Clicks, Squeaks and Creaks

[Sharky]

A couple of irritating noises which I managed to cure, which might be of interest:-

1) With every pedal rotation, I was getting a click. Really annoying. Got off the bike, checked pedals, wheels etc and could find nothing. Got on the bike again and the noise immediately came back. Lived with it for a while, then eventually noticed that the gear cable end from the rear mech had sprung out. With every rotation, the heel of my shoe was hitting the cable and making the clicking noise!

A simple problem/solution, but took me ages to spot and fix.

2) Another creaking noise - this time, every time I got out of the saddle to climb a hill I had a creaking noise. When sitting down, no noise at all. At first, thought it was the bottom bracket or chain set bolts. Checked and tightened everything, but could not spot anything.

As a last resort, I looked at the front wheel QR mech. It was a bit weather beaten. I swapped the skewer from another wheel and applied a little grease and the creaking went away and the bike feels rock solid again when out of the saddle.

Both examples of the difficulties of tracing noises to their source when riding.

Cheers Keith

 

[User6179]

A couple of irritating noises which I managed to cure, which might be of interest:-

1) With every pedal rotation, I was getting a click. Really annoying. Got off the bike, checked pedals, wheels etc and could find nothing. Got on the bike again and the noise immediately came back. Lived with it for a while, then eventually noticed that the gear cable end from the rear mech had sprung out. With every rotation, the heel of my shoe was hitting the cable and making the clicking noise!

A simple problem/solution, but took me ages to spot and fix.

2) Another creaking noise - this time, every time I got out of the saddle to climb a hill I had a creaking noise. When sitting down, no noise at all. At first, thought it was the bottom bracket or chain set bolts. Checked and tightened everything, but could not spot anything.

As a last resort, I looked at the front wheel QR mech. It was a bit weather beaten. I swapped the skewer from another wheel and applied a little grease and the creaking went away and the bike feels rock solid again when out of the saddle.

Both examples of the difficulties of tracing noises to their source when riding.

Cheers Keith

Glad you posted as I read a while ago that the skewer in some wheels need to be greased to stop them vibrating inside the hub , forgot all about this till your post reminded me so going to grease my skewers and hopefully that's going to quieten down my ride a little

 

[smokeysmoo]

THIS is a great site for helping to pinpoint annoying noises.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

In my case, most of the clicks, squeaks and rattles come from the rider.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

My kilmeston has been creaking a bit this Summer, the BB had no free play in it but felt rough so I changed it, reduced the creaking a lot but didn't totally cure it, I went round a checked all bolts etc and found a couple of loose ones, reduced the creaking a little but didn't totally cure it, checked pedals and they were still as tight and smooth as the day they were fitted but worked some oil in them, replaced cleats and that almost completely cured the remaining creaking, but I'm still getting a little when climbing hard. At some point I'm going to change the pedals for a ride, I'm going to use the ones off my fixed which have clips and straps, that should eliminate the pedals and cleats, so if that cures it then I'll have to try and work out why the cleats are still creaking.

 

[Biker Joe]

THIS is a great site for helping to pinpoint annoying noises.

I liked that. I've bookmarked it for future reference.
Thanks very much.