Help me diagnose my clicking noise please

up steep inclines, road more noticeable, left hand crank with the power down (left footed), and I get a clicking noise, well almost actually like a double clicking noise on every rotation

when I alternate and power down on the right side pedal (so the left isn’t using the driving force) it doesn’t make the noise (or so my heads telling me ?!)

ive regreased bb/ spiderless chainring so no bolts etc, new hope wheelset and xx1 cassette greased/torqued

is there anything im missing? its had new frame bearings and doesn’t make a sound pushing down on the suspension still

if its wet out etc, it seems to disappear for the rest of the ride, always seems apparent at the start of a ride

Knackered pedal?

tried sitting and standing?

I had similar. Solved it by removing the pedal, cleaning and greasing the pedal thread.

qr or bolt through needs love?

The biggest problem with creaks that I get is the saddle seat rails creaking in the top of the seat post.

I had a creak once that was driving me to distraction, the noise was transmitted all around the alloy frame. I checked all the drive train first, then pivots etc. It was the seat rails in seat post. Whenever I get a creak after a rebuild its now the first place I go, often with success.

sorry yep seated or standing, but I guess more noticeable standing due to more power being used, so rules out saddle/seatpost

xtr trail pedal, it does have some play i’d say but not loads ie, it kinda of pulls back and forth slightly, cant really understand why the noise would disappear mid ride/wet though as if its the bearings cant see how the wet would disguise the noise?

tried letting go of the bars? cycling no handed i.e when you put power down you pull push on the bars a little.

Check the rear wheel quick release. It probably just needs tightening.

knee? 🙂 seat rails often (grease) or stem clamp sometimes too.

nope, not knees just yet 😉

not the bar stem combo as ive tried it holding elsewhere

usually pretty good at tracking down noises, but this has got me stumped

rear maxle tight/greased too

cant really understand why the noise would disappear mid ride/wet though

Water’s not a bad temporary lubricant, stuff creaks most when dry.

Xx1 cassette. I had this. Googled it and turns out it was the torque setting of the cassette. They need to be mega tight. Solved it immediately.

Pedal

It’s the pedal

(at least it was for me, most recently)

Loose or broken spoke?

+1 for pedal, either bearing going or thread.

Less likely but possible is rear hub. I had a really annoying click I couldn’t track down for ages and it was the rear axle. It was cartridge bearing hub but the axle / bearings were out of tolerance so creaked under load. I could have sworn it was the BB, the noise just resonated through the frame.

My money is on a pedal, you you have a spare set to swap over?

Sounds daft but headset spacers? Mrs has just had a Planet X road bike that made a clicking noise when putting power through the right pedal, she was convinced it was the drive train.

Managed to track it down to the front end, tightened stem, look at headset etc. changed the spacers and gone.

Though the pedal sounds most obvious to be honest, XTR’s have a rep for falling apart! I’m waiting for mine to do it.

Another vote for pedal threads.

Cleat/Shoe? had very creaky shoes before. BB? not sure i saw what type of BB you have, could be a knackered bearing or creaking pressfit, even on a really new bike.

cheers guys

well my xtr trail pedals are 2 years old, and my cleats move/slop around in them in 2 pairs of shoes regardless of tightening the pedal adjustment

im getting a cheapo pair of m520 trail pedals, as ill need some if I send the xtr’s off anyways and only 20quid so a cheapish experiment!

still cant really understand why it disappears if its the pedals when its wet, its not constant this noise, it just disappears from when its wet/muddy

I will regrease and tighten the xx1 cassette too, what NM is the cassette to be tightened to?

fathomer – headsets clear, Its just been regreased and that coincidently was making a creaking noise a while back and regrease cured that instantly as I could replicate it just pressing down on the bars

daver – two pairs of shoes used, no difference one with newish cleats one with old cleats

as I said my feet wobble in the pedals and don’t feel tight, and also the pedal by hand I can push/pull slightly too when its attached to the frame

XTR trail pedals… there’s your problem! notoriously bad axles/bearings.

Xx1 cassette. I had this. Googled it and turns out it was the torque setting of the cassette. They need to be mega tight. Solved it immediately.

Mine was this one.

When I had a similar noise on the road bike it was the free-hub pawls being drier than the Gobi Desert causing the rhythmic click. Another bit of bike for you to pull apart and look at.

I had 2 sets of M520 that developed an horrible click 1 per revolution, it was the bearings. The same seems to happen with XTR as far as I can tell. The solution…….XT, the bearings go on forever, I’ve hammered my trail versions for a couple of years and they are play/creak/click free.

A regular click per crank revolution is usually the pedals.

What crank set have you got? My sram x0 comes loose (drive side) repeatedly and clicks when it’s loose.

duir – Member

I had 2 sets of M520 that developed an horrible click 1 per revolution, it was the bearings. The same seems to happen with XTR as far as I can tell. The solution…….XT, the bearings go on forever, I’ve hammered my trail versions for a couple of years and they are play/creak/click free.

A regular click per crank revolution is usually the pedals.

cheers duir, was it constant though even on flat? or just under load? it does point towards the pedals I guess

The last bad click I had was the star nut on the underside of the stem cap. I’d tightened the top cap so much that it had pulled the star nut half out the top, and it clicked. It’s probably not the solution to your click, but worth a check!

its the seat clamp! always the seat clamp.
if not then its the rear skewer.
or maybe the BB threads need greesing.
possible its the pedal (theads or cleat mechanism)
or even the saddle rails.
I wouldn’t rule out the crank arm being loose.
nope. decided its gotta be the cleats on the shoes.

My current click is exactly the same as yours (left crank under power), I’ve stripped and greased the whole bike and its still comes back to taunt me every now and then.

basically you are better off applying the n+1 rule, you’ll never suss is out.

lol – im not going down the route of replacing parts, not a chance, its not ‘that’ annoying (and its only on really steep climbs too) so if its not the pedals ill do some regreasing of bits, but that will be about it

pedals are a 20quid test, if that fails then it will just be a case of greasing stuff

Try squirting TF2 or similar on one area at a time then riding for a while, good way to eliminate possible creak-causers before getting the spanners out. If wet rides silence it that suggests the area that is creaking is exposed and so is easily accessible with spray.
Pedal axle threads and chainring bolts seem to cause 95% of the 1-per-rev creaks on my bikes.

I’ve got one of these clicks. It’s been there on and off for at least six months. I’ve tried most of the options for getting rid of it – pedals, hub bearings, spokes, BB, seatpost, cassette, headset – but every time it still comes back. Definitely worse when it’s dry, water seems to lubricate whatever it is enough to stop it, or maybe the mud is damping the sound, I dunno.

I think I’m going to take the bike completely to bits and rebuild it, and if that doesn’t work I’m probably just going to have to go on a killing spree.

Mine was a pedal thread, but only with one specific pedal/bike combination. Even had the PD-M545’s on the road bike and road pedals on the HT to work out if the click was the pedal or something else on the bike. That combo was silent. Swap everything back and it’d click again.
Using those M545’s now on a different bike, and no click.

well ive just taken the xtr pedals apart, regreased everything, and by spinning by hand they feel smooth, theres no notchy feel at all, put new grease in and its purged out all of the old grease (lots and lots of grey grease etc)

so rather than buy new ill try them again, I assume if they are spinning freely and all the ball bearings look to be intact then they are actually ok?

tempted take a can of spray out with and just have a play for 20 mins on a hill spraying one area at a time 😆

as above its defo worse/consistent when its dryer, in the wet its completely silent on the climbs too

Aah… XTR pedals… with ti spindles?
I have some old ti spindled XTR pedals that are fused into the FSA carbon cranks. They click, just like yours. Every so often I spray some silicon lube on the inside end of the spindles/cranks and the clicking stops a while. Tipping the bike on it’s side for a good soak-in helps too.

don’t think the newer generation of xtr have ti-spindles, though ive properly greased them and a lot of gunk came out, will see what happens with them first, then its a case of trial and error I suppose 🙂

Could also be bottom bracket on that side. Take out and clean/re-grease.

Definitely worse when it’s dry

ah, better add in “a gear cable ferrule in the shifter socket, twisting as your bars move slightly when pedalling”
(took a whole summer to work that one out 😳 )

grenosteve – Member

Could also be bottom bracket on that side. Take out and clean/re-grease.

CK bb, was greased and removed at weekend, ive never actually had a BB creak in my life TBH, though this time it does sound like its coming from that area, just to confuse matters more

assuming its a hard tail…….

most annoying noise I had recently I manage to track down to the seat clamp / post interface. When putting power down, rear seat stays flex slightly which must have been transferred through the seat stay to seat tube interface. This resulted in a really annoying click click noise on power down (one side must have been slightly stiffer than the other). I was convinced it was coming from the bottom bracket at first….stripped BB, pedals, crank bolts, QRs you name it.

This took me ages to diagnose. What I did was remove the post and clamp…clean both thoroughly and reassemble using avery tiny bit of copper grease.

Boom – no more noise.