Clicking front wheel, road bike The Ms got a new road bike not long ago with an Oval Concepts 527 wheelset. She has a persistent clicking noise coming from the front wheel after only a thousand or 1500 miles, and I can't quite diagnose it. Any ideas would be appreciated. It's definitely the front wheel (Oval already replaced the rear wheel for two snapped spokes in 400 miles): it clicks rhythmically and at a rate proportional to the speed, and is unrelated to the drivetrain. The wheel does spin freely, so the noise doesn't seem to be related to anything causing a drag.

Here's what I've tried so far:


checked wheel in truing stand: it's not out of true and has no appreciable bumps on rim or tire (stock Vittorio road tires 700x25C)
checked magnet to sensor distance on cyclocomputer: it's about 5mm
tightened magnet
swapped sensor out entirely
"plucked" the spokes to compare tension: they're all pretty close
took off the plastic reflector
put bike in stand and checked for tire contacting forks or brakes: plenty of clearance


Some additional information: it takes good ears to hear the click when the wheel is off the ground and spinning freely, but when there's a rider it's audible from several feet away. If I stare at the hub while spinning the wheel v-e-e-r-y slowly, it looks as though it clicks every time one of the Oval logos comes around the top of the hub. 

I'm thinking perhaps too little grease in the hub, or maybe an out-of-round bearing, but wonder if it's something that won't necessitate a trip to the LBS for warranty service. Your thoughts welcome and thanks.
So its a click once per wheel revolution.  That suggests its not bearing specific cos they rotate a lot more per wheel rotation.  I'm suspicious of race damage in the hub roughly even with the logo as you noticed, and a slightly loose bearing such that theres not enough preload on the bearings.

Some things to try


Does it click if you spin the wheel backward by hand?  This is hard to test while riding, but you could pull the wheel and install it flipped.  Be careful while riding in this state.
Can you find another wheel - borrow one off another bike or another person.  Just confirm that a different wheel doesn't click.  Confirmation is handy.
While the wheel is off, clean and examine the front dropouts and fork legs for damage, chips or cracks, Its pretty unlikely but the wheel is off anyway.
Next would be to open the wheel hub and remove the bearings.  If they're sealed cartridge bearings then play with them and see if you can feel a click at any point.

If they're loose balls in a cup/cone then clean out all the grease with a solvent and look hard at the race's track under a strong light.  Anything that looks bad, is bad.  Specifically spalling (where bits break off the running surface) smearing (where the bearings are dragging around not rolling) or galling means replacement time.



This is a car bearing but the concept is the same.  This example is terminal, but your bike may have the mearest hint of a lump or hole.

BTW: The click will be adding drag, but sound takes very little energy so its not enough to notice.