Ksyrium front hub noise

triban

Morning all!

last night after refitting my front Ksyrium elite and spinning it by hand i discovered a rubbing noise coming from the front hub. it happens once per turn of the wheel and sounds similar to the sound of a wheel rim rubbing on a brake pad (but it's not this!)

i found if a loosen the QR this eliminates the noise, but i'm not overly happy with how tight the QR is. Or, i can loosen the bearing to eliminate the noise, but that then introduces some play. i adjusted the bearing with the wheel fitted and the QR at a happy tightness using the special QRM tool.

any ideas what i can try next? i'm assuming there should be no play in the hub when the wheel is fitted.

thanks for any advice!

ugo.santalucia

It's not about having ideas... it's a front hub, a simple creature... one axle, two bearings one preload cap. If it's not the preload cap too tight, then it is the bearings which are shot. Take to the shop if under warranty, otherwise dismantle and reassemble yourself

jordan_217

Does it sound like a metallic scratching/rubbing?

Give them a good clean. My front Elite hub makes the noise of debris stuck between the rim and block if I've been on a particularly wet/cruddy ride.

triban

Thanks for the replies!

it's a scratchy sound...

they've only done about 400 miles, but over some muddy roads.

i'm happy to try giving them a clean before sending them back incase that's all it is, it is possible there's some grit in there considering some of the conditions i've ridden recently.

i don't know how to do this though! :oops: if i just keep loosening the bearing preload/ QRM will it eventually open up?


thanks!

buckmulligan

Man, someone should really make a sticky thread about this because it comes up all the time.

More than likely, it is some grit that has found it's way in between the the 'hub cover' and the 'hub body'. When the wheel spins, the cover stays still and the body moves and you get this scratchy metallic sound maybe once per rev. All you need to do is remove the skewer, stick a hex key in either end of the axle (the silver metallic bit in the photo below, I believe one side is 5mm and the other 6mm) and unscrew it.



Give everything a really good clean, the axle, the inner surfaces of the hub covers the outer surfaces of the hub body and as far inside the hub as you can. Reassemble everything, tighten up the axle again (not sure what the official torque is, but 5-10Nm should suffice) and adjust the bearing preload with the little plastic Mavic tool if required.

Sorted.

jordan_217

BuckMulligan wrote:

Man, someone should really make a sticky thread about this because it comes up all the time.

More than likely, it is some grit that has found it's way in between the the 'hub cover' and the 'hub body'. When the wheel spins, the cover stays still and the body moves and you get this scratchy metallic sound maybe once per rev. All you need to do is remove the skewer, stick a hex key in either end of the axle (the silver metallic bit in the photo below, I believe one side is 5mm and the other 6mm) and unscrew it.



Give everything a really good clean, the axle, the inner surfaces of the hub covers the outer surfaces of the hub body and as far inside the hub as you can. Reassemble everything, tighten up the axle again (not sure what the official torque is, but 5-10Nm should suffice) and adjust the bearing preload with the little plastic Mavic tool if required.

Sorted.

We need a [thumbs up] smiley!

triban

Thank you BuckMulligan! <insert thumbs up smiley here>

i'm trying to do all my own maintenance, but i get a bit nervy with jobs i haven't done before as i don't want to wreck something expensive! not had to go to the LBS with anything yet though, i think you've all just saved me a trip, thanks

i'll give that a try later and let you know how it goes!

buckmulligan

Yeah, I was a bit apprehensive when I started stripping my nice new(ish) wheels apart, but with the front hub especially you can't go wrong, there's hardly anything to them. They are sealed cartridge bearings underneath that hub cover, so you don't even have greasy ball bearings to deal with. Good luck!

mikenetic

Another possible cause is that on mine there was a code stamped on the inside of the hub cover.

For some reason that's raised off the surface, and was catching on a metal surface inside the hub body. Only happened when the bearings were adjusted, presumably as the preload cap was pressed ever so slightly further into the hub body.

ugo.santalucia

It's bizarre, as Mavic hasn't changed the design of that preload cap since the days of the Mavic 500 hubs, so that's 25-30 years or so and generally they are trouble free (my Mavic 500 certainly is)

triban

Well, cleaning didn't help, not that there was anything clean... it was spotless!

what i did find though was that on the inside of hub cover (non-adjustment side) there was a patch at the outer edge that was clearly scratched. it's seems that the hub cover must be slightly deformed, and as the hub rotates and the cover stays still, it catches at this same point and lightly scratches the inside of the hub cover. there's no sign that anything mechanical is being damaged.

the bearings seem just fine with no signs of wear or being sratched and the wheel spins freely. i figure i might just dab a little grease on the inside of the hub cover for now and just check it in a few hundred miles.

mikenetic - i see what you mean about the raised lettering! seems like a bad design. did you shave the letter down on yours or have you just left it wear down?

thanks again - at least i am now confident at tackling another aspect of bike maintenance!

mikenetic

ugo.santalucia wrote:

It's bizarre, as Mavic hasn't changed the design of that preload cap since the days of the Mavic 500 hubs, so that's 25-30 years or so and generally they are trouble free (my Mavic 500 certainly is)

It's weird. I've ridden two sets of Elites.

One had a tick tick that was definitely caused by the raised lettering (if you spun the wheel in a stand and pressed gently over the spot where the lettering was it got louder) and another set that are totally silent. I presume they have really close tolerances.

buckmulligan

Hmmm, that's odd but I guess at least you've ascertained the source of the noise now! Yeah, I'd go for the dab of grease for now.

Don't be afraid to strip down and service your freehub on the rear wheel as well, it's not much more complicated than the front hub and will definitely keep it running smooth.