Cycling UK Forum

Just a quickie I hope -

My front wheel creaks when at low speed at the lights I'm putting more sideways force on it than normal. It's been like it a few weeks, and was unaffected by a wheel true (to my disappointment).

Does it matter? Does it presage broken spokes soon?

Thanks for any help.

Your sure its the wheel thats creaking? are the spokes tight

handlebars can creak. I'd check those.

An unlikely (but disturbing) possibility is that the frame or forks are creaking, because there is a crack.

If you try with a borrowed 'known good non-creaky' front wheel then this would be conclusive proof re. the wheel or not.

cheers

Thanks, guys.

If it is the wheel and it has eyelets, apply a drop of oil to each one, let it soak in and then wipe off any excess. With age, the eyelets can start to move slightly in the rim, causing an awful noise.

as a rear wheel of mine has just started to creak does the above tip mean apply to the eyelet by removing the rim tape and going from that direction?
thanks

Maybe not helpful, but I had a mysteriously creaking rear wheel for months. The sound would go away if I sprayed WD40 onto the eyelets (or so I thought) but would return. I eventually tracked the noise down to a 15cm hairline crack in the rim.

One rim replacement later.....

Cheers

geomannie

Try stripping the hub and regreasing it. I had this noise and found the the "sealed" hub contained a mixture of grease and rusty water.

the hub should be okay. it has about 3000 miles on it an i can honestly say it's never even been mildly damp! will check the rim but it's equally 'new' so i'd be unlucky i should think....!!

A club mate's tandem developed an intermittet creak at various times,after much head scratchiong jumpin on wheel etc it turned out to be a spoke nipple with a partially stripped thread.

Let some air out of the tyre and see if it changes.
And the opposite, pump the tyre up hard.
Indicative of a slack spoke.

Check the valve isn't loose in its hole.
Minutely check the rim for cracking. (clubmate has a new rim that has cracked).
Recheck bearing setting and re-grease. (could have been overtightened.)