<scritch> <scritch> sound (is now a crackling/creaking sound)

[Oaky]

That's the best description I can come up with.

Apparently (although I know this can be deceptive) from the rear wheel, once per revolution, whether pedalling or freewheeling.

Initially I thought it was something stuck to or in the tyre (it's almost like the noise you'd expect if you had 3 or 4 separate pieces of flint/gravel stuck really close together in the tyre).  I've (admittedly quickly) inspected both the front and rear tyres and didn't see anything obvious.

One thought - could this be caused by a "ruck" or similar in the inner tube?  When I put the M+ back on after removing the winter tyres, I noticed that the inner tube seemed a tad too long.  I checked the marked size and it's definitely correct (622 x 28/38C), and I tried as much as possible to lay it evenly in the tyre, but I'm now wondering if there's a fold/ruck which creaks as weight goes onto it?

[Wowbagger]

Do you have a piece of loose tread? A superficial inspection might miss it, because sometimes it's the centrifugal force of a turning wheel which throws it onto the mudguard - if you have mudguards.

[greenmeansgo]

Things you could check:

• tyre not rubbing on mudguard
• brake blocks not rubbing on rim/tyre
• is the tyre sitting straight on the rim - maybe if you had a problem with the inner tube, it might have caused the tyre to seat unevenly and now rub on something?

It's likely to be a case of eliminating variables until you locate the source of the problem e.g. temporarily loosen the rear brake - does the noise go away?.

Try turning the wheel slowly by hand and looking closely for the cause when you hear the noise.

[mrcharly-YHT]

or a kink in the rim that is making contact with a brake block

[Moloko]

I've just had that "scritch - scritch" noise on mine.

Now cured: After refitting the Marathon plus I'd put a bit more air in than usual
and as the Marathons are a "high" profile tyre anyway, so they were rubbing on one of the rivets that
holds the mudguard mount.

[border-rider]

^This

I've had that sound as well, and it was exactly what Mr Mo says.  If not the rivet, then maybe there's some bit of detritus tucked up between the guard and tyre...

[Biggsy]

If the brake blocks are close to the rim, due to flex, they might be rubbing when you ride the bike even if they don't rub when testing otherwise.

[Oaky]

One thing that makes me doubt the mudguard explanation in my case is that the M+ tyres are 28s, but the mudguards are still set up for the 38s that were originally supplied (actually marked as 622-40 as well as 700x38) so there is a large gap between guards and tyre

(Also the Marathon winters on just previously were 35s).

[Regulator]

^This

I've had that sound as well, and it was exactly what Mr Mo says.  If not the rivet, then maybe there's some bit of detritus tucked up between the guard and tyre...

I've had similar.

I also managed to find one <scritch><scritch> moise was a piece of translucent plastic that had somehow managed to lodge itself between the guardstay and the tyre.  I couldn't bloody see it for ages and it drove me nuts.

[border-rider]

The other thing it might be is a certain looseness in the spokes...

...or something as mundane as a bit of grot trapped inside the box section of the rim.

[teethgrinder]

I've had similar.

I also managed to find one <scritch><scritch> moise was a piece of translucent plastic that had somehow managed to lodge itself between the guardstay and the tyre.  I couldn't bloody see it for ages and it drove me nuts.

Was it a bit of cellophane wrapping from a fag packet?

[Oaky]

The other thing it might be is a certain looseness in the spokes...

...or something as mundane as a bit of grot trapped inside the box section of the rim.

(Thread resurrection alert)

I'm beginning to think the issue could be spoke/eyelet/nipple related, so you could well be on the right track, MV.

Can those creak (e.g. when they get dirty?).

The spokes don't feel loose though.  Wheel is true.

Since I first posted the question, the noise has become steadily more noticable.  The sound is now not dissimilar to (but a fair bit quieter than) the popping/crackling sound of running studded ice tyres on tarmac.

Furthermore, I can now reproduce ( a quieter version of) the sound whilst walking the bike with a bit of weight pushing down on the saddle.  I can also detect a light creaking which appears to come from the rim area if I push sideways on the tyre.  I can't remember now if I also tried that pushing definitely on the rim alone to try and rule out the tyre/rim interface.  I guess I could take off the tyre and tube and try again.

It sounds like the creak comes from the rim area.  My supposition is that it's either the tyre creaking in the rim (Marathon+ 28mm in a rigida Sputnik rim, so it's about the narrowest tyre you'd want to put on there)  or it's the spokes/nipples/eyelets.

(I've since rules out the inner-tube theory I proposed upthread (thanks to an East-Anglian flint).  I've also greased all the spoke crossings in case it was those, with no effect.)

I guess it could still be something at the hub, e.g. bearings etc. (I know that it's often hard to pin down the source of noise since it can get transmitted through e.g. spokes to other areas which act as sounding boards...), but as I say there's no noticeable play in the hub.

[Polar Bear]

What hub is it and does it have 'external' rubber seals?

[Oaky]

What hub is it and does it have 'external' rubber seals?

It's an LX (T660, from memory), and I don't believe it does (If you're referring to the conical rubber bits like this:-



NB - that picture isn't the bike with the noise I'm referring to here!)

that some of my other hubs have.  (I didn't prepare that photo specially for this thread - it's a leftover from another thread when I was suggesting to someone else in this board that their particular unexplained noise might be coming from those very pieces - I've had a squeak from their in the past )

[Polar Bear]

That's the one I was clumsily trying to describe.   

I've diagnosed that as a source of noise before though never suffering it myself.

[Oaky]

That's the one I was clumsily trying to describe.   

I've diagnosed that as a source of noise before though never suffering it myself.

  It took me ages on the Felt to work out that source of noise.  They're greased regularly now.

[Rhys W]

The other thing it might be is a certain looseness in the spokes...

I've been following this thread with some interest, because I've also been plagued by a strange frictional sound. The first suspect (rubbing brake blocks) was eliminated from our enquiries early on. It only appeared to occur when pedalling (or the sound was masked by clicky freehub) so then I thought it might be the bottom bracket, or a chainlink I'd missed to lube. A re-lube of the chain and swap of rear wheels however pointed to the back wheel. I'd recently stripped the hub and replaced the bearings, so I thought I must have a seal (or something else) not quite properly seated. It certainly sounded like something gently rubbing. So I stripped the hub again, regreased, carefully seated the seals... but the sound continued.

Then, Saturday morning my suspicion was back onto the BB. I broke a spoke pulling away from a traffic light, did an emergency truing to get me home and dropped the wheel off at the LBS. The spoke had snapped right at the end of nipple, maybe during the build it had scored the spoke as it was tightened. Anyway, I got the wheel back today and the sound has completely gone. 

It really did sound like soft plastic or rubber rubbing, there's no way I would have suspected a failing spoke!

[Oaky]

Last night, I checked the spoke tension on this wheel(by hand/ear), made a minor truing correction to it and changed the rim tape (the original stuff was a bit narrow for this rim).

The crackling/creaking/scritch/scratch is still there.

Interestingly, whilst doing my usual "bending/wrenching the inflated tyre sideways" (hard to describe) to make sure the bead is seated, I noticed a very similar creaky noise.  Either it is spokes/nipples/eyelets and my bead-seating manouvre is enough to cause the spokes to creak, or it's something to do with the tyre bead/rim interface.

Has anyone had noise like this with the latter cause?  Is there anything I can apply to the tyre/rim to quieten it down without a) rotting the tyre compound, b) dribbling out onto the brakign surface and killing me or c) causing the tyre to pop off the rim on cornering (I guess this latter is very unlikely, these being M+).

[Crepello]

What are the rims? I had a creaking sound come from the front of my ol deceased Gal when it had an Elesa Endeavour rim fitted. Due to the spoke well/cup things inside the double walled rim being made of steel that rusted easily, I never got rid of the sound totally. Application of suitably thick oil helped. Perhaps grease applied then heated up to penetrate may be a cleaner solution though.

[Oaky]

What are the rims? I had a creaking sound come from the front of my ol deceased Gal when it had an Elesa Endeavour rim fitted. Due to the spoke well/cup things inside the double walled rim being made of steel that rusted easily, I never got rid of the sound totally. Application of suitably thick oil helped. Perhaps grease applied then heated up to penetrate may be a cleaner solution though.

Fairly new Rigida Sputnik.  36 hole 700C, built by Spa.

[Crepello]

What are the rims? I had a creaking sound come from the front of my ol deceased Gal when it had an Elesa Endeavour rim fitted. Due to the spoke well/cup things inside the double walled rim being made of steel that rusted easily, I never got rid of the sound totally. Application of suitably thick oil helped. Perhaps grease applied then heated up to penetrate may be a cleaner solution though.

Fairly new Rigida Sputnik.  36 hole 700C, built by Spa.

Ohh. Ahhh.  I think they're a bit similar to the Endevours.  No harm in trying a little lube around the spoke seating. Another application may be something with teflon in it. At least when the oil dries up, it would leave a plasticky residue to ease the spoke eye/rim contact points.

[Auntie Helen]

Has anyone had noise like this with the latter cause?  Is there anything I can apply to the tyre/rim to quieten it down without a) rotting the tyre compound, b) dribbling out onto the brakign surface and killing me or c) causing the tyre to pop off the rim on cornering (I guess this latter is very unlikely, these being M+).

I know very little about all this but used to have a problem with buckles in my tyres when I put 'em on; it was suggested by an audaxer friend that I put some washing up liquid on the rim before seating the tyre to help it move itself into the right position. As it happens, this didn't fix the buckle problem (I discovered that I just had to pump the tyres up to the max to fix that) but it might possibly help you?