Squeak identification

Jonesinamilion

What are your techniques for squeak identification?

Had the bike on the rear wheel whilst pushing it around the garden and there is definatley a faint but high pitch squeak from the rear end and its bugging me.

Must be either the cassette, the hub, a rub on the pads or the derailleur. I'd say it squeaks only once per full rotation of the wheel.

What's your money on?
Are there any squeak identification techniques that you use?

I

LimitedGarry

Just go through the process of elimination. Determine when and where exactly is the squeaking coming from.

Brakes are usually the most common source of squeaking. Inspecting visually should be enough to determine whether there is any rubbing occurring. Brakes are also the easiest to fix, only an allen key is required. If dealing with a warped disk, then in really depends on the extent of the warp, but still it isn't a rocket surgery to fix.

If the squeaking is only occurring when pushing the bike slowly, is hard to reproduce and isn't very loud, there's a good chance it will go away shortly.

If the squeaking is loud and happens even when riding, try to reproduce it while having the bike standing still (turning wheels, cranks etc.) The problematic thing is that even when you know exactly where it's coming from and how to reproduce it, you still may have hard time determining what exactly is causing it, in which case I'd recommend visiting your shop and showing them how to reproduce the issue.

Also, if you intend to take the bike to your shop, don't just tell them "something is squeaking somewhere". They might as well end up lubing the chain and calling it fixed. Give them specific problems to fix.