I’m in need of some advice from someone who knows something about bikes (I don’t. As a triathlete, I consider it my duty to remain as ignorant possible).
Today I did a century ride with a heckovalota climbing. All was going well until about 3/4 of the way through when, during a particularly nasty descent, a horrible high pitched screeching started coming from what I think was the rear wheel. Freaked me out (I’m not a great descender). It kept happening occasionally throughout the last 20 miles of the ride, sometimes with or without a nasty vibration.
Pedalling seemed to shut it up. So did shifting.
I’ve owned this bike for 4 years now. Done a lot of distance an a lot of fast descents. This is the first time this has happened.
Note: - I recently put a new cassette of the rear wheel;
- bearings are about a year old;
- bike was clean and shiny (I gave it a good degreasing the day before the ride).
Anyone know what’s going on? My Google Fu has let me down.
Is it a Mavic rear wheel? Mavic uses a yellow bushing in their freehubs that need to be re lubed with mineral oil about once a year. If they go a long time without lube they can “burn” and cause a noise similar to what you are hearing.
Mavic uses a yellow bushing in their freehubs that need to be re lubed with mineral oil about once a year. If they go a long time without lube they can “burn” and cause a noise similar to what you are hearing.
That sounds like a distinct possibility. Given that my tri-bike is much, much better (and by “better” I mean “more expensive”) than my road bike, I tend to neglect maintenance on the roadie more than I should, despite the fact that I put in about 3 times the miles on the road bike than the tri-bike.
I’ll give things a good lube (giggle) and if the screeching keeps happening, it’ll be off to the LBS.
I’ll give things a good lube (giggle) and if the screeching keeps happening, it’ll be off to the LBS.
You need to remove the freehub to do it properly. It’s easy, but you may not be comfortable with that. You could try dripping lube between the large cog and the hub… that’s where the bushing is. Plain mineral oil is what they recommend.
See if you can rock the freehub. If it is worn you can make it rock a bit by pushing back and forth on the cluster.
If it is worn you need to have the bushing replaced. If it is worn a lot, then you need to replace it with an oversized bushing… and Mavic doesn’t make one. You can however buy these on ebay. And replacing it is very easy when you remove the freehub. There are videos on youtube.
All - simply removing, cleaning, and re-lubricating the interior of the freehub body will cure this problem. It’s exactly as everyone has described. It’s quite simple. just be careful when you remove the freehub body that the pawls and springs don’t fly away. they are small pieces and they like to jump out!
With proper maintenance (1-3x per year lubrication) the freehub body and bushing can last a long time.
Don’t hesitate to send a pm or reply for more info.
best regards , -zack
When you remove the freewheel you need to examine the plastic bushing carefully. If this has been going on for some time, the plastic will overheat and crack. Or as others have said, it will wear down the metal surface its running against and cause too much clearance which will exhibit itself as a cassette wobble and looseness.
If you do find that the bushing is damaged, and the metal surface has worn so you have too much clearance, you can either try to find a replacement plastic bushing, or you can eliminate the problem forever, by replacing the plastic bushing with a bearing. If you google “HubDoctor”, you will find out. I’ve used this and it works like a charm. To this day, I am amazed that Mavic continues to use the plastic bushing in their freehubs instead of a bearing.
I’ll give things a good lube (giggle) and if the screeching keeps happening, it’ll be off to the LBS.
Thanks for your help!
I don’t know about you, but just quietly, unless someone post pics, I’ve still got no idea what they’re talking about. I also work on the ‘lube everything that moves’ principle and hope that somewhere along the line I get the bit that needs it.
I don’t know about you, but just quietly, unless someone post pics, I’ve still got no idea what they’re talking about. I also work on the ‘lube everything that moves’ principle and hope that somewhere along the line I get the bit that needs it.
I don’t know about you, but just quietly, unless someone post pics, I’ve still got no idea what they’re talking about. I also work on the ‘lube everything that moves’ principle and hope that somewhere along the line I get the bit that needs it.
So…you don’t have Google or YouTube?
Well obviously I do or I wouldn’t have ST either!
I just don’t have much inherent knowledge about bike bits and even if I can identify them I struggle to diagnose what’s wrong with them or what I should do with them to make them better. I don’t have a problem with basics like changing tyres, washing & lubing and fully expect my male bike buddies to stand there patiently while I do it instead of taking over, but beyond that I generally need fairly specific instructions, which I’ve found ST to be very good for - along with my bike buddies who are always open to wine bribes and of course, my LBS:-)
It would just never have occurred to me to look on youtube! See what I mean about ST being by far the most helpful?
I’m not being a dumb bimbo (totally derogatory technical term) It’s just not in my repertoire of knowledge…
I’ve got fond memories of getting started this sport, having some mechanical problem and going to a bike shop. The conversation went a little something like this:
Me: Hi. I’ve got this problem. The bike… like… does something bad. It’s kinda… not right. I think it’s a problem with the thingamajig.
LBS Employee: Hmmm… that’s probably a problem with your or perhaps the . Just to be sure, we’ll change your <rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb> and give it a . That’ll be $10,000 and your first born.
Me: Umm… could you show me how to do it myself? I’ll pay you!
LBS Employee: Well, I could. But you’d need a good quality left handed monkey wrench and a smoke shifter like this one here. Together, that’ll be $10,000 and your left kidney.
Me: AGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
I took a “bike maintenance for morons” course at the local community college and peppered an ex-LBS employee friend of mine with hundreds of inane questions to get what little mechanical knowledge I have. Bike repair has a steep learning curve, and Youtube videos, while helpful, don’t really give you the base knowledge or mechanical aptitude you need for more complicated jobs.
As an aside, lubing the hub fixed things. The bike no longer sounds like I’m torturing a pig on descents. Thanks for all the help.
Having worked in LBS my whole adult life Ive had that conversation soooo many times. More often then not I would just have the customer point to where the bad things were happening and have them try to make the noise that they heard ala “Car Talk with Klik and KlaK”. Some days get really boring and you have to have fun where you can If you would have walked in that would have been a blast!
Having worked in LBS my whole adult life Ive had that conversation soooo many times. More often then not I would just have the customer point to where the bad things were happening and have them try to make the noise that they heard ala “Car Talk with Klik and KlaK”. Some days get really boring and you have to have fun where you can If you would have walked in that would have been a blast!
You mean to tell me I wasted money on that left handed monkey wrench?
When you spend money on tools there is no such thing as wasted money
If it wasn’t busy that is something that I probably would have done on the spot for the customer if they bought the bike from the shop.
But yeah the learning curve for bikes can be steep and expensive. Taking a basic class lays a great foundation that you can build on. Where you will really learn is when your stuff breaks. Now you know how a Mavic freehub body works and what the engagement pawls look like and that they need regular servicing.
If you would have walked in that would have been a blast!