Clonking from lower front quick-release?

Here’s a strange problem I have. Recently under hard pedaling the front quick-release joint ‘clonks’.
It seems it rises up 2mm until it hits the spring-loaded release cam. Later it drops down to its ‘normal’ position when coasting. See photograph of the 2mm gap on my Strida 5.2. Is this normal or am I missing a spacer? (There seems to be one marked 100-03 in the exploded view, centre page of the owner’s manual).

fotothing.com/photos/772/772 … 1244419900

NICE colour !!!

Mine has 2mm movement … eg if I try and lift the bottom tube, without pressing the catch, that is normal ‘over travel’ of the joint. But as I ride, the bottom tube joint does not lift on the pin(216) - even with toe clips on there is much more force down than up. The part 100-03 you mention is the top 1 of 2 bearings - as seen in your picture. Are the screws on either side of the Joint holding pin 216 really tight ? is the joint easy to connect - ie as pin goes in ?

Thanks Human Amp!
The pin is perhaps a little too easy to drop in the bushing - maybe I should clear off any careless lube. The bike has only about 50km on it since new. At least I now know there’s nothing missing.
The pin itself is well clamped by the side screws.
Stay tuned.

Did some more observing, Human Amp was right - it is not the lower front pin that is moving. There is a slight movement /creak of the upper ball joint/grey plastic in that the plastic opens very slightly (it has a break by design ? at the 12 o’clock position, looking down) when hard pedalling or braking. I guess that is normal.

I’m not aware of any clonking at all from the front of my clone under pedalling effort nomatter how hard. I do get some slightly irritating ‘clacking’ from the freewheel though. I’m not sure why it happens but it does.

I’ve not heard any “clonking” noise but a “clack” I hear occasionally seems to come from inside the front tube. I think it may be due to the internal cable slapping against the inside of the frame when I go over a slight bump or ride over a rough road surface. It’s never caused a problem, though.

Hmm. I have the same problem, my 5.2 strida is 2 months old, suddenly it has this weird (“clonk” like) noise and the source is somewhere near to the quick-release.
I can even reproduce this anytime: turn the left pedal to 6 o’clock position, step on it, place the right pedal to 6 o’clock position and step on it.
It should not be normal because it’s very annoying and loud enough…
Minkair, could you fix it somehow (eg. by replacing the plastic)? How annoying is yours?

It’s annoying for sure. I’ve tried swapping saddles but that’s not it. Only under hard pedalling.
Continuing to sleuth it out.

What about the folding pedals themselves? I’ve had problems with the bearings in the past. Could they be the source of your mystery noise?

Tried replacing the Strida plastic folding pedals with standard metal bike pedals - made no difference.

I have noticed that the grey plastic ball joint housing at the frame top “opens” slightly under hard pedalling, closing tight when soft pedalling - is that normal?

Hello all Strida riders!
In my impression this strange sound during pressing strongly pedals is not from front but from rear hinge connecting midlle bar with rear tube.
I start to hear it after ~3 weeks of using strida 5.2 when it get dirty after riding in rain. After some investigations I notice that I can repeat this sound or very similar sound during very slowly unfolding. I feel that unfolding is slipping and each very small step of this slipping is connected with such noise. After next few weeks with better weather I hear that this sound start to vanish.

I’ve not had this, but having stripped one down, I would check tightness of (in order) …

Eccentric Bottom Bracket ring (needs c-spanner or careful hammer and punch)
Eccentric Bottom Bracket position fixing screw (underneath).
Crank bolts
Pedals
Screws that fix RH crank ‘spider’ to front pulley
Screws at front that hold the steering pin to front tube member.
Check the bottom tube is not loose at rear, there should be some friction so that the bottom tube does not crash to the ground - if loose, tighten the screw at the back, but of still loose it will need another packing washer - to make the 2 spring washers do their job and keep pressure on the joint.
(best described Page 45 in early Strida1 manual, which has more info about this than later manuals … strida.co.uk/english/service … ge=manuals there is also some info about noises in ‘Tips from the designer’ ).

Other things to check: (as other have suggested above) loose spokes ? Damaged steering bearings ? creaking seat mounting or saddle fixing ? brake cables rattling inside the tubes ?

please let us know when you nail it.

Clonking is finally gone, Strida is silent! Goes to show how elusive noises can be to fix.

The root cause (thanks for the suggestions, Human Amp) was looseness in the bottom bracket mounting, exacerbated by a dealer-installed kickstand which was riding on the locking ring on one side. I dismantled the bottom bracket with my (essential!) new C-Spanner, carefully cleaned the threads and reassembled/torqued everything, filed down the kickstand base corner to not foul the locking ring, and the noise was gone! The eccentric bottom bracket assembly is quite a loose fit in the frame hub by design (?), so it needs a nicely snugged-up locking ring AND a good tight connection at the kickstand mount to be secure.

Phew! This proves that non-standard parts can be trouble on a revolutionary design like the Strida, where everything ‘just fits together’.

For any others that do this, DON’T whack the soft aluminum locking ring with a hammer and drift - it is quite fragile. Get a C-Spanner and work by hand.

For my case, there was creaking sounds in my bike, but I fixed the problem.

The sound came from a loose bottom bar, and the joint in question is at the rear connection with the rear bar. I tried screwing it tighter, but it didn’t work. So what I did was to unscrew it, and use the large (but flat) plastic washer that sits in between the bottom and rear bars as a template for a cut-out of some thin felt cloth. I then used that felt cloth “washer” with the plastic one and reassembled the bike. The felt cloth acts as a buffer that stops the 2 bars from rubbing each other, so the creaking is gone!

I start to plan to replace thisplastic washer with self made from teflon, but first I decide clean it without disassembly with WD-40. And it works. After 3 clenings in 2 weeks (with good dry weather) remove clonking. I know ambivalent opinion about WD-40, but in this case it looks to be good choice.

Hi,

I think the idea of reducing the friction with WD40 is a good one. But I also do feel that using a smooth buffer washer (whether it be teflon or felt) may provide a more permanent solution.