On Monday, November 11, 2013 9:55:24 AM UTC-5, Jay Beattie wrote:
On Sunday, November 10, 2013 6:11:11 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On Sunday, November 10, 2013 12:30:25 PM UTC-5, wrote:


I would say, it feels like a brake vibration, humm (with the brakes pads clear of the rim) like a rummble strip in a car going at highway speeds..

Weird. Could it have something to do with contact between spokes? ...

The Equipe front is radially spoked.

Well, that kills my idea. Back to the mystery.


It sounds like a bad bearing (notwithstanding the prior replacement). As mentioned above, it could be a damaged tire. I would throw on a different wheel to rule out problems elsewhere, although I can't imagine what problems could cause a buzzing in the front end, at least not on a rim brake bike. I can get a buzzing sound when a return spring on a warn disc pad starts to contact the rotor. The other possibility are really loose spokes, but that problem would be obvious, unless all spokes loosened evenly, and it would sound like a rattle.

Datakoll does make a good point, which you confirm: It can be very hard to tell where a bike noise is coming from.

The only other thing I'll say now is that I'm really careful about fixing bike noises. Some things that sound like mild irritations can suddenly throw you.

Besides, even a benign noise, like a slight chain squeak, can add subliminal dismalness to a bike ride.

- Frank Krygowski