How do I diagnose the sound coming from the rear of my bike?Updated 2 years ago

During the lifespan of your bike, nuts and bolts will loosen themselves, your shifter cable and chain will stretch, and the spokes will soften. All things you won't need to worry about if you service your bike once or twice a year depending on how often you ride.

However, your bike may develop some sounds and we can identify where they are stemming from and diagnose and resolve their cries.

Some of the most common noises riders report are a light ticking, clunking, rubbing, or a skipping sound.

Ticking
The ticking sound is typically caused by loose spokes or an over-inflated tire. Our best steps to remedy this is to check the rigidity of the spokes by pinching two together. They should be rigid - it's okay if there's a slight amount of flex. If there is considerable give, bring the bike by your local shop and have them tighten the spokes.

Check the air pressure of your tires as well. The recommend PSI range is printed directly on them. Ensure your air pressure is always within that range and you'll have no further issues.

Clunking
Typically, the clunking noise is only heard when you're pedaling and will remain silent if you're coasting. The clunk can be confusing as it may sound as if it's coming from the bottom bracket or crankset. However, this is not the case.

In pretty much all cases of a clunking bike have stemmed from the freehub body. In our tinkering, we believe this issue is caused when the freehub body is over-tightened during the assembly of the motor. We have raised this issue in the past, and since then, reported cases of the clunking have dropped significantly.

If your freehub is clunking, the only solution is to have it replaced. Reach out to your local Surface 604 dealer or email [email protected] and we can help you get the part replaced.

Rubbing
Most of the time the rubbing sound is associated with a bent rotor or something in the rear is misaligned. Pretty much every bike with disc brake will experience this at some point in its lifetime.

Thankfully, they're easy to troubleshoot or replace.

If you've noticed your rotor is bent, here's a great resource for truing your disc brake.

If your rotor isn't bent, but your brakes are out of alignment, try this resource for straightening things out.

Skipping
You'll most likely feel the skipping as much as you're hearing it and it's very easy to diagnose and resolve. In this situation your chain is either skipping between gears or threatening to skip into a different gear.

This is caused by your shifter cable stretching (it will happen to all bikes over time) and derailleur losing some tension. This could lead your derailleur needing to be indexed as well.

You can easily build up your confidence and bike mechanic skills by trying this one yourself! Here's everything you need to know.


If you're still experiencing some unwanted noise from your Surface 604 bike, please visit your local dealer or email us at [email protected].