ZHVelo

My pulleys squeak with the bike on the Wahoo indoor trainer.

They do not do this on the small ring. but only if I am in the big one up front. They mysteriously did not do it for the first minutes of today's ride, but then suddenly it was back. It does not squeak if I peddle with one hand and push the rear derailleur forward with the other (you can occasionally still hear a squeak, but much much less than if I don't push it forward).

Any ideas?

Update:

I finally (I got a new bike in the meantime so wasn't too bothered, but recently due to bad weather I started doing indoor rides more again) properly cleaned everything, including taking the pulley wheels off and disassembling them. You could see they were dirty, even rusty, so I cleaned them and put a little grease/wax on them and the squeaking is gone. So if someone has a similar issue, it was actually fairly quick to do, even for my first time, and easy to do, so if there is squeaking that sounds like it is coming from the back, look at the pulleys.

dsbrantjr

Lube the pulleys?

ZHVelo

Why does it only happen on the big ring? Why does it basically disappear if I push the RD forward? If it is a lubing issue neither of these should make a difference.

dsbrantjr

Going into the small ring or pushing the RD forward both reduce the pressure/friction on the pulley bearings. When troubleshooting, do the easy and cheap things first. Lube is cheap and, like chicken soup for a cold, may not help but it couldn't hurt.

Crankycrank

dsbrantjr gave you some good advice. Why not spend the 5 minutes and try it or you'll never know if it works or not and at least you'll have nicely lubed pulleys and can rule it out if it still squeeks. Takes less time than writing a couple posts in this thread.

70sSanO

You can go online and find write-ups to perform maintenance. Guessing the bearings might need replacing. You can lube, but if they are sealed, that might not help much.

I’m guessing the large ring is generating enough rpms to cause the bearing squeak.

John

ZHVelo

Why do you assume I didn't already lube everything?

Also, writing one sentence is faster than properly lubing your drivetrain.

ZHVelo

For a given resistance the small ring will yield higher RPMs. How can I check the bearings, what indications would there be that I should replace them?

70sSanO

If you can generate a higher rpm at the wheel with the small ring, dump the large ring.

To answer your question, a few minutes on Google. But I don’t have your trainer, so I could be wrong.

John

Crankycrank

You had not said anything about whether you did lube the pulleys or not. I did not say lubing your entire drivetrain was faster than writing posts but just lubing a pulley is about the smallest time investment you could make in this case. So if you're saying it's lubed then we can move on to something else and as mentioned taking the pulley's off for inspection would also be my next step.

ZHVelo

Right. Or you could have moved on based on my answer to the question. I would still be interested in an answer, why should lube matter when in different positions it does and doesn't squeak.

ZHVelo

What is the point about RPM, I don't get it.

RPM is a function of resistance and power input. I am not a pro that goes in the big ring and hits 120-130rpm. If I change to the small ring but want to keep my power the same I need to pedal faster.

70sSanO

Re-read what I wrote. Not your RPM, wheel RPM.

John

ZHVelo

That's just speed then...what does that have to do with the pulley?

70sSanO

If the pulleys only squeak when you are in the big ring, I’m thinking it might be because they are turning faster. If there is a bearing or other speed related issue, that may be why there is no issue in the small ring.

John

ZHVelo

Yes, and I am saying I don't get that. At same resistance (I am on a trainer so resistance is the same, in fact, I almost always have it at level 0 so I can perfectly balance my desired watt and cadence) and same power, I am going the same speed, if anything the pulleys do more work because I have to pedal faster in the small ring.

Andrew R Stewart 

So do the pulleys still squeak? Has the OP taken them apart to lube them yet?

Curious as to what der is in play here. Andy

AdkMtnMonster

The squeaky wheel, it seems, in this particular instance, does not always get the grease.

Andrew R Stewart 

Not to muddy this thread but- Some of my bikes have suffered from what I thought was pulley squeak. It drove me bonkers at times. I pride myself on a well set up and quiet bike and the eak eak just as I shifter gears was maddening. I was running Campy ders and would take apart the pulleys a few times a year or add Triflow weekly. But the squeak would returned, not consistently but there often enough. I would ride past walls and listen for more audio data to try to figure it out. For a lifer in the LBS service shop this was a bit ego bruising, not being able to fix this. I forget how the solution came to me but the noise was my Speedplay X cleat springs rubbing on the pedal spindle. It seems that when I shift gears I also wiggle my feet just right for this contact point to produce a noise. A dab of oil or grease on the spindle's contact "ring" (the spring rubs a wear band on the spindle) eliminated the noise. As the spring and/or the spindle wears the rubbing changes it's effect. I have 6 or 7 bikes with these pedals and only a couple have made this noise, yes the more used bikes...

How does this relate to this thread? Besides being an odd story it shows that initial assumptions can be wrong and sounds can be deceiving. Andy

AdkMtnMonster

Yeah. Don’t get me started on looks...

Back on topic, sort of. My Kickr makes a very quiet squeak where the belt contacts the flywheel as it slows down. I’m told not to lubricate the belt with anything, but I’d love to quiet it down.

ZHVelo

God I am so sure it is the pulleys, don't make me go crazy man. Anyway, it also squeaks outside now, had my first outside ride of the year yesterday. Terrible, and now it is starting on the small ring, too. I will probably just take it to LBS.

Andrew R Stewart 

So the noise is present with a different rear der? If so then either both ders have squeaky pulleys or the noise is from something else. Andy

70sSanO

So the pulley noise you were referencing pertained to the derailleur pulleys and not any part of the Kickr trainer?

As for bike squeaks, they can come from so many sources, even a saddle.

John

ZHVelo

Update: And I will add this to the OP in case someone has a similar issue: I finally (I got a new bike in the meantime so wasn't too bothered, but recently due to bad weather I started doing indoor rides more again) properly cleaned everything, including taking the pulley wheels off and disassembling them. You could see they were dirty, even rusty, so I cleaned them and put a little grease/wax on them and the squeaking is gone.