Whistling front wheel.

[Flemboselecta]

Morning all,

As title suggests, my front wheel is whistling. Similar sound to air whistling through the slot in a visor, etc but definitely coming from front wheel.

Noise increases and decreases it's frequency with speed. Happens on & off the throttle and on & off the brakes. Only starts above 30mph, stops when I drop below and even above 30mph it comes and goes.

Anyone with any ideas? I'm assuming maybe bearings (although it seems strange that the noise would come & go?) or have I missed something massively obvious?

Cheers,
Lee

[maviczap]

Could be bearings, also check the pads aren't binding on the discs, if they are the disc will be warm or hot, even if you haven't used the brakes.

[mattSV]

What tune is it whistling?

You spin me round?

[maviczap]

Nope, its 'Give a little whistle' :p

[Flemboselecta]

Whey!

[Flemboselecta]

And re: pads, I'm getting dead or alive played to me when I'm on the brakes so surely any pad dragging wouldn't have an effect when callipers are applied?

[maviczap]

And re: pads, I'm getting dead or alive played to me when I'm on the brakes so surely any pad dragging wouldn't have an effect when callipers are applied?

Mine did a similar thing, one piston in one of the calipers wasn't retracting properly, so part of the pad was dragging on the disc.

But its prob the bearing

[stuR]

I know you said its defo the wheel but i had a resonating sort of whistle i thought was from the front wheel, ended up being the mirror glass was rattling ever so slightly..maybe worth grabbing one as u ride and see if the noise stops like it did on mine if no other answer solves it

[Flemboselecta]

Intriguing! I've gone down the route of thinking it might be loose fender/plastic around nosecone etc but haven't tried the mirror!

I've asked the same question to a fellow riding friend who mentioned that chains can make some funny noises - anyone with any chain whistle experience?!

[Fallout]

If its louder under braking, or after going over a pot hole (or the noise changes) I'd be sure it's bearings. You don't want that to fail on you otherwise it could be catastrophic.

[Flemboselecta]

Well the whistle is louder today so I'm going with bearings. Looks like I'm off the road til Friday but I'll fit them and report back.

Cheers for the advice all!

[Kirkybhoy]

had a similar experience but mine was fairing related, slight gap at the front just behind the wheel, drove me nuts..

[chezza]

You mentioned chain earlier - When I had an issue with my chain being too tight it caused what I thought was noise from the front wheel - turned out to be the chain too tight, this caused my sprockets/chain and rear bearing to need to be replaced. Thats worst case I imagine, but yes a chain too tight can cause noise, especially above 30mph and also on/off throttle.

[jchu1988]

I had something similar, squeals under 30 mph. Got louder when the callipers were off. It turned out the speed rotor had snapped all four tags and were dragging along when the wheel was spun, which led to the squealing noise.

[Flemboselecta]

For anyone that's still interested...

Not bearings - rear calliper sticking. How stupid do I feel. Of course the noise wasn't gong away under braking, I never use the rear!

Although taking apart the caliper is an easy job, one of the fixing bolts isn't coming undone and feels like it's stripping the thread. I'll be able to get it off, but don't suppose anyone has a rear brake caliper hanger lying around assuming I'm going to shred it getting it off?