Concept2 Forum

I only just noticed this noise yesterday on my 18 month old machine. It sounds to me like coming from the area of the bearing to the flywheel from the chain assembly but it’s very hard to tell, especially pulling the handle myself and trying to put my ear in various places with the front disconnected and vertical with the plastic under cover removed.

https://youtu.be/xRwZeuaSwMg?si=n3na_JCDjkogKYQ3

Hi Doc, welcome to the forum.

It doesn't sound like something from the fan itself. (wrong frequency)

Have you checked the seat and the rollers?

It's tough to figure out exactly what the issue is, because there are several different "click / tap / something or other" sounds going on at the same time.

It turns out to be coming from the idler pulley. When I hold that still (so the chain slides all over it rather than it rotating around) it is dead silent.

I took it out, greased it, but I shouldn’t have ignored that it’s slightly rough on the metal shaft and I haven’t made much difference. Next time I have a free hour I will take it out again and polish the shaft, and/or just replace the shaft and pulley, which would be $3.00 of parts on the C2 website.

Glad you were able to figure it out, and good luck with the repair.

I've never had any problems with the idler on my Model C, so I can't provide useful information there, however, it is strange that you would be having a problem with a relatively new erg. It might be worth giving C2 a call to see what they think about it.

Those chain rollers need a drop or two of a quality oil.

They can squeal and seize up totally. Dry assembled at the factory but they need a lube.

Carl Watts wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 1:08 am

Those chain rollers need a drop or two of a quality oil.

They can squeal and seize up totally. Dry assembled at the factory but they need a lube.

Are the easily accessible (I got my 3500K maintenace interval coming up in a few weeks)?

JaapvanE wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 1:52 am

Carl Watts wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 1:08 am

Those chain rollers need a drop or two of a quality oil.

They can squeal and seize up totally. Dry assembled at the factory but they need a lube.

Are the easily accessible (I got my 3500K maintenace interval coming up in a few weeks)?

There are maintenance intervals?
Ok, any document what should be done? I'm at nearly 4000k lifetime meters.

Sakly wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 3:14 am

There are maintenance intervals?
Ok, any document what should be done? I'm at nearly 4000k lifetime meters.

As you can see here, there are: https://www.concept2.com/service/indoor ... aintenance . Basically

• every 50 hours of use you need to oil the chain, and
• every 250 hours of use you need to check the chain for stiff links, check the bungee cord tension, check the screws and vacuum the flywheel

As my Garmin app can track meters on a specific device (when set up as gear, and you manually assign each rowing session to the gear), I rather use meters. As on average I row around 12,5K/hour, I need to do small maintenance every 625K, and a large maintenance at 3125K. To make it easier to remember, I do small maintenance every 500K, and large maintenance every 3000K.

JaapvanE wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 4:18 am

Sakly wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 3:14 am

There are maintenance intervals?
Ok, any document what should be done? I'm at nearly 4000k lifetime meters.

As you can see here, there are: https://www.concept2.com/service/indoor ... aintenance . Basically

• every 50 hours of use you need to oil the chain, and
• every 250 hours of use you need to check the chain for stiff links, check the bungee cord tension, check the screws and vacuum the flywheel

As my Garmin app can track meters on a specific device (when set up as gear, and you manually assign each rowing session to the gear), I rather use meters. As on average I row around 12,5K/hour, I need to do small maintenance every 625K, and a large maintenance at 3125K. To make it easier to remember, I do small maintenance every 500K, and large maintenance every 3000K.

Ok, chain oiling done frequently, but vacuum of flywheel not done yet. Will do so, if drag gets too low
Bungee cord tension is recognized during each row, so that is no big deal.
Thought there is more to do, but obviously the machine is pretty easy to maintain

Sakly wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 6:28 am

JaapvanE wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 4:18 am

Sakly wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 3:14 am

There are maintenance intervals?
Ok, any document what should be done? I'm at nearly 4000k lifetime meters.

As you can see here, there are: https://www.concept2.com/service/indoor ... aintenance . Basically

• every 50 hours of use you need to oil the chain, and
• every 250 hours of use you need to check the chain for stiff links, check the bungee cord tension, check the screws and vacuum the flywheel

As my Garmin app can track meters on a specific device (when set up as gear, and you manually assign each rowing session to the gear), I rather use meters. As on average I row around 12,5K/hour, I need to do small maintenance every 625K, and a large maintenance at 3125K. To make it easier to remember, I do small maintenance every 500K, and large maintenance every 3000K.

Ok, chain oiling done frequently, but vacuum of flywheel not done yet. Will do so, if drag gets too low
Bungee cord tension is recognized during each row, so that is no big deal.
Thought there is more to do, but obviously the machine is pretty easy to maintain

Rather than hoovering the flywheel it's more important to make sure the small holes in the flywheel housing mesh are not blocked. In my experience hoovering does not work for this alone.

nick rockliff wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 6:56 am

Sakly wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 6:28 am

JaapvanE wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 4:18 am

As you can see here, there are: https://www.concept2.com/service/indoor ... aintenance . Basically

• every 50 hours of use you need to oil the chain, and
• every 250 hours of use you need to check the chain for stiff links, check the bungee cord tension, check the screws and vacuum the flywheel

As my Garmin app can track meters on a specific device (when set up as gear, and you manually assign each rowing session to the gear), I rather use meters. As on average I row around 12,5K/hour, I need to do small maintenance every 625K, and a large maintenance at 3125K. To make it easier to remember, I do small maintenance every 500K, and large maintenance every 3000K.

Ok, chain oiling done frequently, but vacuum of flywheel not done yet. Will do so, if drag gets too low
Bungee cord tension is recognized during each row, so that is no big deal.
Thought there is more to do, but obviously the machine is pretty easy to maintain

Rather than hoovering the flywheel it's more important to make sure the small holes in the flywheel housing mesh are not blocked. In my experience hoovering does not work for this alone.

I use my erg in the basement for slightly 1 1/2 year now and buildup of dirt around the housing is pretty low.
I recognize that drag gets a bit lower, need to put damper on upper side of 6 to get a drag of ~130, so this is 1 position higher than in the beginning.
I think I will give the machine a bigger cleanup during next vacation coming up next week

nick rockliff wrote: ↑

September 29th, 2023, 6:56 am

Rather than hoovering the flywheel it's more important to make sure the small holes in the flywheel housing mesh are not blocked. In my experience hoovering does not work for this alone.

Very true.

What I do is take the housing mesh off the flywheel. Go outside and hose it off then leave it in the sun to dry.
A Gerni would do an even better job. Especially so, if there's dust caked in the holes.

You get an almost invisible build-up in the mesh holes that reduce the effective area so you need soapy water and a paint brush or toothbrush to go over it and get something to clean up the holes. Hitting it with compressed air after this is good. Probably the best would be to lie it flat and hit it with a water blaster.

I always cover the mesh (and flywheel and chain) with an old bedsheet when I'm done using the rower.
I think it keeps out a lot of dust from the flywheel/mesh and the chain.