Clicking Noise When I Ride
 

Hi,

I have had this sporadic clicking noise coming from my road bike when I pedal. It isn’t constant and can go many minutes between occurrences. I have taken it to my local bike shop and they have changed the chain adjusted the derailers and tightened the bottom bracket with no luck. I have also tightened the clip in part of the pedals.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Thank you in advance

It says I’m not allowed to post a URL yet, but on YouTube my username is TheRoyalChubbs and the video name is “ clicking noise coming from my road bike?“

My first suggestion is to pedal with one leg, then alternate to the other. See if the clicking disappears when just one or the other leg is pedaling.

In my experience, the seat and/or seatpost seem to be the root cause of noises that sound like they're coming from somewhere else.

Thank you both for the advice, I will try both of those things.

one thing to note is that the sound seems to be coming from the bottom bracket area. It almost sounds like a metal pen tapping my frame and echoing throughout the bike.

63.78% chance it's the seatpost. I'm joking...or not.

Does it happen only when seated, only when standing, or both?

Never hurts to pull the pedals and grease the threads and contacting flanges.

Otto

I recently had clicking, it was the cleats.

Try lubing the quick releases. Just a wild guess.

I just spent 3 hours chasing a clicking noise in my Domane. I pulled the seat post, pedals, checked the stem, fork, pulled the crank, check the bolts; and then discovered I had a bad drive side bearing, so I ended up replacing them. If it had a way to attached to the bike, I checked it. I was completely frustrated, and then while sitting there looking at the bike, I noticed 2 small bolts used to allow adjustment of the rear IsoSpeed, then realized I did not check those, and would you know it, that was the cause. I will say, everything has been cleaned and greased, torqued and riding very smooth.

My advice, check everything :thumb:

If that is a Domane, check the rear IsoSpeed bolts, I had the same type of clicking and that was the cause...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...964c3fb3d8.jpg

I had an experience similar to @jaxgtr except it took me months .... removed, relubed, adjusted and/or replaced everything except the bar tape and the saddle.

The noise was Absolutely coming from the BB area, and almost only when I pedaled, but sometimes for a second or two after .... but one time before I had had a clicking that I was certain was the front derailleur which turned out to be a loose jockey wheel in the rear derailleur, but the sound bounced up in some odd way to sound like it was up front so .....

After months of frustration and finally putting the bike on the wall for a while, I --for some reason I cannot recall or imagine---tried really cranking down hard on the saddle bolt. Apparently when I pedaled I shifted the saddle minutely---it was already rock-solid, by feel but I weigh a lot so .... and it was clicking at is scrapped over the rails. Apparently after I stopped pedaling to see if the noise stopped, I shifted a little on the saddle which made it sound like the noise was not associated with pedaling.

So ..... just get a new bike.

Don't be too worried about it. When you figure it out, you'll probably slap your head and say duh!

If it actually is something that is to be a problem, it probably won't be any more cost to fix it when it shows itself than if you randomly do stuff to try and eliminate it.

A seatpost that sticks really far down inside the seat tube can click, especially if you run your saddle lower. The bottom of the post will move around and tick against the inside of the tube, it's not as tight inside as you think it should be. I've had a couple that needed to be shortened by a couple of inches. That click can sound like it's coming from the bottom bracket, saddle and everywhere else.

My first thought would be to check that everything is properly lubricated and nothing is running dry. my second place to look would be the spokes to make sure nothing is rubbing up against them. If the noise persists then try checking the drivetrain to make sure everything is shifting/running smoothly. I had a clicking sound near my front derailleur and it turned out that it was just slightly running out of line.

Watched your video. It sounds like a drivetrain issue to me. How old is your chain and cassette?

I have the same noise and frequency/infrequency with my '16 Tarmac. It's maddening.

Try to time the ticks .... are they the same frequency in all gears (FD) or does the frequency change in different gears (RD)? Do they happen with the cranks in a certain position?

Ah, forget it. Get a new bike..

I had a clicking noise that seemed to come from my bottom bracket area when I would pedal or go over bumps. It drove me bonkers!! I finally figured out it was coming from my seat post. Canyon has a special type of seat post that is actually two pieces. It has some flex to it and made a world of a difference in ride comfort for me. Turns out that the two pieces would rub and make a clicking sound. I put some grease in between the two pieces and the clicking magically disappeared. I did this about 5 months ago and still no clicking to this day.

I had same thing. I lightly greased crank splines and wheel axles where they meet the frame. Noises went away

Advice from troubleshooting violin buzzes: noises like buzzes and clicks can originate in one place but then the vibration will travel quite a distance until it finds some other piece that resonates at the frequency of the noise to act like a speaker. On one cello I found the problem was a loose screw more than two feet away from where the buzz was becoming sound. So a top of seatpost source for a noise in the bottom bracket doesn't sound like an unfamiliar idea at all to me.

Maybe you, not the bike?
gm

Ask Henry Cho

I’d look at seat post and cleats.

Thank you all for the tips and advice! Clicking has been happening for a year and pin pointing the source can be a maddening process.

I ended up removing the seat post and cleaned/degreased all the parts, also lubricated the contact points of the saddle and screws with WD-40, put a little fiber grip on the seat post and VOILA! Fixed!! 🙌 Pretty amazing feeling not having to hear this for hours on rides anymore