Utterly Hacked Off With My Bike

Secteur

In the 3 months I have had my 2010 Spec Secteur Comp I have had nothing but trouble - I can only remember a handful of times I have managed to achieve a state of "silent running". Every time I go out it's a series of knocks, clicks and taps that really spoil the fun.

Most of the problems I've had have been minor (see multiple past threads), but they just keep on coming.

Now the back wheel is making a racket & ?grinding when it spins freely. Gave it a good clean but to no avail.

I don't have the knowledge / expertise to take the bearing apart and re-grease it (which i think is what it needs), which means ANOTHER trip back to the bike shop - I am genuinely embarrassed to have to go back to them AGAIN - it's getting silly.

How fragile are road bikes - is it me? Am I doing something wrong, or do they need constant love, attention & stripping/regreasing every second week?

Really, genuinely fed up!

Sigh.

Billy Dunlop

Get some ear plugs

procyclist

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.
Don't be ashamed at going back to your LBS all the time

trtimothy

check the basics: is the wheel in correctly, is chain rubbing on front derailleur, are brake pads rubbing, is the wheel true?

If not sounds like you've had some bad luck and its the freehub bearings in the wheel. Take it to the LBS, its their job and if they're any good they'll be happy to help. I've had weeks where been in to the bike shop 4-5 times in a week!

road bikes need a clean and some lube putting on every 3-400km but normally nothing too major.

ShutUpLegs

You are using your bike too much.

They are meant to be cleaned, polished, photographed and occasionally used on a sunny sunday.

desweller

procyclist wrote:

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.

DON'T do this. It will do a very effective job of washing the grease out of the bearings and freehub.

I recommend you buy yourself some cone spanners and have a go at doing it yourself. You'll gain understanding about the way it works and that knowledge will stand you in good stead later on. Very few of us learned how to maintain our bikes by reading about it in a book or on the internet.

procyclist

DesWeller wrote:

procyclist wrote:

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.

DON'T do this. It will do a very effective job of washing the grease out of the bearings and freehub.

I recommend you buy yourself some cone spanners and have a go at doing it yourself. You'll gain understanding about the way it works and that knowledge will stand you in good stead later on. Very few of us learned how to maintain our bikes by reading about it in a book or on the internet.

disagree - WD40 solves most things on a bike

desweller

procyclist wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

procyclist wrote:

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.

DON'T do this. It will do a very effective job of washing the grease out of the bearings and freehub.

I recommend you buy yourself some cone spanners and have a go at doing it yourself. You'll gain understanding about the way it works and that knowledge will stand you in good stead later on. Very few of us learned how to maintain our bikes by reading about it in a book or on the internet.

disagree - WD40 solves most things on a bike

Bearings require grease. WD40 contains solvents. Solvents will wash the grease out beautifully. Trust me - I'm an engineer.

lostboysaint

procyclist wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

procyclist wrote:

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.

DON'T do this. It will do a very effective job of washing the grease out of the bearings and freehub.

I recommend you buy yourself some cone spanners and have a go at doing it yourself. You'll gain understanding about the way it works and that knowledge will stand you in good stead later on. Very few of us learned how to maintain our bikes by reading about it in a book or on the internet.

disagree - WD40 solves most things on a bike

In what respect? As the poster suggested (correctly) it will do a good job of cleaning absolutely EVERYTHING out including any grease or other lubricant. WD40 isn't a lubricant so will provide no protection to anything so wear will be accelerated. It's a seriously short term solution for anything other than cleaning shit out and then being wiped off and proper lubricant materials for the situation being used.

procyclist

It will flush the grit out. The grit is making the knocking noise. Simple

desweller

To the OP: find out how the hub is disassembled, get a pot of bearing grease from Halfords (£6) and have a go at it. You'll have fun and it won't be as hard as you think. You can always pop on here for advice if you get stuck.

keef66

You need to find out if it's the hub or the freehub internals making the noise when freewheeling.

Actually, if it is only when freewheeling, it must be the freehub.

If it's anything like my Shimano RS10 one it's easy to remove the cassette, take off the freehub body, whip out the seal at the back and drizzle loads of oil into the bearings. That should flush out any old oil and muck and shut it up.

While the freehub's off you may as well check the bearings. Mine are cup & cone so I clean and repack with grease. If yours are cartridge type you don't get that option. They shouldn't be knackered after just 3 months though.

I get the impression that road bikes are not quite as robust as MTBs; I think the seals are often inadequate for year round use. Mind you, they don't weigh 40 pounds either.

Secteur

I have the Haynes Bike Maintenance book, but the pictures & tools in there seemed to bear little relation to the tools & hub that I had in front of me! So I didnt try.

I have a good tool set and I reckon I could do it, but I just dont know how!

desweller

OK, don't panic. It will not be too hard - bike stuff rarely is.

As Keef says, first establish where the sound is coming from. So take the wheel out of the bike and turn the axle without turning the cassette. Does it feel smooth or is it rumbly? If it's smooth then you've not got a bearing problem.

Secteur

Will have a look on YouTube later - probably will be something there. That said, the LBS will sort it in 5 mins free-of-charge, and hopefully give me a tutorial at the same time!

rothers_bikeo

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/hub-overhaul-and-adjustment

desweller

Oh, well, if it's free...

procyclist

Secteur wrote:

Will have a look on YouTube later - probably will be something there. That said, the LBS will sort it in 5 mins free-of-charge, and hopefully give me a tutorial at the same time!

They'll spray it with WD40

lostboysaint

procyclist wrote:

Secteur wrote:

Will have a look on YouTube later - probably will be something there. That said, the LBS will sort it in 5 mins free-of-charge, and hopefully give me a tutorial at the same time!

They'll spray it with WD40

Which will allow the bearings to wear faster meaning the customer will be back for more work later............. self perpetuating work and therefore income.

In the meantime a proper bike shop or a mechanic with a bit of knowledge will clean it out and re-grease it for many, many trouble free miles.

ShutUpLegs

What bike is it?

Secteur

well, LBS open till 8pm tonight and I finish work early at 5:30, so will go straight over and see what they can sort for me.

thanks for the advice.

MattC59

procyclist wrote:

Flush out the rear block with WD40 if its making a grinding sound - might just be a bit gritty in there.
Don't be ashamed at going back to your LBS all the time

Technically correct folks, as the block is the cassette only, not the free hub. So if you take the cassette off and give it a good blast with WD40 it will clear any filth out of there and rinse it away.

But, to echo what everyone else said, don't use WD40 anywhere else, it has minimal lubricating properties. In the words of WD40 (I emailed them) "it does not have the shear strength capacity to be used as a cycle chain lubricant"

desweller

I wouldn't risk getting any good solvents near the hubs, I speak from experience. As a teenager I once used petrol to clean my 7-speed freewheel.

Although it was lovely and clean it didn't perform too well after that.

keef66

If your LBS will do it for nowt, that's the safest thing to do. Better still if you can watch while they do it.

Bar Shaker

Albeit on a mtb, I wrecked a freehub some years ago by filling it with WD40. It was fine for 2 months then the paws seized up.

Most likely your grinding sound is bearings. Check that the cones are set at the correct pressure, or get an LBS to do this for you.

Secteur

LBS took the cassette off (I now know how to do this) and noted that my wheels have "self-contained" hubs which can't be opened or greased - he said it felt very slightly rough, but really nothing to worry about. He replaced the cassette and when I tried it out it was fine.

Maybe just needed a good deep clean?

Maybe I worry too much about these things?!

greasedscotsman

Secteur wrote:

LBS took the cassette off (I now know how to do this) and noted that my wheels have "self-contained" hubs which can't be opened or greased - he said it felt very slightly rough, but really nothing to worry about. He replaced the cassette and when I tried it out it was fine.

Maybe just needed a good deep clean?

Maybe I worry too much about these things?!

But is it still making a noise?

danowat

Secteur wrote:

Maybe I worry too much about these things?!

^ This

Secteur

It still makes a **slight** sound, above what I consider to be normal, but it is vastly better.

Weird thing is that he really didn't do anything - just took the cassette off we both had a look - nil to see - put cassette back on & that was that, but it worked!

After this, and a good clean, last night it was running much more quietly - probably normally.

Pross

What wheels have you got? The hubs on my R500s got knackered in about 12 months of fairly light use and apparently are prone to letting in water and muck from the road.

Secteur

STandard supplied Specialized "Pro 2" tyres, from memory. Bike is Spec Secteur Comp (2010)

EDIT - sorry, that's tyres, not wheels - not sure what wheels it has.