Newbie question - tapping / clicking noise

laertes

Hello everyone, looking for some basic help here.

I have a trek 7300 bike, with standard equipment, which I have been riding for about 4 months now. This week I have been hearing a noise I can only describe as a metallic tapping / clicking noise as I push down with my left foot. it seems to come from the pedal or pedal area, and disappears if I do not push or push softly on that foot. A quick visual inspection by my completely inexperienced eye does not suggest any obvious causes. Any tips.

(I have limited skills, tools and understanding of jargon, so pretend I am a 4 year old when answering)

hevipedal

Cleats?
What type of pedal? is this loose?

Where is the end of your front deraileur cable? sometimes this can stick out and clip the crank as it goes round and only if you are pushing hard enough does it make a noise you can hear.

<b><font color="red"> Hevipedal </font id="red"></b>
Phrase of the week - <font color="red"><font size="3"><b> I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings and
Things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.
</font id="red"> </font id="size3"> </b>
51yrs old and Proud of it - Made it to 87kg 2 more to go for the target.
Pedal to Paris Sept 2007

laertes

No cleats - loose pedals. Doesnot seem to be a cable, nothing visible and noise too loud.

Ta

pieinthesky

It could be: Loose bottom bracket, cranks, chainring bolt, pedals, seatpost, saddle, bars, stem, wheel skewers, spokes etc etc.

It can be very difficult to locate noises and it is not necessarily coming from the most obviose place. I spent a few days recently trying to stop a creak which I was convinced was coming from my pedals/cranks, stripped em, cleaned em, greased em, tightened em and the noise was still there. I then assumed it was the seatpost or saddle so repeated the process without success. Eventually found it was the front skewer needed tightening!

So try and narrow it down, what frequency is it, is it in time with your pedaling or your wheel speed, does it stop in certain gears or when you stand up.

First rule out the simple things by tightening and/or greasing them.

Best of luck

Ale

Check this site out for a large list of possible bike noises.

http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/keepitquiet.html

laertes

thanks for the tips (keep them coming if you have inspiration!)

gbb

Just normal pedals ?...check your shoelaces [:D]
Did it to me once....WTF is that noise...spent 10 minutes trying to figure it out....errr....ahhhh [:o)]

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Chill out, fer Christsakes....

laertes

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by gbb</i>

Just normal pedals ?...check your shoelaces [:D]
Did it to me once....WTF is that noise...spent 10 minutes trying to figure it out....errr....ahhhh [:o)]

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Chill out, fer Christsakes....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I'm kinda worried it's really my knee clicking[:D]

Unknown

Check the easy things first, like:

Are the chain ring bolts tight?

Are the threads for the pedals greased and tight?

Yesterday greasing the pedal threads cured the clicking that had annoyed me for a few months; I had more or less convinced myself that the BB was to blame and had bought a tool to open it up...more wasted cash[:(]