on my road bike, I have a mysterious click that happens when I pedal.

It only happens when I put a lot of power into the cranks going up hill, like if I stand up and crank away.

It clicks as each foot pushes down.

I have cleaned and lubricated the chain, gears are adjusted okay. The chain has a little bit of wear (about 1/32th of an inch over 12 links), but it’s only done 2000ish miles.

Any ideas what is wrong or how I might diagnose it?

Might it be something bottom brackety? If so, how do I fix it, and what tools do I need, I have a bontrager isis crankset (it is a trek 1200 from 2006)

Joe

sounds like pedal bearings to me

possibly a dirty spline/crank joint, try removing the crank arms giving it a good clean, and refitting. Usually fixes my octalink dramas, either that or it’s a slightly loose BB cup in my experience.

Yea, probably pedals. The chainrings can produce that sound so checking the bolts is worth a couple minutes of your time. After that maybe look at the BB.

Grease & tighten pedals, chainring bolts, cranks & bb in frame in that order.

Bearings rarely make creaking noises.

Bearings rarely make creaking noises.

its a clicking noise not a creak apparently 🙂

I would also check the pedal threads: If they are dirty they can creak/click and it’s the most simple thing to check first.

Forgot to mention shoes…it could always be the shoes…

I had this a while ago and it was driving me up the wall. One quarter turn to tighten the pedal and it was gone.

1 chain ring bolt a bit loose?

yossarian – Member

Bearings rarely make creaking noises.

its a clicking noise not a creak apparently

Apologies. Bearings they rarely make clicking noises also 😀

I had this, and it turned out the cable for the front mech was catching on my shoe. every time the shoe went round “tick”. MAde my day when I solved that one!

i had a similar one to meehaja, it was the extra bit of front mech cable catching the crank 😕

I went through everything on my bike! Turned out to be my shoes creaking away!

Knees?

Check that your cassette isn’t loose.

Had a similar problem on my road bike tried all of the above but what eventually cured it was wrapping the treads of the BB in PTFE tape before fitting them

I had this and it transpired that I had cracked my frame! 😯

Hmmm, today I had a creak as well as a click.

The creak turned out to be the spokes on the back wheel, which were loose as a very loose thing I have a feeling it isn’t built for carrying loads (such as my big saddlebag), or for riding on cobbles (my road is cobbled). I’ve tightened it up / trued it, will have to see, it may be that this was also the source of the click too, but I don’t think it was.

I don’t think it’s a pedal, because it happens with either foot being pushed down. I checked chainrings & cranks are both jolly tight.

The cassette – what tools do I need to check that?

The BB, it appears to have an 8 splined fitting on the only bit I can see. Is something that fits that all I need to take it out? What is the tool that I need, some kind of spanner?

Joe

Okay, now I have a lockring tool, chain whip, and a BB tool. Is that all I need to be able to have a look at the BB and the cassette?

Joe

My click came from the stem, although it sounded like it came from the BB area and only happened when I lay it on thick pedalling wise. I guess when you’re putting down some power you pull on the opposite side of the handlebars more – specially when stood up.

Ben

My annoying click when pedalling hard was my seat clamp, could have sworn it was drivetrain related. (didn’t click when standing, though, which it sounds like yours does)

My click came from the stem, although it sounded like it came from the BB area and only happened when I lay it on thick pedalling wise. I guess when you’re putting down some power you pull on the opposite side of the handlebars more – specially when stood up.

Hmmm. I had that before, and I don’t think this is it. I fixed that with a load of grease and retightening everything.

Joe

To get the crank off you’ll need a little mushroom-shaped jobbie to go in the end of the axle for the puller to press against, as the axle is hollow. Be careful torquing it back up, as over tightening is what frequently kills ISIS bearings. Mine is now on it’s second frame after six years and new bearings at eighteen months. Correctly shop installed. It could still be a chainring bolt. It’s really worth taking them all out, cleaning the bolts and the crank/ring interface thoroughly, then refit with coppergrease. Even though the bolts are tight, there may be some movement in the ring under load.

“as over tightening is what frequently kills ISIS bearings. “

on which planet ? or have you got some sort of **** up isis bb ? overtightening the crank bolt(not that i recomend it either way) has no effect on the bearing loading.

Hollowtech 2 is where the over tightening card comes in

I have a Trek 1200 and had a similar click.Turned out that it was the bb cup slightly use.Use of an ISIS BB tool (fiver off the Wooly hat shop)and one turn of an adjustable spanner solved it.

Joe, CLICK HERE for all the info you need to fix almost anything on your bike.