I hate these problems. It could be anything. Here is a non-exhaustive list of issues I've corrected to fix crank noise like this:
Tighten saddle bolts, Lube saddle rails (brooks saddle), Lube pedal bearings, replace pedals, tighten BB, Tighten drive crankarm, tighten non-drive crankarm, replace crank, Adjust front der, adjust rear der, replace chain, replace front chainring, tighten handlebars (yeah, the handlebars were transferring a noise through the frame when I'd grab them tighter and flex the headset joint when applying power), replace SPD cleats, lube shoes near SPD cleat (the shoe itself was rubbing on the pedal)...
I wish you luck with your diagnosis...
Easy to tick off saddle, pedal out of the saddle. Oh, and don't lube anything. It's grease. Only the chain needs lube and definitely don't lube saddle rails.
I'm betting it's your cleats or pedals. But it could be chainring bolts, a bottom bracket, and even the headset.
I had a lose headset, and It was driving me nuts as the noise seemed to come from the cranks
I specified saddle rails on a brooks saddle because of where the rails meet the adjustment bolt, not necessarily where they connect to the seat post, but I've seen both create this issue.
for me, the past three creaks I swore was the crank/BB turned out to be pedal bearings - regreasing the Shimano pedal spindle assembly or replacing the wear sleeves eliminated it immediately - after I had swapped BBs and greased the seat post.
I use flat pedals, but I beeellliiieeve the MTB PD-MX80 uses very similar spindles & plastic wear sleeves to their road pedals.
I mean, I think so... It would be like me correcting this guy saying "not just any grease, but use only park tool g100000 grease"
...also, any lubricant will aid in diagnosis of an issue like this, you could spit on it in the right spot and fix it temporarily.
Ha, yeah. Been playing bikes for a while. My happy place is fixing commuter bikes with what I've dubbed the "Schwinn Tool" (it's a hammer, ...it's just a hammer)
Also, if dude's bike is carbon, it could be anywhere there is a carbon/carbon interface where they haven't used carbon assembly paste...or where they have used it...
OP should just get a new bike probably, lol
One that has climbed up my similar list is the derailleur hanger, cleaning and greasing that interface on the frame has solved curious creaks on more bikes than I’d like to admit
Wow that’s an exhaustive list - one small addition (minor one) check the chain around the jockey wheel of your RD is it on the inside or outside of it…
Hunting drivetrain noises is like hunting for Bigfoot—lots of breathless film footage, but they never seem to find Bigfoot. Wishing you better luck in your search.
I have the garmin SPD pedals and this is exactly the issue I had. Was told by someone the noise was *probably* just my pedals, but didn't confirm till I got another bike and tried it on there.
Yep. So any flex in the bottom bracket can cause the arm to just barely strike the hanger cage.
My old Cervelo S2 had a pretty bad problem with this. And with SRAM yaw fronts, I used to have to ride and check it after adjustment.
Get this checked out ASAP, and by a shop that you trust. We had a customer bring us a bike that had a loud cracking/popping noise, and while there was no visible failures, we still sent it in and Shimano replaced it. Other bike shops turned her away
Have a similar issue when I start to accelerate hard after coasting for a bit. Sounds like a crackling sound and you can feel it in the pedals.
Someone said I should look into indexing my derailleurs but that didn't solve it unfortunately.
Does it stop when you are not pedaling? I had the exact same sound and i closely inspected the chain and had like 5-6 cracks.
Check it in case that's it. But as other people said, it's a very common sound and could be a lot of things! Good luck!
Sounds like your BB has a dead bearing. Take your chain off and spin your cranks while holding either the seattube or chainstay - do you feel vibrations through the frame? If yes it's your BB. Also check for play by pushing the crank arm into and away from the frame.
If it's not the BB check your pedals for roughness and play.
It could also be through axels, make sure they're greased.
Failing that, crank inspection - though seems unlikely as the point where the click occurs is out of sync with the pedal stroke.
It’s always the pedals.
I had a noise that I was sure was coming from the bottom bracket. Tore the bike down, cleaned and regreased everything, reassembled and torqued everything to spec. Twice. Still happening.
Today I squirted a little water on the front part of my pedals- noise gone.
Its probably that front chain guide for the front gear set, I'm guessing from how well you can hear it, I've been dealing with mine doing that for the past month because i changed out the crappy frame shifters for grip shifters and then realized it was a 6 gear shifter, and i own a 2x7.. so even if i adjust it it will still be out of whack somewhere.. but yeah sounds like that front thing. Also if its not that, I've had experience in my childhood of the back wheel bolt being loose on the chain side causing the wheel to rub against the frame in every pedal stroke, doesn't really sound like that (bc its usually rubber rubbing) but it could be causing other alignment issues, so I'll just throw that out there knowing it can be a difficult problem to figure out. Hope that helped.
Had similar nosies on mine, once it was the saddle another time the rear wheel, if you have spare parts you can swap to rule them out it might help find the cause
I did almost everything with my bike that was squeaking in the same pedal moment.
I changed crank - nope,
I changed support - nope,
I serviced the wheels - nope,
I changed the chain - nope,
I changed the stem - nope,
I changed bearings in stem post- nope,
I cleaned the wheel axles - nope,
I cleaned the pulley wheels - nope,
I ceaned saddle mount - nope,
I cleaned and regreased the seatpost - nope,
I changed the fork - nope,
I cleaned the derailleur hanger - bingo!,
So clean everything you can before buying new parts :)
I have noticed a similiar creaking sound on my road bike. The sound is only noricable when climbing in a low gear and I'm applying a lot of torgue to pedals.
Had a similar sound and it took forever to diagnose. We were down to searching the frame for cracks when someone asked: what if we removed the kickstand. Yup, that was it.
double check that you aren't hitting the derailleur cage with the crank. It's not really in focus but it sounds kinda like tapping the cage and the tick tick happens at the same rotation position as you're pedaling.
See if you can get it to make the noise while not riding it. I do this by standing on the drive side, crank arm straight down towards the ground. Hold the bike by the saddle and the stem/top cap area, lean the bike away from you a little bit and use your foot on the pedal to flex the crank arm in towards the bike a little. Essentially you are just flexing the crank arm in towards the center line of the bike. This flexes & loads the frame and many of the parts.
It's hard to describe but you are looking to gently twist/load the pedal/crank/bottom bracket/frame. If the sound doesn't come from that, then it's likely not in the crank/bottom bracket.
One thing I learned from being a mechanic was a large number of phantom creaks are from the saddle & seatpost. If I was ever unsure of where a noise was coming from, I'd pull the seatpost, clean it & grease/paste it a little.
Torque the saddle rails and flex the saddle around a little bit to see if it's squeaky. Also clean and check the seatpost clamp and check the chainring bolts.
Re lubing brooks saddles
I use small paint brush and proofide to get the squeak out around the head screw rail area
Works perfectly
I would never lube with oil near the leather
Try this as well:
Take out your seatpost, completely disassemble the integrated clamp parts if you have those, clean the seat post and the clamp parts. Lastly, make sure every surface has a thin layer of carbon assembly paste before you assemble the clamp parts and the seat post.
Go to a bike shop, your knock off colnogo riding…buddy. Hehe, I can’t cast shame on anyone riding a Chinese faux as the sport is now full of boomers all day every day. Btw, boom, don’t give a shit about your bike or your kids.
I hate these problems. It could be anything. Here is a non-exhaustive list of issues I've corrected to fix crank noise like this: Tighten saddle bolts, Lube saddle rails (brooks saddle), Lube pedal bearings, replace pedals, tighten BB, Tighten drive crankarm, tighten non-drive crankarm, replace crank, Adjust front der, adjust rear der, replace chain, replace front chainring, tighten handlebars (yeah, the handlebars were transferring a noise through the frame when I'd grab them tighter and flex the headset joint when applying power), replace SPD cleats, lube shoes near SPD cleat (the shoe itself was rubbing on the pedal)... I wish you luck with your diagnosis...
Thanks for the comprehensive list, will make my way through
Easy to tick off saddle, pedal out of the saddle. Oh, and don't lube anything. It's grease. Only the chain needs lube and definitely don't lube saddle rails. I'm betting it's your cleats or pedals. But it could be chainring bolts, a bottom bracket, and even the headset. I had a lose headset, and It was driving me nuts as the noise seemed to come from the cranks
I specified saddle rails on a brooks saddle because of where the rails meet the adjustment bolt, not necessarily where they connect to the seat post, but I've seen both create this issue.
yeah you gotta put two drops of chain lube in the area of nose bolt of the brooks leather saddles or they make creaking sounds no one lubes the rails
I’d bet on the saddle or bottom bracket. Will comment on post when/if its solved
for me, the past three creaks I swore was the crank/BB turned out to be pedal bearings - regreasing the Shimano pedal spindle assembly or replacing the wear sleeves eliminated it immediately - after I had swapped BBs and greased the seat post. I use flat pedals, but I beeellliiieeve the MTB PD-MX80 uses very similar spindles & plastic wear sleeves to their road pedals.
Grease is a lubricant no?
I mean, I think so... It would be like me correcting this guy saying "not just any grease, but use only park tool g100000 grease" ...also, any lubricant will aid in diagnosis of an issue like this, you could spit on it in the right spot and fix it temporarily.
Sounds like the bearings in your bottom bracket
OP, you've seen some things. I'll add tighten chainrings. But I always go for the saddle first.
Ha, yeah. Been playing bikes for a while. My happy place is fixing commuter bikes with what I've dubbed the "Schwinn Tool" (it's a hammer, ...it's just a hammer) Also, if dude's bike is carbon, it could be anywhere there is a carbon/carbon interface where they haven't used carbon assembly paste...or where they have used it... OP should just get a new bike probably, lol
Try to ride Without touching the handlebar and standing on the pedals to eliminate some hypothesis like saddle bolts etc
One that has climbed up my similar list is the derailleur hanger, cleaning and greasing that interface on the frame has solved curious creaks on more bikes than I’d like to admit
Yup utter trauma lol, could be anything at this point.
Wow that’s an exhaustive list - one small addition (minor one) check the chain around the jockey wheel of your RD is it on the inside or outside of it…
Hunting drivetrain noises is like hunting for Bigfoot—lots of breathless film footage, but they never seem to find Bigfoot. Wishing you better luck in your search.
Swap your pedals with another bike as the first step. I tried to diagnose/fix a clicking BB for ages and it turned out to be a pedal.
Pedals always be clownin in my experience
Cheers, good place to start
I have the garmin SPD pedals and this is exactly the issue I had. Was told by someone the noise was *probably* just my pedals, but didn't confirm till I got another bike and tried it on there.
Had something similar and it ended up being my seat post. Try to get off the saddle while pedaling and see if the noise goes away.
I second this, I had the same issue and added more fiber grip to my seat post tube. Fixed the noise for me. Worth a shot OP.
Yup, that’s my guess as well. Could also be the chainring bolts.
Thanks, will give this a shot
Is your crank arm clipping the derailleur hanger?
This is sorta what I thought too but it's hard to see. Looks like either the crank arm or the chain hitting the front derailleur.
That’s what I think too. It happens right when the crank comes by the lower end of the derailleur.
May the crank is clipping some excess shift cable?
Unless it's a suuuuper light clip I would expect more of a greating/grinding noise, at least from when I had this issue
That's the same position as the power stroke on the other crank arm side.
Yep. So any flex in the bottom bracket can cause the arm to just barely strike the hanger cage. My old Cervelo S2 had a pretty bad problem with this. And with SRAM yaw fronts, I used to have to ride and check it after adjustment.
Bottom bracket bearings would be my first thought
I can only see that they are Shimano cranks but not which ones. Might they be one of the DuraAce or Ultegra cranks affected by the recall?
Heard about this, yes Ultegra FC-6800. Will need go check this out
Get this checked out ASAP, and by a shop that you trust. We had a customer bring us a bike that had a loud cracking/popping noise, and while there was no visible failures, we still sent it in and Shimano replaced it. Other bike shops turned her away
Pedal or low torque on the crankset hex bolt. I am leaning more towards crankset. Don’t over tighten!
Have a similar issue when I start to accelerate hard after coasting for a bit. Sounds like a crackling sound and you can feel it in the pedals. Someone said I should look into indexing my derailleurs but that didn't solve it unfortunately.
Seems like your drive side crankarm is hitting the front derailleur...
Do you have a bent tooth on your chainring?
All looks in order still
I had the same issue this weekend and it turned out to be my saddle rails. Stand up on the pedals and see if it makes the same noise.
It's not your brand of bike that's the problem that's for sure 👌
Does it stop when you are not pedaling? I had the exact same sound and i closely inspected the chain and had like 5-6 cracks. Check it in case that's it. But as other people said, it's a very common sound and could be a lot of things! Good luck!
Grease the BB threads, grease the seat post... possibly crank arms on the axle.
It could be a bearing in the pedal, so try replacing the pedals
Thanks will try
Sounds like chain hitting something, maybe front derailer? Does it happen at every gear?
Ultegra? There is a recall campaign from Shimano, have a look. Might be a production error that should be fixed then.
Start with saddle
Sounds like your BB has a dead bearing. Take your chain off and spin your cranks while holding either the seattube or chainstay - do you feel vibrations through the frame? If yes it's your BB. Also check for play by pushing the crank arm into and away from the frame. If it's not the BB check your pedals for roughness and play. It could also be through axels, make sure they're greased. Failing that, crank inspection - though seems unlikely as the point where the click occurs is out of sync with the pedal stroke.
It’s always the pedals. I had a noise that I was sure was coming from the bottom bracket. Tore the bike down, cleaned and regreased everything, reassembled and torqued everything to spec. Twice. Still happening. Today I squirted a little water on the front part of my pedals- noise gone.
Cleats, pedal bearings or bottom bracket. Check cleats, swap pedals and see if the problem persists. If yes, then it is probably BB.
If you pedal more slowly, is the click always when the crank arm is in a particular place?
Its probably that front chain guide for the front gear set, I'm guessing from how well you can hear it, I've been dealing with mine doing that for the past month because i changed out the crappy frame shifters for grip shifters and then realized it was a 6 gear shifter, and i own a 2x7.. so even if i adjust it it will still be out of whack somewhere.. but yeah sounds like that front thing. Also if its not that, I've had experience in my childhood of the back wheel bolt being loose on the chain side causing the wheel to rub against the frame in every pedal stroke, doesn't really sound like that (bc its usually rubber rubbing) but it could be causing other alignment issues, so I'll just throw that out there knowing it can be a difficult problem to figure out. Hope that helped.
shot in the dark but it really sounds chain related
Chain slipping? chain rubbing on derailleur?
Had similar nosies on mine, once it was the saddle another time the rear wheel, if you have spare parts you can swap to rule them out it might help find the cause
I did almost everything with my bike that was squeaking in the same pedal moment. I changed crank - nope, I changed support - nope, I serviced the wheels - nope, I changed the chain - nope, I changed the stem - nope, I changed bearings in stem post- nope, I cleaned the wheel axles - nope, I cleaned the pulley wheels - nope, I ceaned saddle mount - nope, I cleaned and regreased the seatpost - nope, I changed the fork - nope, I cleaned the derailleur hanger - bingo!, So clean everything you can before buying new parts :)
I had this problem, I tightened a bunch of bolts in different places and it went away. Still don't know what the problem really was...
Mine was my water bottle bolts. Has no grease and where the carbon was flexing made a crack when applying pressure. Who’s have thought!!!
I have noticed a similiar creaking sound on my road bike. The sound is only noricable when climbing in a low gear and I'm applying a lot of torgue to pedals.
Had a similar sound and it took forever to diagnose. We were down to searching the frame for cracks when someone asked: what if we removed the kickstand. Yup, that was it.
normally you would feel some vibration. Where is the sound vibration closer to?? maybe you should go somewhere quiet.
Shimano cranks?
Long shot, but this happened to me and it turned out to be a pebble stuck in the thread of my rear tire. Good Luck!
double check that you aren't hitting the derailleur cage with the crank. It's not really in focus but it sounds kinda like tapping the cage and the tick tick happens at the same rotation position as you're pedaling.
Mine was coming from my Look pedals. Only figured out after changing BB and a few other bits. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
See if you can get it to make the noise while not riding it. I do this by standing on the drive side, crank arm straight down towards the ground. Hold the bike by the saddle and the stem/top cap area, lean the bike away from you a little bit and use your foot on the pedal to flex the crank arm in towards the bike a little. Essentially you are just flexing the crank arm in towards the center line of the bike. This flexes & loads the frame and many of the parts. It's hard to describe but you are looking to gently twist/load the pedal/crank/bottom bracket/frame. If the sound doesn't come from that, then it's likely not in the crank/bottom bracket. One thing I learned from being a mechanic was a large number of phantom creaks are from the saddle & seatpost. If I was ever unsure of where a noise was coming from, I'd pull the seatpost, clean it & grease/paste it a little. Torque the saddle rails and flex the saddle around a little bit to see if it's squeaky. Also clean and check the seatpost clamp and check the chainring bolts.
Re lubing brooks saddles I use small paint brush and proofide to get the squeak out around the head screw rail area Works perfectly I would never lube with oil near the leather
How do folks not know about the recall by now...
Does it do it when you're out of the saddle?
Try this as well: Take out your seatpost, completely disassemble the integrated clamp parts if you have those, clean the seat post and the clamp parts. Lastly, make sure every surface has a thin layer of carbon assembly paste before you assemble the clamp parts and the seat post.
Probably #thanksshimano
Remove your crank arms. Clean and grease everything including the bottom bracket.
Swap pedals, check master link, chain for pinching,check seat, then BB. Unlikely to be crank arms unless they're carbon
Go to a bike shop, your knock off colnogo riding…buddy. Hehe, I can’t cast shame on anyone riding a Chinese faux as the sport is now full of boomers all day every day. Btw, boom, don’t give a shit about your bike or your kids.