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I recently bought a second hand bike, that got through quite some repairs and testing at a nearby bike store. They fixed some issues and put the bike into cycling condition, as well as changing the tires.

After some travelling, I have noticed that on very bumpy roads the rear suspension starts making what i would label as "B-series movie bed suspension noise" (niieek, nieek, nieek), the spring seems to be "jumping" too much and provoking the scratchy sounds.

I have also noticed that the rear suspension has some kind of screw mechanism to strenghten or loosen the spring (see pic), and that it's halfway, but I have no idea how to touch it and I don't want to trouble the bike store again for such a simple thing.

I understand that what I should be looking for is to increase the strength / stiffness of the suspension, to reduce the scratching, at the (relaxing for my ears, worse for my own rear) cost of less shock absorption.

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I'm 99% positive the noises you hear are comming from the bushes on the rear shock. It's common that dirt will get there and with poor lubing it would start making noises.

I would really recommend to you take it out and take the bushes out of it.

Those would be the piece at both ends of the shock, where the bolts go through when you mount the shock. There are two rubber groomits, take them off and then take the aluminium cilinder, on each of them bushes. Clean everything with isopropil alcohol, or something, then grease it(every moving a contact point and use just a dab) and put it together. Clean the contact points in the frame, grese it up and bolt the read shock. Noise should be gone by now.

If after this you still hear noises, then you should check the pivot near the botom bracket. And plis no WD-40 on articulations.

Also, the nut near the spring is the preload. You can adjust it if you want a stiffer ride, but it won't help you to reduce creaking.

bye.

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  • i don't know what a 'bush' is ( english slang?), could you point it to me on the pic i posted? (MS paint will do)
    – CptEric
    May 10, 2018 at 13:11
  • and what is wrong with using WD-40 on bike articulations? (legit question) isn't that it's primordial task? (i use it for many spring-powered mechanisms to keep them sooth).
    – CptEric
    May 10, 2018 at 13:13
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    @CptEric It's "Bushing" and it's not a Slang. It's like a bearing but without moving parts. It's a thing that makes posible to connect and articulate two moving parts, with friction. thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/moczs2rMOqTz4H0D3gmgv4w.jpg
    – dmb
    May 10, 2018 at 13:14
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    @CptEric WD-40 is good for cleaning and "unlocking" seized stuff. But It will evaporate shortly. You need to use oil or grease, depending on the application.
    – dmb
    May 10, 2018 at 13:15
  • Oh, thanks. i didn't knew that was the name of the part, i thought it was simply a kind of bolt. gotcha on the WD-40, better to use grease ofcourse. will inform you if this fixes it.
    – CptEric
    May 10, 2018 at 13:16
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The squeaking is caused metal parts rubbing against one another, not by the spring 'jumping'. Maybe you mean the spring is rotating on the shock body as it is compressed and uncompressed?

Adjusting the suspension is not the answer to getting rid of the noise, if you did the noise would probably still be there.

BTW, the adjustment you are talking about is the preload of the suspension spring. Here is a question about that (for forks, but the principle is the same).

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  • how would i get rid fo the noise then, the old and fancy DIY graph way? pics.me.me/…
    – CptEric
    May 10, 2018 at 12:46

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