clicking sound when pedaling

ryan753

My road bike has a clicking sound, especially when I pedal hard/accelerates. Is that likely to be a problem of the bottom bracket?

cougie

Could be a lot of things. How often per revolution ? Is it the same part of the pedal stroke that it clicks at ?

crescent

Could be numerous things. BB is one possibility, chainring bolts, pedal cleats are other possibilities. It might sound like the pedals but could even be the seatpost or stem creaking under extra stress when you apply more effort. Tricky to pin down, unfortunately.

ryan753

cougie wrote:

Could be a lot of things. How often per revolution ? Is it the same part of the pedal stroke that it clicks at ?

it used to be one per revoultion at the same stroke position, but now its not a definite click but more like a contiuous "cracking sound" for like 1/5 part of the stroke.

haydenm

That sounds a lot like a pressfit bottom bracket.

pilot_pete

Could be BB, but could also be headset bearing(s), crank arm(s), pedal(s) or shoe cleats, wheel skewer(s), chainring bolt(s), stem to steerer or stem to bars joints, even levers to bars (do you still get it when riding on the tops rather than the hoods?). Could be saddle rails (easy to discount if you still get the sound when out of the saddle), seat pin to frame clamp.

The problem with it always being at the same point of the pedal stroke is that that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is related to the pedal, crank arm or bottom bracket. The fact is that the bike flexes the same way at that same point with each revolution of the crank, so for example it could be that flex is putting pressure on something like the the lower headset bearing which is producing the noise due to wear. I had exactly this recently and wrongly thought it was BB.

PP

vinny155

Had the same a while back with a clicking sound on the pedals,had it down as the pressfit bottom bracket for sure.In the end after trying numerous things to try and get to the bottom of it,it turned out to be a loose derailleur hanger bolt

navrig2

viewtopic.php?f=40004&t=12581556

It's a long read but I have found it useful in the past.

chris_bass

i had this and one of the plastic cups that sit between the bearing and the axle had cracked, it started as a click and then developed into a longer noise a bit like you have described.

if you hold the pedals can you rock the cranks side to side? is there any play in the bottom bracket? try in a few different crank positions.

keef66

There's a bloke who goes up our hill some mornings on a hardtail MTB. He's out of the saddle the whole way (it's nearly a mile long) and going at some speed, but the racket his bike is making is like fingernails down a blackboard to me. His every pedal stroke is accompanied by a horrendous cacophony of clicking and cracking noises. It sounds like he's riding a victorian deck-chair.

If it was my bike I'd not be able to ride it for fear something was about to break. I 'm half tempted to flag him down and offer to help him sort the thing out

ryan753

Chris Bass wrote:

i had this and one of the plastic cups that sit between the bearing and the axle had cracked, it started as a click and then developed into a longer noise a bit like you have described.

if you hold the pedals can you rock the cranks side to side? is there any play in the bottom bracket? try in a few different crank positions.

The crank is pretty stable. I have also tried to tighten things I could around the crank

Bucksspeedyboy

I got a new Specialised Tarmac in February. It’s been great until about two weeks ago when it developed a click on every revolution of the crank. It made the noise at the same point of the pedal stroke when my foot was at the bottom of the stroke on the right (chain ring) side. But it did tend to come and go. So I greased the pedal on that side and checked the chain ring bolts were tight, but it made no difference. The noise seemed to happen in any gear and in either front chainring.

I then got it into my head that it was the front derailleur that needed adjusting probably because the cable had stretched or something and maybe the derailleur was rubbing against the chain at a certain point. Because the weather was so bad this week and I wouldn’t be riding much I put the bike into my LBS where I got it from for them to check it over. They just adjusted a few things and I got it back.

Went out on it today and the click was still there, albeit not too bad. But I noticed that if I dropped my heel as I peddled it was much worse. Then I saw what it was, the end of the rear brake cable had bent outwards and was hitting the heel of my left shoe at the top of the pedal stroke :oops: I bent the cable end in and the noise stopped. I had convinced myself that the click was coming from the front right crank side when it wasn’t at all. Just confirms once again how difficult it can be to diagnose these things

bianchimoon

pedal out of the saddle to eliminate seat post/seat rails clicking

peat

Pretty comprehensive checklist: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

One I had recently when climbing - A tick with every pedal rev. I checked the BB, cleaned & regreased the pedal axle threads etc etc. Turned out that the grommet on the end of the gear cable was coming into contact with the crank when I dropped into the little ring. Bent the cable back. Fixed! (what a div)

singleton

Try to eliminate some things.
Change shoes to eliminate cleats - even if you go round the block in trainers
Ride out of the saddle to elicit ether saddle / seat post
etc.
It could be the BB, but it could be many other things.

mugensi

Had a similar thing on my bike recently, was sure it was the BB so removed the bearings (ceramic speed BB30 bearings) and sure enough the DS bearing was rough so I figured that must be the cause.

I bought a Hambini BB and fitted it, took it for spin and it still creaked when pedalling with any force.

I tighten chain ring bolts, headset, seat post (although it was happening while out of the saddle too) and it continued. I got my wife to walk along side me and try and ascertain if it was coming from the BB or elsewhere. She said she was sure it was coming from the rear wheel area so I stripped the rear wheel and cleaned freehub and pawls and relubed, cleaned all the bearings and shaft and cassette and re-assembled and the creak continued. I removed the chain, cleaned it with de-greaser and checked every single link and relubed it and refitted and the creak continued. I checked the tension on all the rear wheel spokes and they were perfect. I cleaned and refitted the rear QR several times and cleaned and greased the rear drop-out but it continued.

I removed and cleaned the pedals (which are fairly new) and squirted some WD40 into the spring mechanism but to no avail.

My wife (who has zero interest in bikes or anything mechanical) then asked if I tried oiling the little cog wheels on the rear so I dribbled a little light oil on to the jockey wheels and cycled around the house...in SILENCE!! Tried all out efforts on a local hill and utter silence. I was so friggen annoyed with myself! My wife has been gloating ever since!!