Front wheel suspension resonance

[dannydibbert]

Interestingly, after you all helped me discover that the strange grinding noise on my ebike was from the reflectors attached to my front spokes (removed and resonance noise eliminated), I now have a "new" annoying resonance noise (not brake clearance nor bearing after close inspection) coming from the front wheel which seem to be driven from the front suspension and/or spokes. My 4 inch fat tire 750 watt rear Bafang hub is carrying my 260 lb self.

When I lock out the front suspension the noise is less but still there. We all know that front spokes (OEM cheapo) touch each other and I think there may be some kind of dampening needed. Also, I assume there is some find of fluid in the front suspension which may require maintenance.

Looking for ideas. Thanks.

 

[dogman dan]

Well, don't just tighten the spokes till they are so overtight they cannot talk. Personally I want my wheel to talk to me some, just a tiny bit of creak that lets me know they are tensioned just right.

Yours may be too loose at the moment though, if so snug them up some, but bicycle wheels do talk. At your weight, they may be having quite a conversation.

At really fast speeds, you betcha you will hear it.

 

[Balmorhea]

Make sure the headset is properly adjusted. And the front hub. Those are probably the two main sources of rattling when I set a bike down from the work stand. Loose suspension fork bushings can do it too, but there’s usually nothing to be done about that.

 

[dannydibbert]

At your weight, they may be having quite a conversation.

At really fast speeds, you betcha you will hear it.

Ouch - LOL

So I fixed it ! No more noise. I tightened each of the front spokes after reading that as a new bike is broken in (140 miles) the spokes can settle in and may need to be tightened. A bit of a PIA and "how tight" a concern, I used a small adjustable wrench and tightened them all to a "feels right torque".

As a tip, I was dealing with the crappy little nut connector for each spoke at the rim and found that with a small adjustable wrench there is enough play in the jaws that you can slide the wrench (once you are on the nut) in one direction or the other to use that play to your advantage to get a perfectly tight grip on the nut flats and accurately turn the nut. Once tight you slide the wrench in the other direction and the wrench easily comes off the nut; ready for the next nut. Hard to describe but you might get it.

I did not touch the rear spokes thinking that the largest dynamic load is on the front (even with my front suspension).

Bike runs very quiet now.

 

[MadRhino]

Never use an adjustable wrench on spoke nipples. They are brass and easy to damage. Best is a genuine Park Tool spoke wrench of the proper size. Yet, multi sizes spoke wrench is not bad.

 

[Balmorhea]

My choice when I’m trying to get a wheel very tight is the DT Swiss spoke wrench:

But the Park Tool spoke wrench is handier to use, so I use it up until the spokes are relatively tight. Then I switch to the DT key which is less likely to round off or squash the nipples.

The Park key is available in sizes to fit cheap OEM nipples or 12ga nipples, but the DT key only fits smaller nipples like DT Swiss, Sapim, and Wheelsmith.

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, get a spoke wrench. But you got er done, which is the main thing. Riding with em loose can break them worst than too tight.