Mavic wheels - noise when braking.

crescent

Just returned from my first ride on my new BMC Teammachine. Very pleased with it, it is lovely. However, when braking, I noticed a brief rubbing sound on both the front and back wheels. It happens once per revolution and I suspect it may be the joint in the rim that is causing it. I can feel the joint in the rim with my fingernail but it does not seem particularly pronounced compared to my other bikes. The wheels are Mavic Aksium Elite and the brakes are Ultegra. I have had plenty of new wheels before (although no Mavics) but never experienced this phenomenon before. Is it a characteristic of Mavic wheels or indicative of some other issue? Will it disappear after a few more miles? It has literally done 20 miles so far. I intend to change the wheels for a set of CERO AR24s that I have spare but I would still like to get to the botom of this issue.
Thanks for any advice.
Cheers.

Vino'sGhost

is it a rubbing sound of brake against rim or a rubnoise that happens without touching the brake? I have the latter on a set of wheels then they juddered under heavy breaking, then they (front wheel) collapsed. I inspected thoroughly prior to that and all looked and felt fine, it may have been coincidence.

edit: the noise was almost like there was a very small piece of leaf stuck to the tyre.

crescent

It’s definitely rubbing of brake against rim. Best guess is once per revolution as the frequency does change as the bike slows down. It is like some irregularity on each of the rims that is catching the brake each time it goes round, hence why I suspect it is the joint on the rim. Another possibility is where I removed a small warning sticker from each of the rims, they could be catching on the sticky residue, despite my best efforts to clean it off. It is difficult to recreate the noise off the bike because when I spin the wheel by hand and apply the brake it just stops instantly whereas it takes a few revolutions when I am riding the bike to a stop.

Vino'sGhost

sounds like a wheel true issue then or possibly the glue. If youve checked true the clean the rims with acetone or similar so theyre grease free and see

paul_the_pedaller

Some wheels have a small lip where the rim joint is, Aksiums seem to suffer from this. Mine did initially, once the rims wear, which won't take long in my experience, it'll stop. Then you'll need to buy some more!

craigus89

Happens with cheap wheels, the rim joint has a little lip. I had the same on my Fulcrums but it is less noticeable now after 3,000 miles or so.

zefs

I have the Ksyrium's but the only time I have experienced rubber noise is when something was stuck in the rim surface (fron wheel only). Try to clean the residue from the stickers with acetone.

i.bhamra

It doesn't take much of a lip where the rim is joined to cause this, it'll will likely go away eventually. If its really bothering you, you can lightly sand out the rise with some fine sand paper.

svetty

paul_the_pedaller wrote:

Some wheels have a small lip where the rim joint is, Aksiums seem to suffer from this. Mine did initially, once the rims wear, which won't take long in my experience, it'll stop. Then you'll need to buy some more!

^this

crescent

Thanks for the replies. I’ll check the rims again for anomalies and give it a few more runs to see if it improves before I commit to changing the wheels for the CEROs. The Mavics will probably go on my winter bike eventually when the current Fulcrums reach the end of their life.
Cheers.

ex-pat scot

Probably the join - the rims are welded together and even the best of welds will have some surface non-flatness.

I have Mavic SLE (Exalith braking surface) wheels. THey sound like a cat in a blender when braking hard. It's better than a foghorn for warning traffic, pedestrians etc.