Persistant rattling coming from your bike can drive even the most levelheaded person up the wall, and the bike. Unfortunately, curing the rattle can be a frustrating ordeal. Bicycle frames, with all of their hollow tubes and tensioned spokes can make ticks and rattles sound as if their coming from the headtube, when its really coming from the rear skewer. Even with your ear up against the bike, sometimes sound alone cannot make a diagnosis.

There are a few key things to check. If your bike has a replaceable deraileur hanger, check that fixing bolt. A bit of gunk between your frame and replaceable hanger coupled with an ever-so-slightly loose fixing bolt and you’ve got a persistant squeak. Check your waterbottle bolts too, along with any fender/rack hardware or accessories like lights or reflectors.

Something still loose? Try riding around and touching various parts of the bike to see if they’re the culprit… Still going? Does it only happen in a given gear? Only in a given crank position? Seated? Standing? All for another post…