Kizzado0dle

Hi all, I've just joined up so apologies if this is in the wrong place or I miss out a rule I didn't notice!

I've just got back into cycling after quite some time and got myself a Merida Matts 15MD. It's been a great bike for my first week or so and it's done some decent miles. It has now started making a very annoying squeaking noise that i'm hoping some of you knowledgeable people might be able to help me with. It happens without me applying the breaks - just while riding, or even just rolling the bike along the ground (so my weight on the bike doesn't seem to be a factor). I think that the sound is coming from around the area of the front disc break which sort of makes sense as if i slightly apply the break, the squeaking seems to stop, though obviously at the expense of the break then being applied which I clearly can't do for the whole ride for various reasons.

I could be wrong about where it's coming from and the sound stopping when i break might have been more of a coincidence but it does seem to point to something to do with the breaks as far as I can tell? I have heard that when you get a new bike you often need to take it back after 6 weeks or so to have cables tightened or something along those lines, but I don't know if it could be related to that because I've only had the bike a week. It's probably done about 60 miles?

Any thoughts?

pdlamb

Guess #1, the disc BRAKE is maladjusted. (Let's hope it doesn't break!) This should be a trivial 10 minute fix if you take it back to the bike shop where you bought it, if you can avoid Friday afternoon and Saturday.

corrado33

Hold your bike off of the ground (or flip it upside down). Look at the disc brake. Look into the caliper and see if there is space between each pad and the rotor. Sometimes it helps to shine a flashlight up from the other side of the caliper. If you don't see space on one side of the rotor, your caliper is misaligned. If you do, spin the wheel. Does the rotor move back and forth at all? If yes, then your rotor is bent.

Whatever you do, if you have hydraulic brakes, don't squeeze them when the bike is upside down. It can put air into the system which can temporarily make the brakes not work well.

SquidPuppet

Beat me to it.

Kizzado0dle

Ok ok - disc brake . Thanks all so far... Will take a look as corrado suggested and get it to the local bike shop.

Ben.Addy

My best guess is that you need to adjust the front break caliper. This is easily done, just look it up and watch a video for help. Hope you get it fixed.

AnkleWork

Maybe we can narrow this down with the process of elimination. Would you say the squeak is more like:
A. a door hinge, or
B. a pet toy?

Kizzado0dle

Probably more like a door hinge? It's not quite constant but squeaks every 5 seconds or so.. haven't had chance to get it to a shop yet..

fietsbob

Liked the second set of disc brake pads better than the stock ones, I did .