Fault diagnosis from sounds...
Betabob
Posts: 11
Ok, first things first, background: I have been riding infrequently for years and what lowly trail skills I have developed over that time do not adequately cover maintenance and repair! I bought my new rig 3 months ago (Kona Kikapu deluxe '05) with the express intention of not only getting more joy out of my trips (mainly Glentress, Ae, Dalbeattie and Mabie) but learning how to keep it all running sweetly as well.
After 3 months of regular thrashings I have developed 2 well... annoyances more than anything else - sounds which may not be causing problems but are probably leading me to some I hope to avoid.
1. An intermittent sound, almost like a snapping or cracking coming from somewhere around the crankset area - no loss in pedalling performance at all, and no pattern such as you get from a dodgy chainlink.
2. A sound from the front suss forks I can only describe as a 'clunk' . The sound appears generally at lower speeds when braking suddenly for obstacles (such as step ups on a tricky uphill section) - again there appears to be no performance loss in the fork although it does seem very slightly harsher/less responsive than when I got it. The sound also never appears when bouncing the forks but can be found reliably by jamming on the front brakes!
It may be worth noting that I have lost 18lbs or so in that same period which is probably why the forks feel less responsive (pre-load adjustment required methinks).
Any ideas or suggestions on things to check (and ideally how to check them!) are most welcome. Oh, and if anyone has any ideas how to limit chainslap please pass on those gems as well, the lizard skin dulls the sound but that lil bugger slaps like hell the whole way round Dalbeattie!
After 3 months of regular thrashings I have developed 2 well... annoyances more than anything else - sounds which may not be causing problems but are probably leading me to some I hope to avoid.
1. An intermittent sound, almost like a snapping or cracking coming from somewhere around the crankset area - no loss in pedalling performance at all, and no pattern such as you get from a dodgy chainlink.
2. A sound from the front suss forks I can only describe as a 'clunk' . The sound appears generally at lower speeds when braking suddenly for obstacles (such as step ups on a tricky uphill section) - again there appears to be no performance loss in the fork although it does seem very slightly harsher/less responsive than when I got it. The sound also never appears when bouncing the forks but can be found reliably by jamming on the front brakes!
It may be worth noting that I have lost 18lbs or so in that same period which is probably why the forks feel less responsive (pre-load adjustment required methinks).
Any ideas or suggestions on things to check (and ideally how to check them!) are most welcome. Oh, and if anyone has any ideas how to limit chainslap please pass on those gems as well, the lizard skin dulls the sound but that lil bugger slaps like hell the whole way round Dalbeattie!
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Comments
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Noises can be confusing - can come from alomost anywhere. Its a process of elimination to find it. Park Tools have an outstanding article on this. What fork is it? Could be that the bushings are starting to wear.0
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If by "which fork" you mean the left or right then I have no idea as my hearing isn't that precise! If you mean the make, it's a Marzocchi MX Comp (non-eta).
I'll check the park tools website later tonight and see if I can find the article you mentioned. Thanks for the tip.
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Lost me there, I said 'what fork is it', which I thought would have been plainly obvious!0
