Stupid, annoying, frigging creaking/clicking noise - ARGH!

[Wing Commander]

Stupid fking road bike!

All has been going well for what seems like forever, until I am on a big climb out of Torquay. Maybe a mile or so of being out of the saddle and the clicking starts. First quietly and not all the time, but by the top its there and I now know about it, so I hear it constantly.

The details:

• Happens only when I am loading up the bike ie out of the saddle.
• Happens on both down-strokes but started off intermittently ie just one side, maybe both sides. Would be exacerbated by throwing the bike around underneath me.
• Can now be replicated by me putting weight on a peddle. I get a "click" sound from somewhere. If I let the load off and then put it back on the same side, the click won't happen again. The only way to get another click is to stand on the peddle on the other side. This "resets" the first side tried, which can now be clicked again.
• I have Look Keo peddles. I have taken them off and greased them up. I have tried riding with normal shoes (to eliminate shoe/peddle interface).
• I have loosened off the stem bolts, tightened the headset bolt, and then retightened the stem bolts.
• I have greased the dropouts, front and rear.

My saddle makes a similar creaking/clicking noise but it can't be that as I am out of the saddle when it happens.

Please help me! Firstly, I don't know if it is damaging the bike or likely to leave me stranded so I am not confident taking it out. Secondly, it's annoying as fk!

Bike is a Trek 1.2 if that makes any difference.

[arfur daley]

it might be your legs clicking

[Wing Commander]

arfur daley said:

it might be your legs clicking

Forgot to check them! Have just applied copious amounts of grease to my legs but the clicks remain!

[anonymous-user]

whilst it is most likely to be a part of the bike (check that the bearings in the bottom bracket and pedals are OK, check that the threads on the pedals into the cranks are clean and lightly greased), it could be your pedal cleats moving on the pedals or on the shoe

[Wing Commander]

Cheers guys,

I took the pedals off and regreased them but this hasn't fixed it. I will take them off again and put the originals back on to see if there is any difference

[itsnotarace]

Check spoke tensions on both wheels
Check hubs
Check crank bolts
Check bottom bracket
Check stem bolts (the other ones)

[k1600ssred7]

Worn cotter pins connecting the pedals to the crank?

[markoc]

Are road BB's the same as MTB, I only ask as I haven't a scooby about skinny wheel technology. They must be I suppose?

My bike(MTB) was creating a hellish click and making me insanely grumpy to the point that I would involuntarily announce myself upon other riders a good fifteen feet before arriving next to them. I took the cranks off (octalink) and the BB out. Degreased everything and dried it, then relubed and popped the BB back in. Cranks back on and tightened up. The noise was gone (phew). At first I thought the pedal tapers, but it wasn't as a) they were on tighter than a ducks arse and b) it did the same with both flats and SPD's on. I'd recommend whipping the cranks off and thoroughly cleaning them, and checking the BB is snug. On a square taper BB (old school I know) it can also be overtightened where the clicking is the cranks actually cracking...

Of course, where I refer to "I" I actually mean "the local bike shop mechanic" but hey-ho I was on foreign soil (Scotland) and didn't have with me my emergency BB tool that I obviously carry in my utility belt... still, a cheeky tenner well spent

Edited by markoc on Monday 14th June 19:54

[Matt London]

I might be way off but I recently had a clicking noise under load.
I tightened up the bolts on the chainrings and it stopped completely.

[Wing Commander]

Have put the bike away for tonight. Am pissed off with it!

Will buy myself a crank puller tomorrow to get the cranks off and give them a bit of a grease, refit and see if that is any better. Failing that, I might take the BB out, strip and regrease (or just replace)

Thanks for the advice guys - keep it coming if anyone else has any suggestions

[Session]

Firstly see if crank bolts simply need tightening up. If not this then remove cranks and check BB cups are tight in frame and refit cranks. If this still doesn't do it check chainring bolts are tight. Removing the bb and applying a little grease to the threads isn't a bad idea.

[Stuart]

Sounds like BB to me as it takes a huge amount of torque under load. You might not be able to feel any play with your hands but the tremendous force of two pedalling legs will do it. Depending on the type of BB it isn't an expensive part to replace, and they are sealed units so can't really be resealed.

Don't forget to grease the threads of anything you do strip down that attaches to an aluminium frame - if you don't it'll weld itself to the ally and you'll never get it out.

Apologies if there's any granny sucking eggs tuition above..

[Wing Commander]

Stuart said:

Sounds like BB to me as it takes a huge amount of torque under load. You might not be able to feel any play with your hands but the tremendous force of two pedalling legs will do it. Depending on the type of BB it isn't an expensive part to replace, and they are sealed units so can't really be resealed.

Don't forget to grease the threads of anything you do strip down that attaches to an aluminium frame - if you don't it'll weld itself to the ally and you'll never get it out.

Apologies if there's any granny sucking eggs tuition above..

None at all! All info is gratefully received. I can weild spanners around on cars, no problem, but I am a complete novice on bike maintenance.

Will buy myself some tools tomorrow and a new BB. Even if it isn't needed, I will need it at some point in the future so no harm there.

Thanks again everyone!

[graememac]

Wing Commander said:

Stuart said:

Sounds like BB to me as it takes a huge amount of torque under load. You might not be able to feel any play with your hands but the tremendous force of two pedalling legs will do it. Depending on the type of BB it isn't an expensive part to replace, and they are sealed units so can't really be resealed.

Don't forget to grease the threads of anything you do strip down that attaches to an aluminium frame - if you don't it'll weld itself to the ally and you'll never get it out.

Apologies if there's any granny sucking eggs tuition above..

None at all! All info is gratefully received. I can weild spanners around on cars, no problem, but I am a complete novice on bike maintenance.

Will buy myself some tools tomorrow and a new BB. Even if it isn't needed, I will need it at some point in the future so no harm there.

Thanks again everyone!

As other people have suggested here, tighten up the crank arm bolts. you'll need to apply a fair bit of pressure to them (allen key with a tube on the end for extra leverage) but i would think this would sort it out.
I've had this twice now, first time i changed the bottom bracket which was totally unnecessary.

[elFSoapy]

Hello, just read your problem and it sounds like it is just the drive side cup of your bottom bracket is a little loose. If you apply pressure on the right pedal, you will get a click. Then apply pressure on the left pedal and you will reseat the cup, apply pressure on the right pedal again and it should click again. To fix, just remove the right hand crank arm/chainset, tighten your bottom bracket cup, then attach your crank back on. If that don't work then i'm affraid it's your knees. HTH

[BliarOut]

k1600ssred7 said:

Worn cotter pins connecting the pedals to the crank?

Cotter whats? Just how old are you exactly?

[john_p]

Just had this problem and it was the crank bolts a little loose (half a turn!). Cured it instantly.

Of course then another noise becomes prominent. I'm sure my freehub is clicking as I pedal. Ho hum.

[Wing Commander]

OK, one of the 5 small screws used to hold the two chainsets and pedal together is missing. I don't have a replacement one of these screws to use tonight which is annoying.

Could this be causing my noise? If so, how comes the clicks alternate from one pedal to another as I mentioned previously??

I am just about to put the pedals back on, with some bike lube, to see if reseating them helps at all. But, again, the pedals are independent of each other, so the alternating clicking doesn't make sense. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to do with the BB.

Oh, and I checked the BB and the BB cup. Both were well and truely *in*. With the tool, I could neither tighten them nor loosen them. Is this bad? I assume that when I come to need to replace the BB, this will be a pain...

[mchammer89]

This is retty common and has been said before is usually the crank bolts, make sure you have them sorted before taking anything else apart.

[Nick_F]

Missing chainring bolt should be easy enough to get from LBS or online from someone like ChainReaction.

When checking things over bear in mind that the right-hand-side of the bottom bracket has a left-hand thread and vice-versa.