The "click" - March 8, 2011

No this isn't some new superhero.  It is the sound that my front wheel is making.

It is a once per rotation sound that is fairly quiet and only happens when the wheel is loaded.  Initially I had thought maybe a bearing and asked my LBS to look at it.  Initially they were unable to find it, but when we tried again in a quieter area with the wheel under load they heard it.

My LBS is great!  They tried a number of things but were unable to correct the issue.  My biggest concern was that it was a bearing that would suddenly seize, probably when I was doing 50 mph down a hill in traffic.  I have been assured that this won't happen...probably.  Without any charge for an hour of tinkering (or solution) I was assured that it would be fine unless it got worse.

I posted the question to the couple of boards that I keep up with and had a whole range of possibilities that were suggested, many that I was able to quickly discard or didn't apply because of the type of spokes and nipples that I have.  There were four that I found possible: an un-round bearing about to seize, a crack in the rim weld, a loose skewer or a spoke nipple slipping.  I added a fifth myself after some extensive research which could be a crack in the plastic bearing shield.

I hope its the simple skewer.  If it's the bearing or rim; ACK!!  That would be bad on the downhill-fast scenario.  If I can't correct this with the skewer then I will have to get the wheel in to be rebuilt.  FUN!  The worst part is we are back to the Seattle drip, so I won't be able to test it anytime soon, and I fear that once it clears up I will be without my bike while I'm getting this dealt with.

The up-side is, once corrected I should be good to roll another 15,000 miles on these wheels.

Oh and the other up-side is, I got a chance to ride it (thus discovering the click).  It was very, very nice to be back on my race bike!