nicholo85

Hello everyone,

First off, this is the bike I am riding:
Canndondale Bad Boy 1 2012 model. So it has the left fork with suspension, and disc brakes.

I just wanted to ask other people's opinions about this. Currently, my front wheel keeps making a squeaking sound. It's not a constant sound. I can't describe it better other than saying that as the wheel is spinning, it goes squeak, squeak, squeak. So the faster I go, the faster the squeaking. Sometimes it also goes away completely, and then I'm a happy rider, but sometimes it just keeps making that noise for 10k sometimes. It gets quite unbearable. I've already taken it 3 times to the shop I bought it from with no luck. They grease it up, it disappears, but then reappears after 5k or so.

One of the people there said that the squeaking is a common problem with lefty forks. Somehow this doesn't sit well with me. I also did a quick google search and didn't find anything relating to the squeaking being a common issue with lefties. I'd like to know if anyone has experienced the same problem, or if someone can suggest a fix for it.

Thanks!

wphamilton

Reappears after 5K - 5 kilometers, 5,000 miles? I want to say, grease the bearings, replace bearings, if that doesn't work new hub or wheel.

nicholo85

my mistake, 5k as in kilometres. It's been greased to hell and back. It's still the same, and it's always at the same part of the wheel's rotation.

Shawn Parr

Have they checked for play in your hub? While the front wheel is installed can you shift it side/side compared to the fork leg that is there? My bike had the hubs develop a bit of lateral play a couple times and due to tight tolerances the rotors on the disk brakes would rub the pads. When the play got bad enough there was enough running for squeak to happen. LBS was able to fix it.

bjjoondo 

Might have them take a close look at the "disc brake pads" and the rotor, if the rotor is out of spec a bit it can rub just enough to cause a squeak! One other odd item, have them check the "pedals", I had a damned squeak I couldn't locate, the main mech. and I figured it was comming from a "hairline crack" in the body of one of the pedals, repalced the pedal, NO SQUEAK! Also, put a tiny bit of grease on the seat rails or the seat post holder, that squeak drove me nut's, luckly a long time rider, told me to check that and it worked FYI.

taxi

i thought i was the only one with this problem.i can defiantely relate to you on this. i've had mine serviced 3 times as well and i'm taking it in again (to a different bike place) to try and have them fix it. like you, they grease it up, it works fine for a day or two and then it starts up again. it sometimes is there and it sometimes isn't. its freaking annoying!

it has nothing to do with the brakes touching the disk and nothing to do with the pedal. the sound comes from the front wheel. you only have to lift it up, turn the front wheel and away the squeaking sound goes.

at the moment i havent got a solution for you. if i do, i'll let you know

TheOtherBob

I had that problem on a bike once and it turned out to be a little rubber dust cover or something like that near the end of the hub. (I clearly don't know enough to describe this accurately.) It was just a micron too big, and it was rubbing. So I took it off. Probably shouldn't have -- but it stopped the squeaking immediately.

giantcfr1

What kind of hubs do they come with? My Bad Boy came with shimano disc hubs and I've had zero noises coming from them over a 5 year period. My guess it's because when Dorel took over the business from Cannondale, they skimped on the components.
The newer Cannondale Bad Boys around here have very cheap parts, but then the price is now half what mine cost.
How easy is it to replace your hubs, or are you trapped because of the single blade fork?

pierce

I don't think I've had *any* sort of hubs develop squeaks on a wide range of bikes over quite a long time. I've bent a few axles on cheaper hubs and had the bearings bind, but nothing like a squeak. creaking spokes on a poorly tensioned wheel, rubbing brakes, sure.

cleaning and repacking loose ball bearings really isn't very hard, you just need a cone wrench of the appropriate size (2 double ended cone wrenches covers 90% of the hubs out there), along with a regular metric open end for the lock nut. I use green waterproof marine bearing grease, you can use white lithium grease, too. takes a bit of practice to set the cone just right so there's no play but no friction... too tight and you'll cause excess wear. back wheels will require a freewheel or cassette tool as you typically can't get at the drive side bearing when the freewheel/cassette is installed

RampageArt

[QUOTE=taxi;14938564]i thought i was the only one with this problem.i can defiantely relate to you on this. i've had mine serviced 3 times as well and i'm taking it in again (to a different bike place) to try and have them fix it. like you, they grease it up, it works fine for a day or two and then it starts up again. it sometimes is there and it sometimes isn't. its freaking annoying!

....tell me about it. I've only had my Badboy 5 for a few weeks (I've only ridden about 80k's on it), and this damned squeak has started. It is intermittent, I just can't tell when or why it starts and or stops. I took it to the bike shop and they mentioned it might be a warped brake disc. But the squeak has started up again. It is VERY annoying. I have mentioned it to the service/shop people again, and they say it is the dust seal on the bearings, and they suggest they will grease it up (and fix the problem), when I bring it in. Although, after seeing some of these posts - I'm pretty concerned this squeak is going to annoy the sh*t out me me for some time yet.

Can anyone confirm this is a typical problem with BadBoys. The service guy insists they have this 'seal' problem on a lot of bikes.
I'm in Sydney Australia - if that makes any difference.

appreciate any input here.

pierce

touch the front brake lightly and see if it changes... i bet its the disk rotor.

RampageArt

....tell me about it. I've only had my Badboy 5 for a few weeks (I've only ridden about 80k's on it), and this damned squeak has started. It is intermittent, I just can't tell when or why it starts and or stops. I took it to the bike shop and they mentioned it might be a warped brake disc. But the squeak has started up again. It is VERY annoying. I have mentioned it to the service/shop people again, and they say it is the dust seal on the bearings, and they suggest they will grease it up (and fix the problem), when I bring it in. Although, after seeing some of these posts - I'm pretty concerned this squeak is going to annoy the sh*t out me me for some time yet.

Can anyone confirm this is a typical problem with BadBoys. The service guy insists they have this 'seal' problem on a lot of bikes.
I'm in Sydney Australia - if that makes any difference.

appreciate any input here.

Wil Davis

If it's a 'creak' or a 'tick' then it might be caused by a loose spoke!

HTH -

- Wil

RampageArt

[QUOTE=Wil Davis;15128219]If it's a 'creak' or a 'tick' then it might be caused by a loose spoke!

No, its a definite hi pitched squeek, that obviously gets faster, the faster you go.
Its hard to tell if it's metal on metal - if anything, it sounds possibly like a kids squeeky vinyl toy (if you can imagine).
It just starts, just stops, and just starts again...I no obvious fashion or timeframe.
VERY annoying. Considering the cost of the bike -and it's brand new.

nicholo85

It's been a while since I posted my issue. Needless to say I got it fixed.

This is where the importance of customer service of the bike shop comes into play. After sending it 3 times for the same issue, they just said to hell with it and gave me a completely new front wheel. It doesn't cost the bike shop anything since its under warranty and cannondale will reimburse them for the wheel.

RampageArt

That sounds like a perfectly reasonable solution. And one in which I will persue, however, I'll probably have to accept this first offer of the service centre and see if the grease makes a difference. But I suspect - and I don't know lots about bikes - but, if there a several moving parts that are rubbing, and not aligning as they should, then no amount of grease is going to ever hold these parts in the right place. Seems like common sense - I hope they see it that way.

ahfunaki

I was going to start a new thread for this, but I figured I'd just post where everyone else had already done it.

I have a 2014 Bad Boy 5 that I recently bought as a leftover. I have about 80miles on it right now and I'm running into this issue.

I'm going to take it in next week and see what they say. I hope they are familiar with the issue and it's not a reoccurring thing for me.

Any updates from other people that have had this problem?

Here are some videos so everyone can hear the issue:

PWonderland

This is the exact problem I'm having with my 2015 Bad Boy I bought on close out from REI this past Spring. I probably have about 500 miles on the bike by now, but the problem started right away after I purchased the bike last spring. All this time I thought it was the disk brakes pads or rotors. But tonight I had the pads out to try some disk brake silencer on them, and I happened to spin the front wheel without the pads in and the squeak was still there loud and clear. I'm going to pursue this dust seal as the source of squeak next. That makes sense.

wodge

Hi,

I have EXACTLY the same issue, but with a Cannondale Contro 4, which is new and bought from Evans Cycles. Looks like the bike has the same fork / front wheel combination.

Thank you for posting the video which shows the symptoms perfectly.

I'm trying to get this fixed, but don't know what to do? Is there confidence on finding the root cause for this? The best I can see is replacing the front wheel from the previous posts?

Many thanks,

Wodge

Kai Kai

Hi,
It's 2019. I bought my Bad Boy 1 last year. Before I purchased the bike, I saw this problem. So when I was buying the bike, I mentioned it to the shop owner. But at the time, since it was dead quiet, I couldn't complain. I thought maybe they've fixed the problem for the model. But today, months later, this happed. Not as loud as the above videos. But annoying when you are riding for hours. So can someone explain to me how to fix it? Without having to change the entire wheel? With so many people having the same problem, I suspect new wheels means it will eventually happen again. I thought I was lucky. Now it seems I have to learn how to fix it. Shops would say it is the disk brakes. The shop I went to today isn't experienced with disk brakes. Researching on this today, people are saying it is the hub cover area. So please , if you guys can tell me how to fix it myself.
Thanks in advance!

Kai Kai

Update: Squeal solved.

The sound is coming from the hub "cover" and the center of the wheel, or more precisely, between them (where the plastic meets the steel center) on the OUTSIDE. (Actually , I am not so sure what they are made of..looks plastic for now). A bit of lubricant in that tiny space cures it instantly. No wonder we all couldn't tell if it was plastic or steel making sound. It's both!

I put my bike upside down so I can spin the wheel faster. The sound was there.The frequency increased as the wheel go faster. I had no lubricant at the moment but I had WD-40 spray. Since we are trying to lubricate just a little on the outside of the bike (meaning nothing had to be taken apart) and it only needed a tiny bit of lubricant or substitute. WD-40 stopped it instantly. Just a little bit will do. Since it was a spray, one spray made me confident that WD-40 was in the little space between. Of course, you have to point it up close to get the liquid in there.
I then spin the wheel (so it gets in to the small space in-between evenly). I normally would probably not recommend WD-40. But hey, it worked! Dead silent now. As long as we are not trying to lubricate anything inside the hub with the wrong lubrication.
I'll do an update if tomorrow's ride turned out funky.
If you have other proper lubricants. Use those instead. Use a syringe or anything that can get the lubricant in-between those small space.
I realize this post is old.
So for future Bad Boy owners then.