Rear cassetete advice

logitech208

Hi first post here and I have a problem :oops:

I bought my first road bike last week and am totally loving it, but I seem to have developed a clicking noise whch I have determined is coming from the rear cassetete all the gears run very smooth but it clicks and the more power I put down the louder it gets.

I have had a look at the cassetete and it seems to wobble ever so slightly if i turn the bike upside down and spin the wheel fast its like its got a bit of flex to it but the rear wheel apears to be true should the cassetete have a small bit of flexibilty or not.

I have taken the wheel off and checked the cassetete and by hand it seems tight enough.

Thank you in advance.

james-m-h

dunno but from what i see on this site when something goes wrong we blame wiggle

Mad Roadie

it does sound like the cassette may be ever so slightly loose on the hub - needs the right tool and a bit of grunt (LBS if you are not sure). but if.. if if seems worse when you are 3-4 gears up from your smallest, but maybe less in the lowest (biggest) gear... then I'd be almost certain that was it.

can you get hold of the cassette and see if there is any movement at all between the cogs - should be none

TanukiRider

also check the freehub on your wheel - freind of mine had the same problem on a long ride, turned out his freehub wasnt well.

Mad Roadie, can you please remove your profile pic of my missus?

logitech208

Thanks for the replys Mad Roadie your description sounds pretty much spot on, I have only been able to have a look at the cassette by hand as I dont have the tools needed to take it off, I bought the bike from Wiggle and to be honest I am not 100% happy with the tuning of the gears although to be fair I have done 150 miles in the week I have had it so it probally needs retuning anyway.

I am able to adjust the rear mech fine but the front mech is some sort of voodoo magical art so I am going to pop into my LBS later today so they can have look for me.

Dancing Bear

TanukiRider
its your Mrs is it - when I had her she said she was single !

Logitech I think mad Roadie is right on this one - if so no amount of rear mech tinkering will fix it, and it might sound worse in the gear in the middle of the cassette

logitech208

LBS wanted £20 to tighten the cassette as this is there minium spend which I thought was a bit steep considering I can buy a fairly ok tool kit for £30.

andrewjoseph

logitech208 wrote:

LBS wanted £20 to tighten the cassette as this is there minium spend which I thought was a bit steep considering I can buy a fairly ok tool kit for £30.

Ridiculous! 2 minutes work... minimum spend!!

Go to a different shop and ask there.

Be aware, most freehubs I have seen have a little movement in them. when the cassette is spinning you can see a slight wobble.

Mad Roadie

logitech208 wrote:

LBS wanted £20 to tighten the cassette as this is there minium spend which I thought was a bit steep considering I can buy a fairly ok tool kit for £30.

a rip off - name and shame

turnerjohn

the cassette may need a small 1mm washer that sits behind the cassette. I've found different wheelsets need slightly different spacing; my zipps need 1mm whereas my Mavic Rsys need 2mm or the alloy spacer provided. You could find when the cassette is torqued in its still loose. mind you it may also sort the issue, cassettes dont often work loose if their torqued correctly in the first instance.

Oh yeh and that bike shops a rip off :shock:

tigerben

Loose cassettes can make a racket. I recently switched wheels - and new wheels had PMP hubs which required a special adaptor to tighten and unfortunately this adapter was too big for my adjustable spanner.... so I tried bodging and I thought I got it pretty tight - say less than 1-2 mm of flex.

However when i spun the wheel it made such a racket that I had to do 1hr round trip to the shops to get a bigger spanner... proper tool obtained job done in seconds.

Your LBS is being a rip off - you can get a chain whip / cassette adaptor for sub £10 if you shop around and it is a very straightforward task once you have the correct tools.

Gizmodo

Mad Roadie wrote:

logitech208 wrote:

LBS wanted £20 to tighten the cassette as this is there minium spend which I thought was a bit steep considering I can buy a fairly ok tool kit for £30.

a rip off - name and shame

Definitely! I just got my old MTB back from my LBS, they refitted, greased and tightened the bottom bracket and indexed the rear gears for me so I can give it to my nephew. £12.

Thank you Cycleshack, Cannock, great job.