Rattle from the rear end

supermurph09

My bike has an annoying rattle, worse when over rougher ground, there us nothing obviously wrong so looking for advice of how to stop it.

Things we can probably rule out:

The wheels, it rattled before I put this set on
The cassette, it's tight, has no play in it and doesn't rattle when bounced around off the bike.

Bike: Canyon Ultimate / Ultegra 6800

More info
The gears are indexed nicely, there is no skipping or anything of that nature
The rattling stops when I'm in 50/11, it persists in pretty much every other gear, more prevalent when in the middle of the cassette. There is also a similar sound if I bounce the rear wheel when it's on the bike.

My theory is that it's chain related, if it's in the 50/11 I would presume it's at it's most stretched? (I'm probably wrong).

Any thoughts?

One more thing, could be related, not sure. It's quite hard to get the rear wheel out, if the bike is on the stand, I loosen the QR off (brake pads released too), when I go to push the wheel down it often will simply not go without a bit persuasion. Almost if things aren't aligned correctly.

Bobbinogs

Bottle cage screws/rivets?

LimitedGarry

Might not be relevant to your case, but on my mountain bike, I had this rattle on my bike too. Most irritating on cobble and fast rocky descents.
First i thought it's the bottle cage. Then I blamed the cabling. Then I had no clue what the hell is going on and after changing the chain, no more rattling.

Matthewfalle

Loose chain flapping around?

joe2008

I've just diagnosed a rattle, bottle cage bolt hole had worn too big for the bolt.

keef66

"My theory is that it's chain related, if it's in the 50/11 I would presume it's at it's most stretched? (I'm probably wrong)."

You were correct in saying you're probably wrong. The chain's at it's tightest when you're in the biggest chainring and on the biggest sprocket, so 50/27 or whatever.

I'm always amazed at how much chain noise I can get on a road bike descending a steep hill with a broken road surface. Most noticeable on the alu bike; it's certainly the noise of the chain hitting the chainstay.

You could always whip the chain off at the top of a decent hill and freewheel down to see if it's then silent...

Another annoying rattle turned out to be the contents of my puncture repair kit which I've now silenced with bubble-wrap. And I'm convinced that rechargeable batteries contract as they discharge; my light is always rattlier at the end of a night ride

vpnikolov

Tube valve? Had this issue with mine, taped it up, no more rattling.

pirnie

Internal cables? My brake cable rattles over bumps if it's not tensioned right

supermurph09

vpnikolov wrote:

Tube valve? Had this issue with mine, taped it up, no more rattling.

Unlikely as this was happening with other wheels, I don't get the impression this is where the noise is

pirnie wrote:

Internal cables? My brake cable rattles over bumps if it's not tensioned right

Possibly, I had to have a new bottle bracket cable guide fitted recently so maybe something is not right in this area.

Chain, that's my feeling but as was pointed out not because of my reasoning. Thinking of getting the bike serviced so will probably just mention this and see if they can locate the issue.

Thanks

zefs

Had the same on my bike and it happened when I hadn't tightened the QR correctly. Can you hear it if you apply force on one of the pedals? try with your foot or hands, while holding the bike steady.

supermurph09

zefs wrote:

Had the same on my bike and it happened when I hadn't tightened the QR correctly. Can you hear it if you apply force on one of the pedals? try with your foot or hands, while holding the bike steady.

Oddly enough my rear wheel came loose the other night almost pitching me over the bars, luckily I was on about 15% gradient so no harm done! However, I know it was completely tight before and is tight now and the noise persists.

zefs

If it happens when applying force to the pedals it could be the pedals needing cleaning/new paste or it could be the cables as you mentioned.