axlebolt all the way first then tighten the pinch bolts. if you wheel still creeks a bit it could just be weather related cold and hot compression and you will just have to ride it out.