Rattle and knocking noises - help / advise please!

dubbs2009
dubbs2009 Posts: 310
edited September 2014 in Road general
Hi Chaps,

I appreciate diagnosing a technical issue via the interweb forum is not idea - but just looking for some likely suggestions about the issue I have with my bike...

For a long time I have had a rattle from somewhere within the bike, I had assumed it was something within the main frame heading down to the bottom bracket area - like a loose bit in likely connection with the internal wire routing... Lately I have now also noticed that if I turn the bars fully left and right I get a knocking / creaking noise when the bars are turned fully left / right... Is my headset knackered?

All bolts on stem, headcap are tight....

Any ideas? Is it a local bike shop job, or can I take a look and asses the damage myself? I don't have a massive amount of specialised tools and don't want to mess around if its a tricky job.

Please advise / ask any questions to help diagnose the issue...

Also - how dangerous is this likely to be? I have been riding it for a while like this...

Comments

  • BrandonA
    BrandonA Posts: 553
    It could be any of your contact points so it would be hard for people who have never seen your bike and heard it to offer an opinion.

    Do you have spare parts? You could for example switch wheels and see if it persists. Or change the saddle and/or seat post.

    You might also want to check the torque values for things like the stem, handlebars, seat post and saddle. If these are wrong it could cause creaking. Similarly, remove your wheels and re-seat them. Can you remove and clear your crank, if so do it?

    In regards to a noise when you steer, one of my cables got knocked and it ended up going behind another one (when looking at the bike from the front). The effort of this was that it took the cable to close to the frame, therefore when I turned it knocked against the frame and made a noise. Changing the wire positioning back to the original ordering resolved this issue.
  • dubbs2009
    dubbs2009 Posts: 310
    Thanks Brandon.

    RE: the rattle - its defo the frame, have taken everything off and its still there :) I can live with it although it is annoying..

    What's more worrying is the clunk coming from headset - I will give it a propper clean down and re-grease in a couple of days - its not the cables making the noise - think maybe the bearings need replacing if the clean and re-grease does not work

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