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The heart of the bike, the frame, amplifies all kinds of noises. It misleads us by making them sound in the wrong place, but is sometimes the cause itself - because clamping parts rock on the frame, screw connections are loose or cracks have actually formed. Wheels, especially the rear wheel, are also sound generators.
Small noisemaker: the derailleur hanger
Small part, big noise: There is a lot of load on this small component, which is also only mounted to the frame with a thick connection. To eliminate noises, either apply a thick layer of assembly grease to the derailleur hanger and reinsert it - sometimes the only thing that helps is gluing it in place. To do this, the locking screw should be degreased and reinserted with medium-strength screw adhesive.
You can find more articles on the subject of eliminating noise on MTBs here:
Cracking at the thru axle
Coat the stub axle or clamping axle with assembly grease and tighten it sufficiently - sometimes it helps to tighten the axle a little more and the rear and fork will be quiet.
Micrometres decide whether brakes squeal or not
Realigning squeaking brakes is quick and easy: loosen the calliper bolts, pull the brake lever, tighten the bolts in turn - this is how the brake calliper is realigned. The easiest way to do this is with someone to help. The distance between the rear brake calliper and the front brake lever can be long.
The damper absorbs shocks, but not the annoying cracking in the frame
There is more or less kinematics going on around the damper and a correspondingly large number of bearings and therefore bolts are doing their job - but unfortunately sometimes not silently. Check all the screws of the damper linkage and the joints involved - everything tight?
Are creaking sounds coming from the area? Then you should treat the frame joints one by one with penetrating oil to find out which one is making noise. Then remove it, clean it and refit it greased. Manufacturers often offer service kits for the bearings if they are actually worn or worn out on your MTB.
The wheel makes noise when travelling
The first step is to tighten the cassette and brake disc to the specified torques. If this doesn't help, things become more complex: It may help to change the spoke tension in the wheels or to insert spokes of a different diameter if the wheel has been identified as the culprit and all other sources of error have already been ruled out - this is the advice of Norbert Köhn from Reset Engineering.
These lubricants, pastes and special solutions help to immobilise the bike
Assembly grease
For stationary parts. A tough, pressure-resistant grease whose main task is to separate components from each other, prevent damage and contact corrosion and keep water out. Also useful as a sealing layer before the actual bearing seal. Practical: The assembly paste from Shimano comes with a brush. Can be used for all types of screw connections.
Bearing grease
Minimises friction in rotating parts, especially for relubricating ball and plain bearings. However, the requirements on the bike are not very high, as the bearings rotate slowly and the temperatures are low.
Carbon assembly paste
For jammed parts. Increases the friction between components and thus protects carbon tubes from damage caused by constrictions. This is because the required torque drops by around 40 % with the use of carbon pastes. For handlebar/stem and seat post/frame connections.
penetrating oil
Penetrates narrow crevices and provides short-term peace and quiet.
Medium-strength screw adhesive
For securing small screw connections such as on brake discs, derailleur hangers or bearing bolts on joints.
Torque spanner
Torque spanner helptighten the screw connections on the bike correctly - this supports a quiet ride and protects light, sensitive material, especially carbon.
Special solutions
The bearing seats of carbon frames are rarely cylindrical. "We've even seen trumpet shapes," says Norbert Köhn from Reset Engineering. Series components cannot always compensate for this. That's why Reset offers oversized shells. The elastic bearing shells made of glass fibre-reinforced polyamide have an oversize of 2.5 tenths of a millimetre as standard, but other dimensions are also possible. If it doesn't just creak, but rattles because the components have too large tolerances, Reset has a second product in its programme that can be used to overcome small gaps of up to 0.15 mm. "Well done, it holds really well," says Köhn. If it rattles even worse, conventional two-component epoxy adhesives can also be a solution.
