RH Clark

I have an intermittent ting-ping noise on my Surly LHT. It seems to be coming from the crank area. It is happening quite often but seems completely random. It happens in any gear combo and is not coming from the derailers. I have just changed cassette and chain. I can't get it to repeat itself while on the bike stand. I would appreciate any ideas about what it could be or how to find the issue.

soyabean

you've got rubbing and/or loose spokes.

check spokes tension or re-true wheelset.

ljsense

Yeah, I'd guess spoke too. As you true and tension your wheels, you can also hit the spoke crossings with a little silicon spray lube, or Boeshield or something like that.

Bill Kapaun

End of FDER cable getting "flicked" by something?

rccardr 

Loose dork disc?

soyabean

I doubt it's the dork disc since I'll assume whoever assembled the Surly used the right one, but I have seen new freewheel spoke guards installed in place of one for cassettes. The freehub is slightly smaller and thus gives nothing for the FW guard to grip onto.

XxHaimBondxX

Just had similar issue on my mtb under load, appears to be crank arms. Removed, cleaned, retightened.

RH Clark

Appreciate it guys. Nothing obvious with the spokes. None broken and tension feels normal all around just by feel.

rm -rf

Years ago, I lubed the spoke crossings with chain lube -- a drop, wipe it off. They made occasional tink noises when quite new.
An easy spoke tension survey: tap each one with a screwdriver handle. Do they sound reasonably similar in pitch? (Drive side will be much higher tension than the other side, of course -- compare each side separately.)

I found the creaking noise on my newer road bike by standing next to it, holding saddle and bars, and pressing down on the pedal to torque the bike frame. Hey! the noise is coming from the rear, not the saddle/seatpost or the cranks/bottom bracket! The rear quick release was creaking -- cleaned and lubed, it's fine now.

My previous bike with a two-bolt splined crank made a random clicking noise. Following the bike shop's initial fix, once or twice a year, I removed the left crank, cleaned and greased the splines, greased the two bolts and reassembled. My newer Ultegra cranks haven't ever creaked, even though they are the same design--I did grease the splines.

Make sure you have the inexpensive tool for tightening the center preload, and understand how to reinstall these cranks correctly. Park tool guide. The preload has to be set before the two bolts are tightened at all. Or you may have a different design.

Crankycrank

Make sure the chainring bolts are tight. As mentioned above, I've even seen quick releases not tight enough on wheels that sounded to the rider like it was from the crank area.

trucklet

Everyone's got good suggestions. I'll add that sometimes, depending on the level of drivetrain wear, a new chain on a used chainring will work fine, but causes some noise from the new chain moving and settling into worn teeth under load.

_ForceD_

Sounds to me like a pitted wheel cone nut or race.

Dan

masi61

If the splines on the freehub body are dry &/or you rode in the rain recently, then your cassette may be making noise. Can’t say for sure, but it is another thing to check along w/ chainring bolts/mating surfaces. These surfaces also benefit from a light coat of grease or thick oil.

ljsense

I'd check the seat post and saddle. Sometimes under pedaling and load, the areas where they are clamped will make small unpredictable metallic noises that would be almost impossible to replicate in a repair stand.

If you have a spare set of pedals, you could also swap those out -- pedal threads that aren't tight enough or have issues can make noise, and that would definitely sound like it's coming from the crank area.