Slight Tapping Whilst Under Load...

Stwutter

For a while there's been a slight, but notivable tapping or knocking noise near the bottom of my left pedal stroke when climbing or putting my foot down a bit.

I've checked all the obvious culprits - pedals are tight, cleats are brand new, the front mech nor the cadence sensor is rubbing.

I recently took the chainset apart and re-greased the bottom bracket (Centaur Ultra-Torque), but this hasn't helped either.

Any ideas? It's doesn't even bother me that much, and I know not to expect complete silence from the drive train, but thought I'd ask...

Cheers.

epicurus

It's worth checking the rear hub

rohloff-rich

Chainset clicking against the front derailleur end?... I speak from experience!

stumpf

Hi

I had a similar problem on my Trek 5200, it was the free hub. Had to be replaced.

Regards

rohloff-rich

rohloff-rich wrote:

Chainset clicking against the front derailleur end?... I speak from experience!

Sorry, I meant 'frontderailleur CABLE end'... doh! :roll:

Stwutter

Cheers for the replies. I don't think any of them have hit the nail on the head yet tho...

I don't think it's the rear hub - it was only replaced 6 weeks ago, and the 'click' seems to always be when the cranks are in a particular postion whilst pedalling (cranks nearly at 45 degress to each other, left just slighty higher than the right crank arm), and obviously one crank revolution isn't one wheel or free-hub revolution.

I've checked the front mech, and nothing is touching. It's not the rear hub either - the sound is definately from the crank/BB/pedal area.

I was wondering if maybe the cleats were worn, but they're only 7 weeks old too, and I use cleat covers most of the time when I do have to waddle around in my cycle shoes.

Last night I went for a spin, and the noise was noticable again. So, when I got back, I got the turbo-trainer out in the back yard so there was no background noise to try and locate the problem. I went through every gear, pushing as hard as I could (the more beans you give it, the louder the click) and not a peep! Great!

Went out on the road this morning for a pre-work 10 miler... 'Click - Click - Click'.

It's doing my bloody head in!

ANY MORE IDEAS?

Cheers.

bladerider

I know you said you've checked the pedals are tight. Have you tried taking them off, cleaning the threads on both pedals and cranks, re-greasing and re-fitting ? Worked for me once.

knucklehead

It could be the seat post which would just require a good coat of thick grease or the bearings in the pedals if they are worn or your new cleat setup is pulling the joint during each revolution as you cycle.

Stwutter

knucklehead wrote:

It could be the seat post which would just require a good coat of thick grease or the bearings in the pedals if they are worn or your new cleat setup is pulling the joint during each revolution as you cycle.

Doubt it the pedal bearings as the pedals are only about 3 months in also. I'll certainly check the cleats later tho. It's not the seat post either, as the sound occurs when I'm out of the saddle also.

Gussio

Noise from the seat post or seat clamp can often sound like it is coming from much closer to the ground. With no sound while on the turbo trainer (i.e. no bumps) it might be worth checking out your seat clamp, giving it a good clean a coat of grease.

A few weeks ago when I was on a ride, my bike developed an irritating click. Stopped twice and couldn't figure it out. Turned out to be the zip on my jersey tapping against the chest strap buckle of my ruck sack :oops:

Niland

Could be the rear wheel spokes.

Stwutter

Just a post for a little closure to this thread I begun last week...

Short of sawing lumps of carbon in half, I had the whole bike apart to try and locate this tapping noise. I took it to the LBS, who also done all I'd already done, plus but couldn't locate it either.

Anyway, due to a sportive or two coming up, I was planning on putting a compact chainset on at some stage, so decided to do it now, and see if that erradicated it. Sadly, it was the same - 'tick, tick, tick...'.

I fell just short of throwing the bloody thing out of a high window, and decided I'd take it back to the LBS, and they could have it all week, to hopefully find out what was going on. I thought I'd do the decent thing, and give my steed a good wash beforehand. So out came the fairy liquid, brushed, buckets of water and lube.

Decided to go for one last spin before losing my bike for a week - not a peep. No clicks, taps, knocks - nada.

So, just in case any others spend £150 on a new chainset, or about 50 hours of their time taking a bike to pieces and gradually rebuilding it, it may be worth spend 45 mins and about 5p on washing up liquid.