The greatest sound in cycling?

Did my first triathlon today, which was my first experience of getting up close and personal with TT bikes. It was worth getting overtaken just to listen to the noise of those wheels whomping along. The speed the quick guys were going was phenomenal.

Whats your favourite noise in cycling?

Those 2-3 seconds of silence after hitting a jump on a flowing trail before the tyres land and reconnect with the ground

The sound of my 8 year-old son laughing his head off as he picks up speed going downhill.

Yup..genesis has it..end of thread

genesiscore502011 – Member

Those 2-3 seconds of silence after hitting a jump on a flowing trail before the tyres land and reconnect with the ground

Change that to 0.2 seconds for me “gravity & big bloke” does mean I stick to the ground well 😉

The sound of triathletes mangling gear changes just before the dull thud of their bodies hitting tarmac 😐

Or this

Or this

That is a great vid. On a similar theme I always liked this from NWD10

Is a tie between the OP’s (I was gonna post “the growl of a deep section wheel” on the basis of the title without seeing the post) and the silence of getting airborne. Especially if you ride a fat bike or noisy super tacky tyres.

The sound of a nicely made gate catch dropping when you swing the gate closed.

The opposite is when you come to open one and it just drops to the ground with a clang.

Always been the song of a skylark for me, it’s mesmerizing and usually means the climb is done 🙂

When you stop on the moors & all you can hear are Curlews.

Rear cassette engaging, loud clicking from a freewheel.

Sound of tyres over loose gravel.

Also what genesis said although my experience usually has the sound of wheels washing out, the thud of a 13 stone rider hitting the deck and gentle whimpering following it.

Just back from riding in the Yorkshire Dales. My first thought, before opening the thread, was the call of the skylark & curlews we had listened to on the moors between Ribblesdale & Littondale.

Glad to read bigh & Essel are of the same opinion 🙂

the hiss of road tyres on really smooth roads

the buzz of mtb tyres in a compression

The silence that envelops you when enpbraced by a tailwind.

The rattling of Lakeland slate under you wheels.

The sound of the door opening on the pie fridge, behind the bar of the Church, after a Prestwich Monday Night Pub Ride 🙂

The satisfying ‘click’ of an SPD cleat engaging as you head off out!

Or 10 minutes into the ride if you’re Matt Stephens.

The rattling of Lakeland slate under you wheels.

This and a Hope hub.

Always been the song of a skylark the whomph, whomph, screeearch of the windfarm for me, it’s mesmerizing and usually means the climb is done

The scrabbling noise Mtb tyres make when you get both drifting at once in a corner.

Made all the sweeter for me by its rarity.

The sound my bike makes when nothing on it is squeaking or rattling. Made all the sweeter by its rarity.

Hope hubs..There’s one long road decent I do on a favourite loop, and once you’ve spun out the top gear on the mtb, listening to the pitch of the sound go higher as you consider whether to put the brakes on to shave some speed off or not.

Or up on the moors where the only sound apart from you is the sound of the wind, or the odd sheep.

The sound of a proper elite peloton.

The whirring sound you get when braking on some nicely warmed up rotors on a really fast road descent.

The tiny electronic zzt of a Di2 front mech self adjusting.

The sound of nature when you properly get away from it all, stop and all you can hear is a cuckoo or the curlews or an owl.

The sound of a proper elite peloton.

I’ll add to that one, the sound of a true pro DH rider on the limit during a run – it’s a soft rumble then a whoosh as they go past. Compare that to an amateur where everything is creaking and clattering and banging and squeaking.

For me, the combination of tires scrabbling when hitting a berm fast with that hope sound. That or the unclipping from spds followed by locking the rear wheel when drifting a corner properly (far too rare an occurence for me…)

The on/off clacking of a Hope rear hub being ragged through twisty single track for me.

It always seems to urge me on: “Go on! Faster! FASTER!”

The cannons going off as you top ten or KOM a segment

In reality my little lad laughing like a minion as he rags his bike round the woods

Best – The sound of nature and slight rolling noise when riding a stealth bike.

Worst – Hope hubs, hate them 👿 (and likewise other equally demented bee sounding hubs).

Somewhere in between – the sound of fat bike wheels rolling 😀

+1 the sound (and feel) or being in the air.

And anyone who wears headphones on the trail… WTF? May as well sit at home if you have to listen to music to enjoy being outside 😛

People cheering you down a race track even though you’re just some random fanny.

Standing at the bottom of the wall at fort william wall, it’s not just the sound, the ground shakes. I can’t spell the noise, it’s like a really long bass drum hit

The sound of laboured breathing as I top out on the 10th interval.

Broken plate noise of a slatey descent or as you’ve said the whurv whurv of deep section wheels.

The best sound in cycling, is when cruising downhill and your speed perfectly matches the tailwind. Everything falling silent. Except the sound of the tires.

Best on a smooth, grassy surface.

The sudden rumble-silence-rumble when your wheels leave the ground and then touch back down again.

I’ll add to that one, the sound of a true pro DH rider on the limit during a run – it’s a soft rumble then a whoosh as they go past. Compare that to an amateur where everything is creaking and clattering and banging and squeaking.

I dunno, some of the fast lads at Fort William last week sounded like someone kicking a dishwasher downstairs when they were in the rock gardens, it always surprises me how loud they can be hitting stuff and still keep flying.

The sound of setting your bike up perfectly. No squeaks or creaks or chains trying to locate on cogs.

That and the sound of one of the knoblies on your tyre pinging when you hit a rock or root on a techy bit.

THe noise of riding the North Shore with the xylophone-esque rumble from the cedar slats.

The sound of the post-ride pint glass being placed in front of the thirsty muddy/dusty rider.

Drac – that’s superb! You’re absolutely right, there’s nothing quite like it. It’s been a while (2 years), but what you wrote takes me right back and brings a smile with the memory.

Used to really like the sound of a Hope hub, now the silence of my DT350’s is fantastic. Rolling through some lovely singletrack and just gearing the tyres grip and the faintest buzz from the back end.
Also love hearing my Formula 2-piece rotors pinging after a big decent.