Anyone else ever lubed their spokes to reduce noise?

[roubaixtuesday]

The bike spent quite a long time outside during our holiday and after getting back home I’ve been plagued with a ticking/cracking noise, apparently from the back wheel (36 spoke, about 4000 miles on it). Speculatively a result of corrosion from getting wet.

It was ever present, pedalling or freewheeling, but seemed to be exacerbated by pedalling, and *much* worse when out of the saddle.

I'd had no joy identifying the cause, let alone rectifying. My last resort was that it might be caused by the spokes moving at the crossover point, where they seem to have worn grooves into each other, so last night I put a drop of chain oil at each crossover point.

This morning’s commute was silent.

I doubt this is a long term solution, so comments and suggestions welcome.

[meic]

I had a friend with this problem, for years he was seen riding with bits of cardboard between his spokes at the contact points.

It turned out to be a loose freehub body, it took years and everything else on the bike getting attention before the source was found.

[Brucey]

it could still be the OP's freehub body; oil could have run down the spokes into the freehub body overnight.

cheers

[mercalia]

if the spokes are making noise then they are too lose?

[Gattonero]

The bike spent quite a long time outside during our holiday and after getting back home I’ve been plagued with a ticking/cracking noise, apparently from the back wheel (36 spoke, about 4000 miles on it). Speculatively a result of corrosion from getting wet.

It was ever present, pedalling or freewheeling, but seemed to be exacerbated by pedalling, and *much* worse when out of the saddle.

I'd had no joy identifying the cause, let alone rectifying. My last resort was that it might be caused by the spokes moving at the crossover point, where they seem to have worn grooves into each other, so last night I put a drop of chain oil at each crossover point.

This morning’s commute was silent.

I doubt this is a long term solution, so comments and suggestions welcome.

There's no need to lubricate the spokes in such way.
Any excessive movement is due to improper/uneven tension of the spokes. Likely they were not pre-stressed nor formed well at the moment the wheel was built.
I suggest to check the lacing for being correctly done, and the spoke tension to be as high and safe as it needs to, and it has to be even.

You may oil or grease the nipples on the outside, to prevent corrosion and help achieving the correct tension.

[BobSweet]

I tried lubrication on the spokes to stop a noise. But in the end replacing the freewheel fixed it !