Modern bikes noisier?

[francovendee]

I'm wondering if the use of modern materials and design have made bikes noisier?
When I hear a bike coming I know before seeing it if it's modern.
I wonder if it's the use of carbon frames and deep rims plus very noisy freeehubs that add up and make them noisier.

[simonineaston]

Oh definitely! There's an urgent insistance about the click of the spawls on a modern road bike that you never used to get. Even the venerable Sturmey Archers used to tick in a more leisurely way.

[pwa]

A combination of noisy freewheels and resonating carbon frames. Noise is now a consideration when I am looking for new bike components.

[Cyril Haearn]

Some have freewheels that make an awful dry clicking sound

[Bonefishblues]

I'd assumed it was some sort of safety measure

But seriously, yes, it's now rare you can't hear the approach of a cycle, and some make a right old racket.

[pwa]

There must be little tricks to dampening sound if you are lumbered with a noisy bike. Extra grease in voids in the hub, some sort of rubber band around resonating carbon tubes, perhaps.

[Bonefishblues]

I come from an era where one took pride in the silent running of one's bike, so short of filling the carbon tubes with expanding foam I think carbon's not the material for me.

[Syd]

I'd assumed it was some sort of safety measure

But seriously, yes, it's now rare you can't hear the approach of a cycle, and some make a right old racket.

It is an interesting point. My commuter is almost silent, aside from tyre against tarmac, due to belt drive and Alfine rear hub.

I have to make a sound then coming up behind peds on shared use paths or I scare the bejesus out of them.

[Mick F]

Where we used to live in Lancashire when I was a kid, some road races came past almost weekly.
This was the early/mid 1960s.
I would be in raptures on hearing the "zing" of the tyres and the "swish" of the wheels whizzing past. Lovely clean sounds, and all shiny bling colours and polished alu and chrome. A sheer delight to watch and listen,

A few years ago, I watched the Tour of Britain come through, and it was horrible. Clunky drumming flat sounds that sounded like they were on wooden bikes.
No zing of the tyres either, and no swish of the wheels. All boring black, all utterly boring, and all completely unimpressive and a poor sad spectacle.

I wouldn't watch the tour again for those reasons alone.

[francovendee]

I come from an era where one took pride in the silent running of one's bike, so short of filling the carbon tubes with expanding foam I think carbon's not the material for me.

I'm of the same mind. Apart from the swish of the tyres and a small amount from the tyres I try to keep my bike as noiseless as possible. I can tell instantly if I have a problem with the bike.

[Tangled Metal]

What confuses me is how the more you pay for your groupset the noisier it gets. My tiagra is quiet. But you see roadies with ultegra or better and gear changes come with a really loud click. You hear them going click, cc pick, click along the be road. Changing gears say every little change in incline. STFU you noisy [rude word removed], I'm out for a quiet ride in the countryside and give just stopped the birds singing with your clicking.

Blackbirds and starlings I believe are good mimics. I once heard one do a near perfect old style telephone ring. I fully expect on some popular cycle routes the blackbirds will be clicking loudly!

Why spend so much money getting the better gearing and accepting a louder noise? What is causing that loud click? Why doesn't my tiagra have it?

[Bonefishblues]

Why spend so much money getting the better gearing and accepting a louder noise? What is causing that loud click? Why doesn't my tiagra have it?

I think it's an ostentation thing TBH.

[geocycle]

It would be interesting to know which freehubs are quietist.I really dislike noises on my bikes and I was dissuaded from using a Hope hub on my next derailleur wheel by a friend who said his was like a machine gun.The novatec on my Spa is not too bad and the rohloff is wonderful on my Thorn

[francovendee]

Maybe there isn't the demand for silent freehubs so nobody makes them?
Perhaps there should be a dB value stated on the hubs? You could then find out and avoid the noisiest

[peetee]

Why spend so much money getting the better gearing and accepting a louder noise? What is causing that loud click? Why doesn't my tiagra have it?

I think it's an ostentation thing TBH.

Nah. Carbon fibre, ahead sets, press fit brackets. Companies just don’t understand what makes up a proper bike these days.