Spoke resonance

[EddiePJ]

Provided that the spokes in a wheel are correctly tensioned, is it common to have a chinging (is that a word) resonance noise when traveling at speed.

The rear wheel on my NEO Xtrem seems suffer with this when the speed hits exactly 45kph and above.
In the daytime I hear it and just find it an annoyance, but late last night when I was out riding on very empty and quiet roads, it became very disconcerting and I kept slowing down to just below 45kph to stop it.
The bike has only just been serviced, and I could find nothing wrong with the spokes before it went into the shop, and they still seem fine to my 'untrained feel' now.
The bike still needs to go back in to have the forks replaced, so is this something else that needs to be addressed, or just a peculiarity of the wheel.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

In my experience spokes normally creak at low speed when they're loose. The noise is probably coming from something else.

 

[EddiePJ]

It's all a bit odd as the noise is quite a high pitched ching, as in the kind of noise that you would expect to be made if you wee lightly touching a stick onto the spokes of a spinning wheel.

At this speed I'm traveling down hill, with no pedalling. It's very odd that it does it at exactly 45kph and above, yet not at all below this speed.

 

[103Alex1]

as in the kind of noise that you would expect to be made if you wee lightly touching a stick onto the spokes of a spinning wheel.

I've done a few things when I've been p!ssed but can honestly say I've never tried that !

 

[mike killay]

Could be that they are tuned to the frequency of the air rubbing them at 45.
Try wrapping some cellotape or string around them one wheel at a time to verify this.
Back in the 1960's we used to tune sports car exhausts by putting lumps of plasticine on them and cutting them short at the point the plasticene fell off.

 

[Scimitar]

It's all a bit odd as the noise is quite a high pitched ching, as in the kind of noise that you would expect to be made if you wee lightly touching a stick onto the spokes of a spinning wheel.

You'd splash your shoes dreadfully.

 

[D C]

I get a slight and barely discernible sort of high pitched ringing coming from my front disc rotor over some surfaces such as regular but rough tarmac which seems to set up a resonance.
I've also heard strange noises coming from the wheels in strong wind which sounded like more of a whistle or blowing air across an empty bottle.
Mikes idea sounds good to see if it changes the sound.
After pinging the rotor with my finger and finding a similarity in tone I temporarily removed it to double check.
It doesn't worry me now I know what it is.

 

[ghouluk]

download a free tuner for the smart phone, and ping the spokes, if they all give the same reading then unlikely to be spokes.

my xtreme doesn't do this, so i'd say something loose or warped somewhere

 

[jackhandy]

The front disc caliper on my 8fun was so close to the spokes (fag paper close) that the spokes would sometimes sing as they brushed past it.

 

[jerrysimon]

Singing spokes ?

Wonder if they would make X Factor

I did have a clinking sound on the first wheel I built after about 1000 miles. Took ages to identify the guilty spoke, which I then just tightened up slightly and cured it. Of course having now built a lot more wheels, I think they are more balanced and evenly tensioned so not happened on any subsequent wheel builds. I also now spend quite a lot of time de-stressing the spokes as I build the wheel.

All that said, its amazing how much you can get away with, build quality wise, when you build a wheel evident from my first wheel build and the many ready built e-wheels that come out of China.


Jerry

 

[awol]

I also now spend quite a lot of time de-stressing the spokes as I build the wheel.

Could you give us some spoke de-stressing tips Jerry, I too have a chinking sound occasionally and I think you may have just pointed me to the problem. My spokes appear to be evenly tensioned, and it's my first wheel.

 

[EddiePJ]

In my experience spokes normally creak at low speed when they're loose. The noise is probably coming from something else.

I get a slight and barely discernible sort of high pitched ringing coming from my front disc rotor over some surfaces such as regular but rough tarmac which seems to set up a resonance.
I've also heard strange noises coming from the wheels in strong wind which sounded like more of a whistle or blowing air across an empty bottle.
Mikes idea sounds good to see if it changes the sound.
After pinging the rotor with my finger and finding a similarity in tone I temporarily removed it to double check.
It doesn't worry me now I know what it is.

Gotta say that there are some clever people on here.

I think that I have tracked the noise down to the rear brake caliper/rotor.

After every off road ride I remove and clean the calipers and brake pads, but the weekend just gone, I must have fractionally moved the caliper before tightening the bolts back up. I went out two nights ago and the noise started at about half the speed that it had previously and continued right through to higher speeds. I have just repositioned the caliper fractionally and the noise has reverted back to where it was originally again.
I don't see that there is anything that I can really do about it, but at least I know that it isn't the spokes.


Thanks for all the replies.