Random bike noise no. 761b.
This morning, Jan's crochet pal Dennis came round for some routine bike maintenance. He had an intermittent front wheel puncture which turned out to be the valve coming loose from its moorings. New tube time. It was at that point he learned, from me, that he can no longer go to Wilko's for his cheap inner tubes as they have gone bust. He went to a proper bike shop instead.
The bike in question is a very basic steel-framed steel-wheeled Falcon that I gave him about 7 years ago. It sees daily use and is his means of getting about. We bought it new for our older daughter when she was in the later part of her secondary schooling. She's now 42, so that gives an idea of its age.
After a considerable effort, I managed to get the new tube in, the tyre settled and inflated. It's a pretty skinny tyre and it took quite a bit of effort on my part, and I employed my special tyre lever to put it back on - that worked very well. I bunged the wheel back in and he took it out for a test ride. "It's making an odd noise!" he said, when he returned. He had recorded the noise on his phone, and it was too indistinct to be sure what it was. I took it for a ride and it did indeed make an odd noise - the sort of noise that a newly-built wheel makes when its spokes settle. But it happened all the time when the bike was under load, not just on the first few revolutions.
I couldn't think of anything at all that I had done to make this noise suddenly appear and I couldn't see anything catching in the spokes. On a whim, I took the bike back home and simply turned the front wheel round. I took it out for another ride, and the noise had gone.
That's a new one on me: I'm sure it was spoke noises, but I can't really understand why in one direction, but not the other.
Can the panel advise why the spokes would make noise in one direction and not the other? Bear in mind it's a cheap, crap front wheel that's been on the bike since about 1994.
