Ticking. Help please, before I saw my bike up

[Watchman]

Bike developed a ticking (very short creak) when pedalling. Seems to be every power stroke on both sides. Tried second set of pedals but ticking persisted. Bought new BB and installed this evening but ticking persists. Tried ANOTHER set of pedals but the ticking persists. Checked torque of BB and torque of crank bolts. Very tight. Ticking persists.

Alloy frames transmit sound from all over so I checked my seat post, in case my movement on the bike was causing a tick from there but after adjusting it up and down and ensuring the clamp was properly tight AND standing up to ride, the tick persists.

Removed and rotated the headset bearings, then carefully set the load. Tick persists.

Checked cables that might sway and touch the frame but it's not that either.

Cleaned chainwheels , chain and cassette in case there was anything amiss there. Nope.

What else could it be?

[CoolC]

Have you tried the chainring bolts?

[muckymotor]

Leave your watch at home?

[muckymotor]

Watchman, hmmmmm.

[IroningMan]

Try a squirt of chain lube on the ends of the cable outers, where they enter the end stops.

Also try taking the bars off the stem, cleaning and refitting with a trace of grease.

[craigthecoupe]

bars/stem? if your pulling on the bars when you give it some it could be the cause? perhaps some dirt under the clamp? as you say, in thin hollow frames the sound bounces around everywhere, it makes it very hard to locate. hope you find it soon.

[Watchman]

CoolC said:

Have you tried the chainring bolts?

Yes, thanks for reminding me. Gave them a really good torque too.

[Watchman]

CoolC said:

Have you tried the chainring bolts?

Yes, thanks for reminding me. Gave them a really good torque too.

[Gizmoish]

Seat rails?

[bert11]

BB30 bottom bracket?

[MadDad]

bert11 said:

BB30 bottom bracket?

If so you are fecked, I have had 3 in my CAADx so far, IMHO BB30 is total shi7 - external cup BB's all the way for me in the future!

Seems obvious but have you checked your cleats?

[Herman Toothrot]

You should try a titanium frame, I've given up trying to stop it creaking, last thoughts were headset cups in the frame.

[Dammit]

I would look at:

1. Rear skewer is not clamping tightly enough - try swapping in an enclosed-cam Shimano/Campag/Turbo skewer and give it some beans
2. Seatpost is too long, unclamped section is moving in the frame- cut it down
3. Stem is fitted to carbon steerer without carbon assembly paste, re-assemble with
4. You built the bike on an old Indian burial ground, you now need a young priest and an old priest.

[stuarthat]

Mine was the pedals clicking in crank arms , remove lube replace .

[Watchman]

Ha ha, some good ideas. Thanks.

Bike is a £700 Whyte Portobello. Skewers are bolt-ups, done up tight. Fork is alloy with metal steerer (I imagine it's alloy but not really sure). BB is brand new Shimano square taper.

I've looked at whether the flex in the crank/frame leads to the chain touching the front derailleur. It's not. I've rotated the headset sealed bearings but I have not moved the cups. I'll try that tomorrow. Thanks.

I have a load of bikes at my disposal so I'll also try a different crank in case the square holes have deformed (never heard of that but I'll try anything now).

Headset and crank is FSA. Decent enough, I'd have thought.

I've also looked for cracks in the frame. I'm 100kg so I probably give the poor thing a decent workout whenever I go for a ride.

[Watchman]

MadDad said:

Seems obvious but have you checked your cleats?

Thanks. I thought of that so went out with normal trainers and it still ticks.

I've moved the seat post up and down, securing it each time. I've tried standing up to eliminate the seat and post entirely. I think I'm satisfied it's not them.


I'm going to concentrate on a different crank and headset next but I welcome other ideas. It's frustrating when your bike is normally silent. I love a silent bike. One of those little pleasures a non-enthusiast wouldn't understand I guess.

[AlasdairMc]

Service the freehub body, or at the very least remove it and pack it with grease. I had a creak on one which started as ticking, but that sorted it.

[walm]

I have a sure-fire solution to this.
Rule 5 and stop worrying about it.

Or N+1.

[jfdi]

Any accessories attahced to the bike? If my saddle bag is not tight around the seat post it ticks and sounds like it's comming from the stem area.

[Watchman]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions - I've had a good laugh at a few.

WRT saddle bag and accessories - yes, I've a couple (bottle holder and battery for Chinese Magicshine light) but I stripped them off last night when I was testing.

I am convinced it's drive-train related rather than my movement on the bike itself, therefore I'm prioritising crank, cassette and derailleur over any further headset investigation tonight. In fact I will start with the back wheel and see whether there's anything amiss with the hub or freehub. I've got all the tools I need to strip the bike into its constituent parts...

...which is how it'll be delivered to the tip if I can't fix it.


I fully subscribe to the n+1 rule (already have another bike I could use, in fact) but I hate being beaten by mechanical things. It starts off being fun to triage the problem but when I couldn't find it having thrown money at the "obvious" solution, I admit I got irritated by it all.