Whining Wheel

[DebW]

Have you checked that the hub cones are tight? Do this by grabbing the rim and trying to move it side to side relative to the frame. Try this from several places on the rim. If you haven't done so recently, remove the wheels from the frame and feel the bearings for smoothness by turning the axle between your thumb and forefinger. Feel the spoke tension in your wheels. Grab two adjacent spokes that cross each other and squeeze them together. You should be able to move the crossing point by a couple millimeters, but not much more. Feel every pair of spokes. Sometimes there is one or more much looser than the others, usually due to a flat spot in the rim.

If you don't find anything wrong here, I'd be suspicious that the dust cap which surrounds the hub cones has too tight a clearance, so that when it gets hot the dust cap is rubbing the cones. And being wet lubricates it enough to suppress the sound. Interesting problem. I hope you find your solution.

[Aseradyn]

Thanks, Deb - good call!

I put a drop of oil right at the edge of the dust cap and slowly turned the wheel to let it work its way around. That's all it took - blissful silence!

I need to write this down for future reference

[DebW]

Glad you found the problem. If you get tired of having to oil your dustcaps frequently, you could pull them out and file out the inner diameter just a bit. The tolerance shouldn't be that tight.

[Aseradyn]

I definitely will fix it properly! I had to oil it again this morning about halfway to work. That'll get old in a hurry.

This will keep me going until the weekend, though, when I have time to figure out how it comes apart. (I'm not much of a mechanic!) I may just haul it down to the shop and make them do it!

Thanks again for the advice.

[Kalidurga]

Deb, you continue to amaze me. Your thorough knowledge of bikes is incredible.

What did this forum do for technical advice before she came along??