Silencing the Px Maratona

paulbnix

I recently replaced my Px Pro Carbon frame with a Px Maratona frame (the Pro Carbon broke).

The Maratona comes the wonderfully aero internal cable routing.

I have SRAM Etap so I've only got the rear brake cable to worry about - and it made a din - gentle rattles on normal roads and noisy cracks over bumps.

The problem is the rear brake cable enters and leaves on the left hand side so runs along the wall of the top tube. My other bike is a Boardman Road Comp that has internal routing for the rear brake but that enters on the right hand side and leaves on the left.

Noisy bikes annoy me so I have had a number of goes at fixing it.

I ended up running the cable in some ptfe tubing (bought from RS) and forcing chunks of a foam tube used for swimming (from Decathlon) down the top tube from the headset, where there is fortunately a hole.

That nearly sorted it - the last fix was to stick a bit of cushioned handle bar tape on the headtube where the outer cable ran past it.

The Maratona is a light frame (995g) so maybe that increases the noise it can generate.

Anyhow I'm now looking forward to my next SILENT ride :-)

Matthewfalle

Brilliant stuff - thank you very much. Really helpful tip for Maratona owners.

The sort of helpful post that this place needs more of.

Hat.

Any pictures of the bike - sounds cool.

paulbnix

Thanks Matthew.

https://flic.kr/p/Y2A1qY

That was the 1st time out - I've sorted the excess spacers but haven't replaced the Boardman saddle as I find them very comfortable if the wrong colour.

The view is from Pyms Chair near Kettleshulme.

Matthewfalle

Looking good dude - what's the spec on it?

Garry H

Cool bike. Was looking at them the other day.

Would look better with a black saddle and smaller saddle bag though.

I would also point the Garmin mount down a bit. More aero and looks more pro.

paulbnix

I have SRAM Etap shifters and derailleurs, Force chainset and I built the wheels with Miche hubs and Archetype rims.

Garry - I could try pointing the Garmin down a bit then it would look even more more aero than I do :-)
I am still looking for a saddle as comfortable as my Boardman - and black.

Matthewfalle

Have you tried a Selle Italia SLR? Nice and comfy, light, look good, well priced at PX/similar online place.

jermas

On the Maratona I ended up drilling the cable stops (5mm holes) and installing full length cable from the shifter to the rear caliper. It works well and is less fiddly to set up. Oh and silent.

paulbnix

The silencing seems to have worked - if there is any noise then its absorbed into the general bike noise.

I also needed to replace my tyres before a trip to Mallorca - they are Durano 25s that have done about 5k miles.

I decided to try 28s and there is plenty of room for them as the pictures show
https://flic.kr/p/Xos3fS
https://flic.kr/p/Y4gLoo
https://flic.kr/p/Xos41E

The ride is wonderfully plush now.

jermas - using a full length cable is an idea but I would of thought that could rattle around in the top tube or did you restrict it in some way?

jermas

The cable is naturally forced away from the side/bottom of top tube by the angle it enters/leaves the drilled cable stops. I think getting the correct cable length has probably helped -too long and it might rattle.

paulbnix

That makes sense. So you were either skilled or lucky getting the length right :-)
Did you lock the points where the cable passed through the stops or rely on friction?

jermas

If the drilled holes are the correct size, friction holds the cable quite tightly. Cable length is pretty easy to judge and the inherent stiffness of the cable holds it the correct position. If your fix is working I'd stick with that. I was going to use a similar approach but didn't have correct size tubing.
It's a shame the frames aren't fitted with a liner in the first place, but that might add 20g to the weight- losing it its sub 1kg selling point-that's progress.

aki69

Hi Paul, it is a very nice bike! Great post - Many thanks! I have just upgraded from Pro Carbon to Maratona myself (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lpjmjv1h57myp81/WP_20170911_18_33_38_Rich.jpg?dl=0) and had some problems with creaking sounds, too. I used generous amounts of TF2 Lithium grease in the top and bottom "cups" of the head tube. It seems that the horrible noise has gone away. But not completely, because I can still hear some clicking sounds coming from the front of the bike. Your post has shed some more light on it I think. I am on a regular SRAM Rival with all cables installed /routed. I think that the culprit is the right hand side i.e. rear derailleur cable. Not entirely sure how to solve this issue. I must admit that I did not use the short bits of thin pipes that were supplied with the frame. Should I have installed the wee pipes? How? Any help would be appreciated.

paulbnix

Nice bike. I fancied the blue one but could only get the black and green at the sale price.

As I have the luxury of no derailleur cables it's difficult to say what your problem is.

Have you crossed the cables? I've done that previously as it makes the front neater.

You could try the ptfe tubing as it's less than £4 for 5m from RS.

aki69

I have almost (accidentally!) crossed the derailleur cables but have caught myself before it was final i.e. they are not crossed.

I will give the PTFE tubing a try and will report back once done.

Many thanks for the advice.