Mystery Noises

 The old Raleigh has developed a mystery noise.  It's something between a thwack and a clonk.  It's a sound that you would expect if the crank arm was striking the kickstand, as I have had happen on other bikes, but that's not it.  I even moved the kickstand a little more inboard, in spite of it already being clear that was not the cause of the noise.  I also tightened up the nuts on the cotter pins.  It turns out they were a little loose.  I readjusted the chain tension.  I took parts of the chain case off.  I tightened all the nuts on the saddle, because one year, the Happy Little Three Speed Bicycle was making a similar noise, and I thought it was the bottom bracket, or maybe a pedal, but it turned out the nuts that held the saddle clamp tight on the seatpost were loosening, and another time I found the nuts holding the saddle springs down to the frame were loosening up.  I fidgeted around with the tightness of the cone adjustment on the rear hub. I checked all the hardware holding the chaincase to the bicycle frame.  I tried to put new pedals on, because I bought some MKS 3000s thinking the cranks were compatible with modern pedals, but the pedals did not quite thread on smoothly, and I have learned not to force things, even, nay especially, when I'm impatient.

When I hold the front brake on, and press down on a pedal, I can hear a click.  If I rotate the pedals and then push down on the other side, I hear another click.  I cannot pinpoint what part of the bike makes the click.  It sounds like it's coming from the rear hub area, but sometimes I think it could be the bottom bracket area.  That I cannot determine where the click comes from does not keep me from sitting in the garage, pushing the pedal, rotating the cranks, and pressing the opposite pedal, over and over again.

I posted on the "For the Love of English Three Speeds" thread on Bike Forums.  Someone there, surely would know immediately what could be making a clonk.  The one piece of advice I've gathered so far is to rename the bike "Ol' Clonky."

So, for now, I've been riding the Happy Little Three Speed rather than the Raleigh, and sometimes, the Rivendell, just because the Rivendell has a Schmidt dynohub, which is less noisy than the B&M dynamo on the HLTS.  I find that I do feel a little put out, when I have to shift through twenty-one speeds rather than three, though it is nice, sometimes, to truly spin up the hill.

I'm still trying to decide about Three Speed October.  I already ride about 10 miles a day, every weekday, and probably seven or eight miles on Saturday.  The challenge is overcoming my dislike of documenting every ride.  But, I believe in the cause, and I like the Society of Three Speeds.

If anyone has another guess for the cause of the noise, please let me know.  I do not think it is the hub about the implode, but it's an annoying sound, and in general, I feel I should not ride the bike while it is making the noise, though I do take it around the block every four days or so to see if the noise has gone away through a process of resting the bike.  That seldom, though not never, works.