Unusual Noise Abatement

[Spinner]

I rode my Rambouillet today for the first time since early in the season when it was my regular ride as it is my only road bike with fenders; we had some early afternoon showers today and the roads were still damp. Before the ride, I pumped up the Gatorskin 28s which are mounted on 32-spoke Open Pros. The rear wheel has a short Presta stem that allowed some air to escape during inflation, causing the pressure needle of the pump to modulate. I was attempting to inflate to 90 psi, which was easily done on the longer stem front wheel.

When I hit the road there was an immediate "wich-wich-wich-wich" sound that appeared to come from the rear. In the spring, my Rambo was totally quite while riding.

After riding about 12 miles, I decided to stop and let some air out of the rear tire. This resulted in a noticeable reduction in the noise. After a hundred yards or so, I stopped again and let out more air; poof, the noise was totally gone.

[mj_michigan]

I think these are Mavic rims that you hear. They have a sleeve that could come loose and rattle. Usually stops at lower pressures. I have the annoyance on my Open Pro, but cannot hear it when I am riding, only off the bike.

[rustychisel]

What he said.

It could be a loose spoke, or an axle dustcap which is not firmly seated. Sometimes that means a slightly bent axle. But most likely it's the dreaded Open Pro weld biscuit, so first I'd do a search for keywords 'Open Pro click' and read up from there.

[Spinner]

I think these are Mavic rims that you hear. They have a sleeve that could come loose and rattle. Usually stops at lower pressures. I have the annoyance on my Open Pro, but cannot hear it when I am riding, only off the bike.

I fixed the "sleeve" issue some time ago by following OP's advice using a pin punch with a ball peen hammer.

Upon reflection, I suspect that the higher air pressure distorted the wheel ever so slightly causing some of the spokes to rub against each other, thus the "wich-wich-wich-wich" sound.

I rode the Rambo again yesterday without the sound once again.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

BTW, i have three sets of Open Pros in my current fleet and this is the only one that has made any noise.

[redir]

Interesting. I flatted the other day and threw on an old set of Open Pro's to commute to work this morning and I hear the same thing going on. What timing. I have never heard of this before.