"pinging" sound from HED Ardennes + rear wheel.

[572cv]

I've a set of Hed Ardennes Plus wheels. Like them fine, but they have a persistent 'pinging' sound coming from the rear wheel. I have already changed out wheel sets to narrow down the issue to this wheel. When I put the wheel under load, climbing a hill, say, it gives a plink, plink, plink with the pedal stroke, which sounds exactly like the spokes being plucked. I've tried to get some lube into the rim at the nipples, to see if that would help, I've loosened and tightened the nipples (just to move them around a little) I've cleaned carefully, particularly at the spoke crossing points.

It seems to get worse over the course of a ride, or perhaps I shouild say more consistently pinging. The wheels are not new, but not beat. Maybe 3-4 K on them?

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I might approach this differently? Or does this just happen?

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by 572cv

I've a set of Hed Ardennes Plus wheels. Like them fine, but they have a persistent 'pinging' sound coming from the rear wheel. I have already changed out wheel sets to narrow down the issue to this wheel. When I put the wheel under load, climbing a hill, say, it gives a plink, plink, plink with the pedal stroke, which sounds exactly like the spokes being plucked. I've tried to get some lube into the rim at the nipples, to see if that would help, I've loosened and tightened the nipples (just to move them around a little) I've cleaned carefully, particularly at the spoke crossing points.

It seems to get worse over the course of a ride, or perhaps I shouild say more consistently pinging. The wheels are not new, but not beat. Maybe 3-4 K on them?

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I might approach this differently? Or does this just happen?

Is this and issue with the wheel or the RD hitting a spoke? Sure sounds like the latter.

[fa63]

My riding buddy has the same issue with his; pinging under load. The wheels are properly tensioned. It seems to go away temporarily when he puts a little bit of lube at spoke crossing points, but eventually it comes back. It drives me crazy but it doesn't seem to bother him too much.

[Mark McM]

Sounds like this usually mean something is moving. And the great the load cycles, the greater the chance for something to move. Out of curiosity, when you put the wheels under load (as when climbing), are you also rocking the bike side to side, and/or is your body going through up and down motions as you stomp on the pedals? Both can increase the magnitude of the load cycles on the spokes, and increase the likelihood of component movement.

As yinzerniner suggests, one possibility is the spokes rubbing against each other at the crossing point. I don't think the HED Ardennes has rim eyelets, but rim eyelets can also move and creak as the spokes are loaded/unloaded. Or, if there are spokes with low tension, then a heavy load can completely detension them momentarily, and the spokes may making ticking or pinging noises when they quickly regain tension. You might want consider re-tensioning the wheel.

[AngryScientist]

if you have a tension meter - i would check the tension of every spoke. that's a good place to start the investigation.

[speedevil]

^^^ this.

I'll bet that the tension is too low, or the wheel was not properly stress-relieved when it was built.

[adrien]

Check tension, especially on non-drive spokes.

Is this a traditional wheel? How many spokes? 1x or 2x? Butted spokes, or bladed?

The other thing I would do, beyond the suggestions above, is check the skewer. On some bikes, a skewer with some play (like an open cam, especially if it's worn) can lead to the wheel moving more than it should laterally.

Any brake rub?

Inspect the rim around the nipples -- any cracking?

All that said, my gut is it's tension getting too low on the non-drive side.

[572cv]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. The RD is not hitting, nor is the cable. It is hugely annoying to me... but as noted, might not bother someone else. I had the wheels professionally trued and tensioned, but I think I’ll have to go back over that ground, given your suggestions. Probably worth it.


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[David Kirk]

As stated above - it's the spoke rubbing at the crosses. You can test to be sure that this is it with a drop of chain lube at all the crosses. I have zero doubt this will make it go away.

Eventually it will come back and you can either re-lube them or do something like putting a tiny slip pf tyvek or felt between the spoke and this will last next to forever.

dave

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

As stated above - it's the spoke rubbing at the crosses. You can test to be sure that this is it with a drop of chain lube at all the crosses. I have zero doubt this will make it go away.

Eventually it will come back and you can either re-lube them or do something like putting a tiny slip pf tyvek or felt between the spoke and this will last next to forever.

dave

or tie and solder them

[polyhistoric]

Nothing helpful to add other than I have the same problem with my rear Ardennes+ wheel.

This particular wheel also tends to break a non-drive side spoke every year. It has subsequently been re-built and retensioned many times... only to have the same pinging in the wheel. I sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with the HED Sonic hub and/or the lower spoke count of the factory wheels...

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

As stated above - it's the spoke rubbing at the crosses. You can test to be sure that this is it with a drop of chain lube at all the crosses. I have zero doubt this will make it go away.

Eventually it will come back and you can either re-lube them or do something like putting a tiny slip pf tyvek or felt between the spoke and this will last next to forever.

dave

Tie and solder baby!!!
Also greatly minimizes broken spokes...

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by polyhistoric

Nothing helpful to add other than I have the same problem with my rear Ardennes+ wheel.

This particular wheel also tends to break a non-drive side spoke every year. It has subsequently been re-built and retensioned many times... only to have the same pinging in the wheel. I sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with the HED Sonic hub and/or the lower spoke count of the factory wheels...

Most every rear wheel ever built will see some movement of spokes at the crosses. The bladed spokes Hed uses have a bigger surface area where they meet so they tend to stick-and-release which makes the ping noise.

Round spoke rarely do it because they have a much smaller surface area where the spoke meet.

dave

[572cv]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

Most every rear wheel ever built will see some movement of spokes at the crosses. The bladed spokes Hed uses have a bigger surface area where they meet so they tend to stick-and-release which makes the ping noise.

Round spoke rarely do it because they have a much smaller surface area where the spoke meet.

dave

Thanks, Dave. And OP and everyone. This makes total sense and fits the condition. I’ll try the temporary approach with lube at those crossings, but look for a better long term fix. Here in France, it might be harder to find, but at the least, I bet I can slide some Teflon pipe thread tape tape into the interface for a longer term result. Might last for a few weeks, which would be enough for my purposes.

What a great community.

[ryker]

Second hand story: another dealer contacted me about a Reynolds wheel with bladed spokes laced without interweaving the final crossing. IIRC they were made that way, according to Reynolds, to prevent noise issues. To be clear I'm not recommending this and would not build a wheel this way but it's an acknowledgement of the general issue.

In my first hand experience, I've repaired a few wheelsets whose only issue was spoke crossing rub noise. Not surprisingly every case involved bladed spokes. My fix each time was to balance and increase spoke tension. It can be worth looking at spoke tension with a tire installed in case you have a pathological tire-rim fit that causes a significant tension drop.