[abn1]

I just built a new bike.....Intense 5.5 with all the goodies including a set of wheels with Chris King ISO hubs, Mavic XC717 Rims, and DT DB 14g Black Spokes.

After about 10 rides I started getting a pinging (or creaking) noise from the rear wheel spokes as pressure was applied to the cranks.

I discovered the spokes had pitted (or worn) right where the spokes cross each other, and if you take your fingers and slide them apart and then release them they will make a loud pinging noise as they pop back into the pitted area. So when pressure is applied to the cranks, it causes torque to the rear wheel, which makes the spokes move, thus causing them to make this pinging (or creaking) noise while riding.

I toke the bike back to the shop and they said this happens sometimes with black spokes. (???)

I have never heard of this before.
Is there anyone else having this same problem?
Or may I have a set of defective spokes?

 

[Cyco]

Tension

This is due to a lack of spoke tension., if they are tight enough they wont move and wear/become noisy.

 

[hyper22]

yea basically what he said just givem a good tighten and your off. dont ride with them like this youll get flat spots or a bent rim(not that i have been thru this before )

 

[Chester]

You won't even notice that noise if you........

I just built a new bike.....Intense 5.5 with all the goodies including a set of wheels with Chris King ISO hubs, Mavic XC717 Rims, and DT DB 14g Black Spokes.

After about 10 rides I started getting a pinging (or creaking) noise from the rear wheel spokes as pressure was applied to the cranks.

I discovered the spokes had pitted (or worn) right where the spokes cross each other, and if you take your fingers and slide them apart and then release them they will make a loud pinging noise as they pop back into the pitted area. So when pressure is applied to the cranks, it causes torque to the rear wheel, which makes the spokes move, thus causing them to make this pinging (or creaking) noise while riding.

I toke the bike back to the shop and they said this happens sometimes with black spokes. (???)

I have never heard of this before.
Is there anyone else having this same problem?
Or may I have a set of defective spokes?

Well, if you can't get rid of that noise then why not install a TurboSpoke System and you'll never even notice that bothersome problem. It'll be masked by TurboSpoke

http://www.turbospoke.com/products.asp

 

[rockcrusher]

One of the basic tenets of wheel building is that after about 10hrs of riding you should have a new wheel retensioned. Under the load of riding the new wheel will bed in, essentially slackening the spokes and creating a loose wheel. This is because the tension in the wheel and the torque from riding will cause the spoke nipples to ease into the nipple holes/grommets in the rim. On a single spoke this is a very small amount but over the entire wheel it will be enough to loosen the wheel.

The best, and in my opinion, only opinion is to bring it into a competent wheel builder, probably not the one who built this wheel or they would have told you this, and have them retension it. If you do it yourself you may find it will need to be retensioned every couple of rides, since (a) you will probably not be able to evenly tension the wheel, (b) if you undertension it will constantly come loose, or (c) you will be breaking spokes if you overtension it.

This is common knowlege among wheelbuilders and it is up to them to tell you this and generally they will provide this service as a freebie to those wheels they built.

Now if you got these wheels mailorder then they were proabably machine built which are notorious for poor tension. Get them to a wheel builder, have them trued and retensioned, and don't balk at paying the cost for this(it should be minimal like $10 per wheel). This will ensure that your wheels last years instead of months.

Finally return to the wheel builder every 6-8months for a true and retension and this will guarantee maximium life out of your wheelset, even if you are a competent wheel truer (sic), they will always be better than you at tensioning the wheel.

 

[abn1]

Thanks for the information guys, but I have already done everything you've said.
When it first started making noise I knew it was time to take it back to the shop and get the wheels retensioned, that was normal. So I took it back to the bike shop (a very large reputable shop) fand they retensioned the wheel. This did not help any.
The spokes don't seem to be loose, they feel like they have normal tension but I don't have a tensioning gauge. The shop says it's the black spokes that is the problem.

Is the black on the spokes just a powder coat?
My thinking is that the black coating is wearing off causing the pitting.

 

[Homebrew]

Sounds like bull...oney to me. If the spokes are pinging (caused by wind-up) and are rubbing at the crosses, they are nowhere near enough tension and weren't stress relieved properly. Specifically ask them what tension (in kgf) they have them at. The drive-side rear and disc-side front should be at least 100 kgf (preferably higher) and the opposite side will naturally be a bit lower. I've had the 317 up to 150 kgf without a problem. I'll bet you got good parts but poor build quality.