LiquidEssence

Hey all,

I have this strange cracking sound that happens on my road bike. Normally, when I drive it uphill, standing on the pedals, its' really quiet and nothing strange happenes. But than all of a sudden it starts to emit these cracking sounds every time force is applied to the pedals. The sound then doesn't go away, even when the incline drops significantly, as long as a more-than-average force is aplied. The straneg thing is, when I get off the bike and leave it alone for a time, then get up on it again, it drives normally uphill - until it gets irritated again and then the cracking is constant again.

It's not the fork (in the sense that it would have a 'wiggle', because the stem would not be tightened enough at the top to lock the fork in place) and it probably isn't the crank either, since the noise is so irregular. The wheels turn smoothly and don't produce any noise, when I take them out and spin them in my hand. The bike did fall lightly on the rear derailleur a couple of weeks ago, but it's not bent and shifts smoothly. Does anyone have any idea what it might be? I'm driving a Cannondale SuperSix with 105 and FSA components and Mavic aksium wheels.

Thanks a lot!

milmo

Long shot, but...remove pedals, lightly grease threads and other areas that make contact with crank, replace and tighten well.

Also, remove cassette, inspect cassette body and cogs; and make sure wheel skewers are tight.

johnybutts

It's the bottle bracket/cranks for sure. Remove cranks, clean all the grime off, re-grease, re-install. Bam you're sounds are gone.

And while the cranks are out, check the bearings are good by spinning them with your finger and it should be smooth like butter.

LiquidEssence

If it's the cranks/BB that's the problem, than a trip to the LBS is in orde, I guess - I don't think I have the tools to dissasemble it and I don't want to damage the frame ...

johnybutts

There's a possibility the crank just needs to be tightened (it's just a single bolt). Or you might need to clean it:

Of course you can take it to the LBS if you want, but your crank assemply is pretty darn simple. There is one bolt (8 or 10mm maybe 12mm hex) on the non-drive-side crank. Unscrew it. There are going to be 5 "washers" 3 on one side, 2 on the other (2 are thin nylon spacers, 2 are bearing protectors, and theres a single wave-spring). Mark their order so you can put them back in place during re-assembly.

Pull the cranks out. Inside there are two sealed bearing-cartridges pressed into either side of the bottom bracket. Don't put degreaser on these. Just wipe everything off with a paper towel - there is probably heavy grease in there, wipe what you can out. On the cranks themselves, wipe all the heavy grease off.

Now re-grease and re-assemble. The crank bolt can be tightened pretty hard, and should be.

The creaking AFAIK comes from when sand/grit get in there with the heavy grease. I have to clean my cranks like this usualy 1x/month. Others I'm sure will tell me I'm crazy.

johnybutts

Ghost Ryder

When I had similar sounds coming from my cranks, it turned out the be the chainring bolts.
After I tightened, & greased them the sound went away.
Theres a certain tool needed for this so you can buy it or take your bike in to your local mechanic.

Busta Quad

Sure it isn't your knees?

StanSeven

I had a similar thing. I gave up and went to the LBS. They actually had to ride it on some hills to find the problem - a slightly loose head set. The sound seemed like it came from the bb/crank and I tried everything. The LBS also suggested spokes binding, loosening/tightening the skewers, checking pedals and cleats

DaveWC

What's a bottle bracket? Is that where I put my water bottles?

svtmike

Check the pedals as suggested. One of the riders in my group just went through something similar, and we thought for certain it had to be the bottom bracket but it wasn't -- regreasing his pedal threads and snugging them into the cranks fixed it.

He likes his new Dura-Ace bottom bracket too though!

Duvivr6

I would say it can be the headset as mentioned before, dirty headset bearing tend to creak. Has happened to me before when I though was the BB also. Clean it and re tighten it and see only takes a few minutes.

topflightpro

I can pretty much guarantee you that it is the BB bearings moving in the frame. It is a known and common problem in Cannondale BB30 bikes. I had this issue with my first two Cannondales and had to re-install the bearings. I used Loctite when I first installed the bearings on my third one to avoid this problem. There was a thread about this issue on Weight Weenies not too long ago.

To fix this, you need to re-install the BB bearings and use a light Loctite to hold the bearings in place. I forget which Loctite formula is the right one, but it is green.

Simply removing the crank and reinstalling it without treating the bearings will not solve the problem. You can try that first if you want -it is easier that re-installing the bearings. But I can pretty much guarantee that you will be re-installing those bearings at some point.

johnybutts

FWIW, My Cdale BB30 doesn't have loose bearings. I check them every time I pull the crank, but i do have constant problems with the crank because for whatever reason, the crank bolt doesn't hold very well.

To everyone who thinks it's the headset - there's a pretty simple check on that one. Stand over the bike, pull on the bars, if there's creaking - headset problem. If there's no creaking, BB/crank/pedal/ring problems.

If the creak is phase-locked to your pedal stroke - BB/crank/pedal/ring problems

If the creak is phase-locked to the wheel revolutions - wheel problem.

This isn't rocket science.

LiquidEssence

Haha, I'm sure it's not my knees But a big thanks to everyone who contributed with their opinions with regards to the problem that might be causeing the mentioned crackling sounds; I'll try to grease the pedals and the fork just in case and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll probably let someone experience work on the crank or show me how to do it.
@ johnybutts: you adjust the cranks 1× a month? That IS often Mine lasted for about 7 thousand km (now why couldn't they last just one month more )

thinktubes 

I had a weird "clicking" noise that turned out to be a valve stem that was slightly angled. Every wheel revolution, the thread of the stem would rub on the valve hole and emit a click. Drove me nuts until I figured it out.

topflightpro

In my experience, the bearings don't become loose enough that you can feel it when they are in the frame, but they were moving in the frame causing my creaks. This is why the creak tends to occur only when standing or putting down hard effort. And I'll bet the creak is only happening on one side too.

johnybutts

Cheers, I will investigate further.

LiquidEssence

I greased the fork - the sound didn't come up today during 1000 m elevation gain in a semi-race setting. I'm glad it wasn't the BB (yet!). Thanks for all the suggestions and instructions, I'm sure they will be of great help in future cases of that 'mysterious sounds that come from everywhere and nowhere'!

surgeonstone

What kind of pedal and cleats. Sounds similar to a recent problem of mine, in inspecting the cleats the left one was cracked at the front ( Look Keo).

Parson

Interesting. I have the exact same bike (SS-105) and mine developed the exact same sort of clicking/ticking sound about 2 weeks after I got it. I took it to the shop and the re-greased the fork/headset area to fix the problem as well. I wonder if this is a common problem with Cannondale?

LiquidEssence

Sorry, I didn't see the replies - Yes, I had a 'knocking sound' (which was a little different in quality to the problem I experienced now) problem immidiately after receiving the bike - did 500 km on it, then brought it back for first general service. They regreased everything and then it was fine. I thought it was the BB, but then again, mnaybe it could've been the fork.

I have Shimano SPD pedals and cleats

pallen

You must have a wacky cadence with both crank arms facing the same way like that?

cinemattic

i had the same problem on my caad10. double check the ferrels on your cable stops. mine had corroded a bit, and with the slight torque applied when climbing it can wiggle the cables in the stops and make a creaking sound. loosen the cables, throw some tri-flow on the ferrels and reinstall them. stopped mine for the time being. two days later, when i turn my handlebars the creaking comes back. it was just the corrosion on my aluminum stops

pdxtex

you don't happen to have carbon headset spacers do you??