raria

The noise: A ticking sound on every rotation of the crank. Happens regardless of ring being used. Happens regardless of cog being used. Obvious causes ruled out (i.e. cranks hitting cable).
Noise becomes extra loud when pedaling under pressure. Bike has A530 Shimano pedals, FSA Vero Triple and Chin Haur 52 BB.

My plan:
1) Fit new pedals
2) Remove and re-install crankset
3) Replace BB
4) Replace crankset

But if people have insights into what is the cause you'd save me some work!


Thanks

cpach

That's a reasonable list. Also ensure that the rear quick release is clamping the rear wheel securely. Really with heavy pedaling there's major weight and torque transfer and a great many parts of the bike will be effected by your pedal stroke, including things nowhere near the crank like your headset or handlebars.

billyymc

Do this before you do anything else...grease the skewer and make sure the wheel is seated properly and the skewer is tight.

Troul 

grease your chain & retest the performance.

Jeff K.

Gresp15C

Some more possible things, all free to test:

Make sure the screws holding the chainrings to the spider are tight.

Make sure there's nothing loose on the pedal, such as a reflector.

Make sure it's not your shoes!

Pedals tight on the cranks?

Try borrowed pedals before replacing yours. If it's the pedals, see if you can grease and re-adjust the bearings. I don't mind spending money if necessary, but I hate spending money to discover that I haven't solved the problem!

koolerb

I've got got the exact same thing going on all summer. Bike rides fine so I've been ignoring it. You've inspired me to try and figure it out.

nfmisso

Sorry if I missed these above:

* saddle: rails, seat post clamp.
* seat post.

raria

Thanks. You saved me some work.

Normally I just run a bead of dry lube on the chain (like Muc Off) religiously every other week. I guess there was one link I must have repetitvely missed as it wasn't moving freely.

Broke the chain, replaced the link and noise gone.

Troul 

After some chain fuss experience i find it less stressful to replace the chain than to service it beyond greasing it, if lube didn't resolve the annoyance.

nosloedone

Click, click, click every revolution just as I apply downward pressure on left foot. Oh yes, it has to be the bottom bracket or crank arm. Disassembled, cleaned and greased threads for both bottom bracket and crank arms, and torqued to spec. Test ride... ah fantastic, no click another hundred yards more, same thing, click, click, click. Getting late try something next day. It was raining on my commute into work in the AM and the click started as soon as I started to apply downward force on the foot. However, shortly after it stopped when riding in the rain. Ah Ha. Something is dry. Removed pedals cleaned and greased threads and torques to spec. All good no more clicks.

zacster

Let's see? I did crank arms, BB, chainring bolts, pedal mount, pedal bearings, seat post in frame, seat post holding saddle, cleats, derailleur hanger, both wheel skewers, the chain was brand new. And it was... the cassette. I took off the cassette, thoroughly cleaned it, reassembled it, and the bike was silent. I am assuming the cassette lock ring just wasn't tight enough so the cogs could move enough to make noise. There was a video I saw that basically went through every thing that could possibly cause a creak/ping/click, and how you should disassemble, lube and reassemble. There is no need to replace parts unless they are the real culprit. Swap parts around with another bike to test. That's how I eliminated the pedals, I just put a different pair on, to no avail.

mackgoo

I went through this a while ago. It turned out being my rear QR was too tight.

cny-bikeman

It's nice that replacing the link worked for you, but once per crank rev noises are almost never the chain. A bad link in a chain does not come around once per crank rev except in a 1:1 gear ratio. In your case the bad link must have made noise when you pushed on the crank harder during the downstroke. Again, that would be an extremely unusual cause. The first focus should be on parts that rotate in time with the cranks, or are stressed during hard pedaling, almost all of which are mentioned above..

raria

This is a very valid and well thought out point. But I've done about 20+ miles on the bike now and no clicking sound any longer.

zacster

20 miles is nothing. I wasn't satisfied that my noises were gone until I did 100 and rode really hard. The noise on mine would go away when I lubed the chain, only to reappear after about 20 miles, but ultimately I think it just masked the sounds.

rm -rf

Interesting. But I don't see how the bad link could be noisy on every pedal revolution. Part of the time it's on the bottom side of the chain, where there's minimal tension.

Did you pull the wheel or reclamp the quick release? That was my clicking noise.

Lately, it's the saddle rails in the plastic sockets on each end of the saddle. A drop of chain lube every month or so keeps it quiet.

Finding the source can drive me crazy sometimes.

cny-bikeman

There's no "but" necessary. I did not say it was impossible for the chain link to cause the symptom, merely that it was unlikely, so that looking at the chain as a cause is very seldom productive. Rm makes two good points. The bad link can't cause a click when it's on the lower part of the loop (except gong through the pulleys). So if the noise consistently occurs on the crank down stroke it can't be the chain.. Also, very often someone will replace a part and assume that it's cause-effect if the problem is then gone. People often replace bottom brackets for clicking noises, when it just as well could have been caused by a problem at the spindle/arm interface or the BB mounting in the frame. Likewise if you removed and reinstalled the wheel when replacing the chain.

koolerb

I cleaned up the dropouts, greased, was really careful with my quick release tension, and the noise went away. For about two rides. It's back.

mackgoo

I needed up greasing the threads of my QR's. Problem solved.

Gresp15C

Among the other maddening causes, one summer it turned out to be my shoelace. I was wearing the same shoes, and tying them in the same way, every day.

BCDrums

MattTheHat 

I had a very faint ticking a few weeks ago. I wasn't too worried since it was so faint. Nothing better to do on a long ride than try to diagnose where the problem was coming from. After switching up all manner of gear combinations and trying different cadences, the noice was happening once per crank rotation at the same crank position no matter the gearing, or cadence. Turned out to be the tip of my shoe lace hitting the down tube. I usually make sure the laces are held down under the single strap on my cycling shoes, but I guess I forgot this particular ride. It cracked me up.

-Matt

Trakhak

And not even then. Think about it.

cny-bikeman

Whoops - don't know why I posted that. I've noted many times that the same link comes around based on the. number of chain links divided by chainwheel teeth in use..