ok, mavic Deemax wheels….

went for a long ride today with the GF. at about 40km into the ride i heard what sounded like the rear rotor hitting the caliper. and it only “twanged” when i lent the bike to the right. upon inspection it wasn’t the rotor/caliper, but seem to be the spokes, but only in one or two places. (i.e. i lean onto the bike when it is stationary and put pressure on the rear wheel simulating it flexing. i turn the wheel and repaet and it pings, but only in one or two spots).

it is likely to be spoke tension causing this? the tension seems fairly constant on both side of the wheel.

AND i think – no, not think, there is – something wrong with the freewheel/hub. when coasting the freewheel turns with the wheel meaning there is no tension on the chain. on fast descents the chain comes to rest on the chainstay. when i flip the bike upside down all seems fine.

someone please point me in the right direction…..

i feel i’m about to have to spend a few €€s on my bike…. need new cranks, too.

If its freewheel problem it can be serviced and problem solved. There was a kit that replaced a nylon bush, these have been updated to a ceramic bearing.

Kits are available from eBay and USA vendors. Done three wheel sets without a problem .

HTH

How old are they?

My immediate thought would be that your freewheel needs servicing – possibly just a good clean and oil

its possible that the pinging is down to pawls clunking or a damaged freewheel bushing, even a broken axle -without seeing it I wouldn’t like to say whether it was that or the spoke tension – also check for cracked flanges, (well, the drillings the spokes mount through) you see that sometimes.

This is the older type (its a road wheel, but essentially the same)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5arUG3iy0Q[/video]

Heres the newer type

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31i0XWJpI4Y[/video]

Mavic Crossmax and Ksyrium wheels have a reputation for pinging annoyingly from where the spoke sits in the hub. If it’s that, a little bit of oil/wet lube where the spoke locates in the hub should sort it.

Not sure if Deemax do the same, but it’s worth a try. I had it with both Crossmax and Ksyriums. Dead annoying but easy to sort out.

thanks for the replies guys….

ok….

have re-checked spoke tenion and tweeked a few spokes and the wheel is running truer than before. have also put a dab of oil on the spokes/hub interface.

have taken the whhel apart…. cleaned the pawls, springs and gubbings inside.

now do i squirt oil or grease into the freewheel before putting everything back in place?

cheers!

don’t know about the spokes or twanging, but the chain going loose thing is common on Mavic free hubs, to the point that they start squealing eventually and you can’t freewheel at all.
definitely an issue on older Crossrides, Aksium/Ksyrium etc. very high resistance when you spin the cassette.
mine was pristine inside. should be mothing more than the lightest dab of light grease on the pawls etc. and iirc a very thin oil on the ptfe seal.
fixed mine for abotu 2 rides before it went wrong again.

Have a really good look around the nipple seats and also on the inside of the rim for cracks , my mate has a set of ’07 crossmax sx wheels that have cracked . They live on a Cove ‘Stiffee’ that he uses to commute to work and has never used off road , he’s a big lad at 17.5 stone but even still these are meant to be tough wheels.

just been for a spin…. everything is fine.

no cracks in the rim. no more squeaking.

ended up using shimano mineral oil for the freewheel (read on another forum that you need a very thin oil and it was all i had).

Good

Grease on the freehub kills them – it collects muck and turns into a nice grinding paste

think ‘3 in 1’ consistency.

yeah think mine was just a drip of pedros synlube (useless for anywhere else on a bike).

saw a hub/axle rebuild kit on one of the popular sites somewhere, so might get one. my axle is fractionally not straight too. just need to source a 3rd party replacement seal from ebay, since the stock mavic one is apparently the culprit.

There’s also a kit that replaces the plastic bushing thing with a bearing – do a search on eBay for it. I used one of the eBay replacement bushings on an old Crossmax and it was fine. No more play.