Getting a pinging sound coming from my rear tire.

[Skinnyneo]

Got a question for all the bike gurus out there.  I have a 2012 Kona Jake The Snake with Shimano RS10A Wheelset and about 3200km on the bike.  About two weeks ago I noticed a pinging sound starting to come from the rear of the bike.  It doesn't happen when I'm peddling so I figure that rules out any horse play in the bottom bracket.  Furthermore if I sit on my rack and just push the bike I still hear the noise so I'm very sure the BB, crank, chain, etc. is not the source.  The pining sound is also more or less in time with the rotation of the wheel.  It only occurs when pressure is applied on the bike however.  If I'm walking the bike I don't hear the pinging noise.

I'm about 170 pounds but usually roll with maybe another 5 or 6 pounds of stuff.  I did use this bike for a Costco shopping trip about 3 weeks ago where my bike got pretty loaded up (24 pack of rootbeer strapped to the rack, and both panniers pretty full of other goodies, plus a duffle bag on me).  My guess is maybe I put too much stress on the wheel and now it needs truing?  What should my next move be?

[AnonymousCoward]

The spokes of a new wheel will ping as the wheel settles into it's final shape. I don't think that's should still be happening after 3200 km though.

The RS10A's are 20 spoke wheel's right? My guess is that they're not strong enough for the load you put on them, and your back wheel has gone out of round. That would cause noise from the spokes as they strain and stretch. You can check by spinning the back wheel while the bike is on a stand or upside down. Find a way to hold a straight edge steady above the spinning wheel, if the gap between wheel and straight edge isn't constant the wheel isn't round anymore.

If that's the case I'd get a higher spoke count wheel for the back.

[jnik]

The wheel may still be mostly in true but have one "slacked" spoke--pretty easy to find, just "strum" one spoke at a time and see if one has a much lower tone. Buy a spoke wrench, read John Allen's article on tension (and the linked article on wheelbuilding--you can skip a lot of the details in the middle!) and get to work.

[Skinnyneo]

The spokes of a new wheel will ping as the wheel settles into it's final shape. I don't think that's should still be happening after 3200 km though.

The RS10A's are 20 spoke wheel's right? My guess is that they're not strong enough for the load you put on them, and your back wheel has gone out of round. That would cause noise from the spokes as they strain and stretch. You can check by spinning the back wheel while the bike is on a stand or upside down. Find a way to hold a straight edge steady above the spinning wheel, if the gap between wheel and straight edge isn't constant the wheel isn't round anymore.

If that's the case I'd get a higher spoke count wheel for the back.

Yeah they are a 20 spoke wheel.  I compared it with a straight edge and I didn't notice any bend in the rim.  I guess I'm only really concerned because my GF and I are off on a four day bike adventure tomorrow in Hiroshima.  I don't really have time to visit the my LBS before we go unfortunately.

The wheel may still be mostly in true but have one "slacked" spoke--pretty easy to find, just "strum" one spoke at a time and see if one has a much lower tone. Buy a spoke wrench, read John Allen's article on tension (and the linked article on wheelbuilding--you can skip a lot of the details in the middle!) and get to work.

Do I need to look for anything special when buying a spoke wrench or are spokes pretty universal?

[AnonymousCoward]

Do I need to look for anything special when buying a spoke wrench or are spokes pretty universal?

Spoke nipples (the doohickeys on the rim that the spokes screw into) come in several gauges. Fortunately multigauge wrenches are common, this design is pretty widespread. Many bike multitools also have spoke wrenches, that's what I use.

[Skinnyneo]

Thanks!  I'll check that out today.