Creaking Front Ksyrium SL

Graphxbiz said:

Hello All,
I have a front Ksyrium SL road wheel that developed a creaking noise at less than 500 miles. I have taken it to my local shop and they where able to tune it out but now it's back.
I have learned that this is a common problem with these wheels but does anyone know if this could cause a serious problem later? Does anyone know of a cure?

Its an annoyance and not a serious problem. The noise is comming from the skewer and or the hub ends moving against the fork dropouts. If you want to stick with the Mavic skewers you can minimize the noise by lubricating the dropouts pretty much every ride, or just ditch them and get a decent pair of skewers. I swapped my front skewer for the skewer from my Ultegra wheelset and the problem went away. I then decided to ditch both of the Mavic skewers for a set of Salsa Ti flipoffs which are lighter and have that bling factor. No more noise.

If you have another skewer swap it out for the front one and see if this doesn't solve your problem too.

I assume this is also known to be a problem with Ksyrium Elites? My front Elite has also developed a very pronounced creak after about 500 miles of riding. I'll try a new set of skewers.

I had a similar problem (SL's), except my front skewer is the transponder for the Computer (Mavic Wintech)....I have Carbon front drop-outs so I carefully clamped the skewer a bit tighter and the noise was gone...which was good because I can't change it unless I buy a new 'Pooter...

davidbod said:

Its an annoyance and not a serious problem. The noise is comming from the skewer and or the hub ends moving against the fork dropouts. If you want to stick with the Mavic skewers you can minimize the noise by lubricating the dropouts pretty much every ride, or just ditch them and get a decent pair of skewers. I swapped my front skewer for the skewer from my Ultegra wheelset and the problem went away. I then decided to ditch both of the Mavic skewers for a set of Salsa Ti flipoffs which are lighter and have that bling factor. No more noise.

If you have another skewer swap it out for the front one and see if this doesn't solve your problem too.

Haven't had that problem with my SSC SLs nor Cane Creek Aeroheads
but did notice similar with rear Spinergy SR-3 (junk). But, I tend to
grease the skewers regularly and set them tight (not crazy tight, but
good and firm). Seems to help.

Sometimes sound travels, especially on an aluminum frame, so it
might sound like something and be something else. Bottom brackets
and chainring bolts are notorious for this.

I swapped out the external-cam skewer that came with my Elite for a Shimano internal-cam skewer today. Not so pretty, but no creaking so far. Of course, I haven't taken it on a real ride - only a few hard sprints and out of saddle climbs. I'll report back after this weekend.

friedmikey said:

I swapped out the external-cam skewer that came with my Elite for a Shimano internal-cam skewer today. Not so pretty, but no creaking so far. Of course, I haven't taken it on a real ride - only a few hard sprints and out of sad
dle climbs. I'll report back after this weekend.

I swapped out my skewers for dura ace ones and lubed each nipple on the wheels, which solved the problem. Mavic rep told my LBS to swap out skewers as first remedy to this problem as it is very common.

For what it's worth...

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I swapped the Mavic skewer with an old Dura Ace I had laying around and it seemed to have done the trick so far. I wonder how the pros handle this problem since they have to be on their bikes for so long? If I had to listen to same noise coming from another bike for 6+ hours I think I would be looking for the nearest team car to ride under.

Graphxbiz said:

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I swapped the Mavic skewer with an old Dura Ace I had laying around and it seemed to have done the trick so far. I wonder how the pros handle this problem since they have to be on their bikes for so long? If I had to listen to same noise coming from another bike for 6+ hours I think I would be looking for the nearest team car to ride under.

It took me a long time to figure this one out. Its hard to believe such a sad pair of skewers are sold with a 700+ dollar wheelset.

Just wanted to report back that I've had no creaking at all since I put the new skewer on.

New SL's making noise for me too. It seems the skewers rattle quite a bit. I'm looking to pick up some new skewers too. 😄

Graphxbiz said:

Hello All,
I have a front Ksyrium SL road wheel that developed a creaking noise at less than 500 miles. I have taken it to my local shop and they where able to tune it out but now it's back.
I have learned that this is a common problem with these wheels but does anyone know if this could cause a serious problem later? Does anyone know of a cure?

You could be over-tightening the QR. BTW ur using my old avatar (only mine was in color).

Are you sure it isn't the headset that's creaking ???? it can be the case with internal headsets and bearing cups.