Name this sound...

gk141054

Hi guys, been riding my bike to work for a few days now and have started to notice a clicking / tapping sound coming from the crank / bottom bracket I think... it doesn't happen all the time, only when I am peddling hard (in a high gear and really pusing hard for instance)

Has anyone experienced this and can tell me what it might be?

I don't have any specialist bike tools, only general tools, so would also appreciate advice on if its possible to fix myself or will I have to take it in?

Cheers

stumpyjon

Could be bottom bracket bearing, pedal bearings or something drivetrain related. How old's the bike, when did you last throughly clean & lube the drive train. I find if I leave mine for a couple of rides it starts to sound rougher with all sorts of odd noises starting. A clean and lube often settles things down.

If it's bottom bracket related you'll probably need to take it to your LBS if you don't have any tools.

Another thing to check is the end of the cable from the front derailler isn't catching on anything (this was happening to me recently but only in a high gear when the mech was at a specific angle, every time I stopped to look for the noise I couldn't find it because the mech was in a low gear position).

gk141054

Cheers Jon, will give it another good clean at the weekend.

In answer to your question, bike it about 4 months old and was last cleaned about 2 weeks ago - has been used every day since though so hopefully a clean will sort it.

G

kegs

what have you been using to clean your bike?

If it was a pressure washer you might have washed the grease out of the BB, which will cause problems.

beski

I had this type of noise recently & removing the crank bolts & pedals, & re-greasing the threads helped. Also the noise can be coming from the saddle, the noise travels through the frame & sounds like it's coming from the cranks, you could check to see if thats loose, or loose on it's runners