Drive train creaking and chain slipping

[Ventura]

Can any one shed any light on what might be causing the drive train of my ping/creak and the chain to occasionally slip? The bike is a Kinesis GFTi with Ultegra group set. The sound is intermittent and is something like a ping or twang and then the chain will jump/slip a link every once in a while. The chain has just been replaced, I thought the problem was fixed but after about 30 miles it started again, the BB was also refitted a while ago.

The bike has been back to the shop several times and will probably be going back again next week but can anyone can shed light on what might be causing this? Could it be hub related? The wheels are Kinesis Racelite's.

Martin

 

[I like Skol]

Could be two things and the new chain is the clue.
A new chain may not mesh well on a used cassette. Sometimes this is obvious and the bike is effectively unrideable but in other cases it can be very slight and the chain will only skip in a certain gear when just the right amount of pressure is applied.
The other possibility is the chain joint. I have only experienced this once but did have a joining link that would keep stiffening up in use. I would oil it and manipulate the joint and it would be perfectly smooth and free but after less than 10 miles riding would become stiff again with the associated click and skip each time it passed the cassette/derailleur. I eventually found a tiny sliver of metal inside the eye of the chain link that must have been introduced when shortening the chain to the required length. Once that was cleaned out there was no more trouble.

 

[Ventura]

Thanks Skol,

The creaking/cracking noise has been there since the bike was new (6 months) so I don't think that it's the cassette. I'm going to swap the rear wheel for another from my other bike to see whether it's free hub related. I've seen a couple of other posts that lead me to think that it is.