Flat spokes pinging

I know my way around bike maintenance, I’ve trued and tightened plenty of wheels and built a few. I’ve recently got some old but not well ridden DT XC wheels (forget the model, cannot be bothered to go down to look) and the rear just recently started plinging on steep climbs as I put my awesome torque through it.

Normally when this happens and I check it out there are some clear loose spokes, I tighten them and it’s all good. But not this time, it all appears fine. So are the very thin (0.9mm) flat blade spokes more prone to making a noise under the inevitable flex? Do they need to be tighter than traditional spokes?

Just ordered a flat blade spoke holder and a new key to try and sort it out properly.

Are you suuuuuuure you aren’t touching spoke to mech or cable end?

If spokes are tight, this is most likely.

Is the QR definitely tight?
I’ve had a rear wheel move even in vertical dropouts when I’m out the saddle.

Yes to both mech and cable end (first thing I checked, been there before!). It only does it under heavy load.

QR is a through skewer, it’s a Trek.

I had this happen recently on a rear on a road bike with straight pull, flat spokes, all checked out ok, with LBS came to conclusion it was maybe due to light corrosion in/ under nipples causing stiction and when it release caused spokes to ping.  Was only on steepest of climbs/ standing on pedals etc.  I have since sold bike so no long term report

ps when I first had bike they didnt do this, and it was all checed out by LBS re spoke tension etc, did use wd on nipples and seats which helped a little but didnt cure

Hmm interesting.

I’ve done penetrant on the nipples to help truing, but I could try some oil on the rim holes, see if that helps.

That are the spoke tensions?

I’ve got a slight pinging going on when really cranking hard. 350 hubs, XR 391 rims and CX Ray spokes. New wheel, tension feels okay by hand but not checked it properly or tried to lube anything yet. But I did swap a few bits to verify it wasn’t the cassette or the rest of the bike. Not had this before.

I have this issue on my DT wheels. I always thought it was the straight-pull spokes moving in the hub as load is applied. They did it at new, and still do it after having been back to DT approved service centres twice, all be it for new spokes rather than because I asked about the problem.
It happens with brake torque, weight loading, and with drive torque. It’s damn annoying, but I only notice it when stationary, so I quickly forget about it.
I think they’re XMC1200 wheels, the old ones.

I bought an old Mavic wheel with bladed spokes for the back of my DJ bike. I know, I know but I snapped the original in half and it was the only rear wheel in the only shop.

It was really bad for the spokes flapping against each other and making a noise so I used a hot glue gun to put a blob in all the contact points. Silence.

Interesting that it’s common. I was wondering maybe if it was because of the really thin bladed spokes. It only started happening recently, and you know what, I haven’t cleaned it in a while…….

Are these bladed spokes straight pull or j-bend?

Er J bend I think.