BIke still noisy

For patient people out there, I am posting again about noise. This is the start of my second year cycling, but I just started on zwift and an indoor trainer at the start of the new year. Bike seemed noisy in the two hardest to pedal gears, and nothing slipping anywhere, but just kind of sounding and feeling like it is always trying to get into gear, but not quite getting there fully.

Set it back up today after a spring tune-up. Was told the chain was worn out and needed to be replaced, so they replaced it with a new, nicer model. Just put it on the bike, and it seems louder than before in those two gears again, especially when I pedal with my weaker leg.

I tried the adjustment in the back that moves the derailleur left and right and that didn’t seem to help before. Anyone have a wahoo kickr core that can show me a picture of the spacer and what it looks like on in case I have something spaced wrong? I have a salsa journeyman, which is a 9x2 I believe. I have a cassette for a 9 speed installed. I’m just not sure what I might have wrong, but it just seems off, noisy, 20% out of gear, etc.

Thanks.

Can you describe the noise? Does it sound like metal rubbing against metal, or is it more of a vibration/noise as if it is coming from the kickr’s fly wheel and not the bike’s drive train? The latter is common with kickr cores in the hardest gear (smallest on the cassette).

Are you cross chaining (smaller chainring upfront, smallest cog on rear cassette) when you hear the noise?

It doesn’t seem like it’s the kickr. I noticed it right away when I put my chain back on the kickr and pedaledl a little with my hand to help the chain on the smallest gear. I feel like it’s the drive train. That’s why I’m worried about the spacer, or that my cassette is wrong or that I have the bike on the trainer wrong (that doesn’t even seem possible though).

I only use the larger front gear, so I think that’s a no.

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The new chain on an old cassette can also be an issue, the cassette could be worn down and not lining up well with a new chain? I suggest taking it into the bike shop and have them help you out.

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That sound when you are switching gears but it didn’t fully click over for a split second, that’s what the harder gears sound like. But maybe it’s just me noticing the noise when I don’t have road noise and nature noise and wind through my helmet etc.?

New cassette in January for the kickr core. Old chain from riding last year. Just had the bike in for a spring tune-up. They had me replace the chain. So new chain, and about 9 hours on the new cassette.

Maybe this is the problem. Could very well be a dumb rookie mistake.

Bike came with a Sunray cassette I think. I didn’t see that it was a fantastic cassette, so when I needed a new one for my kickr core, I read reviews for best 9x2 cassettes and picked up a shimano. Could having a different 9x2 cassette on my kickr core from what is on my salsa journeyman be the issue?

Sorry, no idea?

Are the gears indexed correctly?

It’s extremely common for adjustments to be needed to rear derailleur indexing when putting the bike on a trainer.

Can you post a close-up video showing the rear cassette and derailleur while pedalling and shifting? It might help us diagnose what’s going on.

Also, this isn’t so much a “Zwift” issue - you should consider posting in the Reddit “BikeWrench” sub-section - they diagnose stuff like this all the time.

As far as I know. Again, no slipping, working okay, just doesn’t seem to be working great.

Okay. Sorry. I’ll move there. Thanks for the help.

Naw, you’re welcome here Matt! I just suspect you’ll have more traction on BikeWrench. :wink:

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Got some ideas there too. Was wondering, dumb question, but what am I trying to line up with what when I do the indexing? I mean, I know I’m trying to get the chain lined up with the gears, but what specifically am I lining up with what?

I don’t have an answer for you unfortunately, but I’m facing the exact same problem and I dropped my bike off today to get tuned. My chain was apparently just on the edge of being at the replace point so we’re doing that.

I can say once I get my bike back, my plan is to transfer my bike cassette that mostly feels fine to the Kickr to see if there’s any difference.

If you find an answer elsewhere, please chime back in here as I’m sure there are lots of us that would appreciate it.

Having screwed as much stuff up as I have fixed by trying to make adjustments, the best advice I can offer is to bring your KICKR into the shop with the bike.

My LBS guys were very cool about dialing everything in against the trainer. I also have the same cassette on my wheel as the trainer (9x2 as well) and didn’t need anything beyond the spacer that came in the box.

Good luck getting it quieted down, and if that doesn’t work buy headphones instead.

With a 9-speed cassette, you should have a 1.85mm spacer on the rear.

if you look at your bike from the back there is a barrell adjuster on the rear mech. if you turn this clockwise it moves the rear mech top the right making it easier to shift to smaller sprokets on the cassette and if you turn it anti clockwise it makes shifting to bigger sprockets easier.

while on the bike and pedalling push the shifter as if you are going to change to an easier gear but don’t push it the whole way (so don’t actually change the gear just tension the cable a bit). Does this make the sound worse or better? if it gets worse then it means the rear mech is too far to the left (looking from the back of the bike) and therefore turn the adjuster clockwise a quarter of a turn and see if this helps. keep making small adjustments until it is quiet.
if pushing the leaver makes the noise quieter then do the opposite - turn the adjuster anti-clockwise a quarter turn and see if this helps.

just do small adjustments at a time and you can always go back if things get worse.

hopefully some of that made sense!

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I didn’t realize how this worked, other than it moved to the left and ride. Thanks!

I rode for over an hour on zwift today on a new chain, and after 45 minutes to an hour, it must have broken in a little and it sounded and felt great. Maybe I know what a worn chain feels and sounds like now? :slight_smile: