Before I get angry and throw £1k at a new frame, I really should try and fix the clicking I’m getting. So STW, can you help with the following symptoms and suggest a few things to try to fix it please? All the below is new ish, under 400 miles use anyway.

Set up:
Carbon road frame, PF86 BB, Ultegra cranks, Hope BB (newer, under 50 miles old), Ultegra SPD-SL pedals.

Symptoms:
Clicking noise on the down stroke when I press on the drive side pedal, it seems to be at about when the cranks are horizontal where I guess there is the most power going through them. I don’t think the noise is there when I press the non-drive side down

What I’ve tried:
New Hope BB fitted by a reputable LBS. This fixed a more general creak but not this click. I’m told the BB went in “really nicely” whatever that means.
Tightened the Rear axle and cassette up.
Re-greased the headset. The bearings are cartridge type and sit directly in the frame. They did come out a lot more easily than expected in that the simply dropped out of the frame. This is a possible cause though how I fix it I don’t know.
Cleaned and tightened bar and stem.
Cleaned, re-greased and reinstalled the cranks. I made sure the chainrings were tight at the same time.
Made sure the saddle was tightened up correctly though the rails are not greased or have any carbon grip on them (ti rails, alu fittings on a carbon post).

So what else should I try?

Change the pedals Mrs kilo has had two sets of Shimano road pedals that started to click very early on

Change the pedals? Now why the hell did I not think of that? I’ll try that as a start, great idea.

Any other ideas?

Check your rear wheel bearings. I had a really annoying click that only happened when pedalling. Turned out the wheel bearing was on its way out but only clicked when under load from pedalling.

Pedals or seat area is my guess. Try changing the pedals as above, also does it make the same noise standing up?

Greased both front and rear quick release ?
A drop of lube on spokes ,where they go into the rim & axle?
Tighten crank arms?

GT85 them saddle rails, clamps

One of the noises I encountered was a rear dropout screw being slightly loose.
Also have you tried applying assembly snot/grease to the seatpost?

All the above suggestions seem to have covered most items on the bike 😀

Good suggestions all, thank you.

My best bet seems to be a complete bike rebuild, not ideal but if that’s what it takes I will have to do it!

I remember seeing an old VW advert once……..it was the earrings …….do you wear??…..haha ha

Pedals!!!

front mech cable hitting the crank?
GT85 up under the saddle where the rails go in to the top of the saddle (and the clamps etc as noted above)?
Cleat moving in pedal – GT85 should quieten it before buying new pedals.

a) I’m for saddle rails and/or rails into the seat itself. I soak mine in a light chain lube rather than GT85 but it does the same thing.
b) Then I’d try the seatpost too, take the clamp out/off, post out, re grease with paste, soak the clamp in chain lube/GT85 then tighten back up.
c) peddles & cleats in shoes. Again take off, lube, re seat, tighten, check entry spring on peddle and also if you can re grease the peddle shaft or check the spring clip on the peddle shaft (if it has one)

Use a torque wrench to manufacturers settings.

Right knee problem?

Or perhaps the front mech cable end clipping the crank?

Infuriating isn’t it – just gone/going through this with a brand new carbon bike with new pedals, click on one pedal stroke, started about 200 miles in and only done about 500 now.

Ride no handed to eliminate stem/headset/bars
Ride standing to eliminate seatpost/saddle

Check and grease everything you’ve just ‘eliminated’ 😉

I then worked back up:
Cassette tightened
QR lubed and checked
Replaceable dropout removed, greased, replaced
Chain lubed
Chainrings tightened
Cranks reinstalled and torqued
Pedals greased and torqued
Checked cleats, tightened, also rode in flat shoes to rule this out.

Finally, since the bike has been pretty much rebuilt, I knocked out the PF30 BB, applied anti seize to the cups and also BB axle (apply to drive side of axle and inside of non drive side bearing so it’s not all smeared off when inserted) and reinstalled. Quick ride was silent so let’s see how long it lasts! If it works then returns, I’m going for Loctite retaining compound on the BB shell (with primer) and crank axle.

Good luck!

Serviced a road bike recently with a regular click from the bottom bracket area when the cranks were under load at the 3 o’clock position. After stripping the whole drive train down, I eventually traced the issue to the five smallest cogs on the cassette digging in to the raised portions of the aluminium (DT Swiss) freehub body. Under load the cog moved a fraction of a degree into the resulting tiny slot and burr, causing a click which travelled along the chain and resonated from the bottom bracket area. Having filed off the burr, the clicking stopped.

velomechanic, that is super suggestion. There is some burring on the freehub but as the cassette came off I did nothing with it, I shall attack that with a file. Come to think of it, the click does stop when consciously pedal circles rather than stamping down.

Gravityslave, never thought about the grease moving from axle when it’s inserted so will make sure that is done too.

Thank you all.

I had exactly this – a small but annoying click as the pedal goes round.

PF86 – check
Carbon frame – check
Tried everything else – check

Eventually fixed this about a week ago by removing the old PF BB and putting in a new one.

When replacing:

– make sure you completely clean the frame’s surface
– put some loctite on.

See my thread(*) here

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-hate-pressfit-bbs

(*) Did you see what I did there?

Dry chainring bolt?

Lunge, Hope that works for you. Tends to be the five smaller cogs that dig in, as the bigger ones are typically on a carrier which spreads the load.

If that fails, you might want to try one of these: http://www.lislecorp.com/divisions/products/?product=325

I’ve just spent the last few weeks swapping out various combinations of DU bushings and offset shock mounts trying to sort the maddening click/creak/cracking noise on my Orange Alpine only to ride it tonight and realise it’s the bloody BB/cranks!

Tighten the bolts in the cleat in the right hand shoe