[CrankyMonkey]

I just got my new bike about 2 weeks ago. I'm hearing a lot of spoke noise. I've check to see if any of them are loose but none are really wiggly. I would take it in to the shop to get it's first tune up but they quoted me a week and half turn around. I ride about 3-4 times a week (I'm completely obsessed) and I don't think I can live that long without my bike. Because of this long turn around I'm committed to doing my own repairs.

My gut feeling is to try and tighten all the spokes evenly, about 1/8 turn, so they are a little more taught. What do you think? Apart from my spoke adjustment, what else does a bike shop usually do for the 1st tune-up?

So far I've had to tighten the cranks, stem bolt, rear axle and rear disk rotor. I've gone over the bike to make sure all the bolts are not loose. I know I need to make a minor adjustment to the low screw on the front derailleur, the rear seems to still be crisp and shifting fine. I'm also getting some squeaking and /or a loud hum that vibrates the entire bike when I apply the rear brake, but this usually doesn't happen till the end of my ride on a dusty trail. This is my first bike with disc brakes so I'm not sure if this is normal break in or not.

Thank you in advance...

 

[Bikinfoolferlife]

Is that noise a pinging kind of sound? Maybe a bit like a creak? Might be your spokes destressing or unwinding a bit, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to go through the wheel; you might want to review wheel building/truing info on sheldonbrown.com or parktool.com, paying attention to spoke windup and stressing sections. I assume these wheels weren't handbuilt or even gone through by hand after being machine built (and that they were machine built in any case). Unless they're out of true, doubt your shop would deal with this during a regular tuneup.

Sounds like your shop didn't do such a hot job in prepping the bike in several respects in the first place and to require a week or week and a half for a tuneup just sounds like a shop to forget and learn how to do your own maintenance. Both Sheldon Brown's site and the Park Tool site are good guides for tool selection and use as well (sure you're tightening stuff properly?). If you ever get stuck out on the trail you should know how to keep your bike running in any case.

Your disc brake thing you might check for a slightly warped rotor that needs truing, especially if you found mounting bolts loose at one point. Learning to true them is something you should be able to do if you have discs anyways.

 

[CrankyMonkey]

The shop I got the bike from has free lifetime tune-ups which seems pretty worthless to me if it's going to take 1 1/2 weeks to get my bike back. I'm starting to question their quality, if they let the bike out of the shop with all the loose stuff to begin with. I have a feeling they just assemble the bikes as quick as possible and then depend on the tune-ups to catch the loose parts.

Yet another reason to self-repair...

 

[EDDIE JONES]

Spoke noise

I had the same problem on my bike after a new fox float fork was installed and i got new wheels. my lbs couldn't for the life of them figure out what the noise was. i even asked on one of mtbr's boards if anyone had an idea. i finally traced the noise and discovered that when turning the rotor on the front disk was pinging on the caliper (barely). it sounded just like spokes de-stressing and pinging. i adjusted the caliper and the rotor and have had no problems since. i think it comes fron the wheel flexing a little bit. if your bike has disk brakes i would check that first because it is an extremely easy fix and may have had nothing to do with the way the bike was prepped

 

[CrankyMonkey]

Yeah... it comes and goes... it's not constant... I guess I will just have to ride more to investigate it (twist my arm!)

 

[EDDIE JONES]

spoke noise

Yeah, see if it starts when you are turning or leaning the bike one way or the other. i would just about bet the your rotor is pinging against the caliper

 

[Dad Man Walking]

The shop I got the bike from has free lifetime tune-ups which seems pretty worthless to me if it's going to take 1 1/2 weeks to get my bike back...

Hey, Cranky...a few quick points:

(1) Different shops do take different levels of care in assembling bikes out of the carton. In San Jose, the guys at Trailhead do great work so check them out if you have any concerns about your LBS.

(2) It's understandable that the shops are backlogged on service right now. But all they are going to do is store the bike until they can get to it. Just call them to get on their schedule, and you'll get same-day turnaround when you drop your bike off (in two weeks).

(3) If you bought the bike from them and are experiencing problems within the first few weeks, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to work you in to their current schedule sooner. They might not be able to do it if you just drop in and expect them to work it over while you wait, but if you called first they still might be able to see you sooner than two weeks out. Remember, they want you to be happy with the bike and want your return business. And they have a lot of other customers that they also want to keep happy, so if you work with them a bit they'll probably figure out something that works for you and works for them.