I HATE noisy bikes. When I ride out in the veld or vlei, I want no other sound than the chain smoothly running over seamless gears and the clutter of tires over rocks (I do like the sound of rebound dampening). I have been known to stop group rides to sort out squeaky seatposts and have sold frames for endless noise maintenance. Enter the supposedly quiet hardtail 29er... Usual suspects: 1) seatpost: noise present when standing 2) BB: multiple regreases and replacements - no joy 3) pedals: squeak present with left and right side only pedal strokes 4) crankset: tighten crankbolt moer hard, grease, irritation present with left and right side pedal strokes enter unusual suspects 5) frame: no signs of cracks (although i was considering "internal" motion at the welds) 6) hub: multiple re-greases - silence elusive 7) replaceable derailer hanger: for a couple of km's i thought i had it solved, but alas... 8) rear hub-frame interface: rock solid 9) {actually part of usual suspects} cassette/freewheel body interface: multiple re-greases: no luck 10) chainring bolts: noise present in middle and granny gear 11) individual cassette ring/spider interface: not likely and noise present in all rear gears (albeit worse in lower rear gears) 12) rear derailer jockey wheels: not likely but serviced anyway Finally, after weeks of pondering and contemplating the loss of another bike because of noise pollution, i dropped some Q20 into the bushing between the mounting bolt and the main knuckle.... SILENCE IS GOLDEN!
