2015 T-130, shock, fork and seatpost all serviced recently (2 months ago) and had about 250 miles on it since.

Doesn’t happen all the time but at least once every ride there is a loud CRACK sound from the rear end. Pretty sure it is coming from the shock but not 100% certain.

Bolts all appear tight and the suspension bearings all still feel smooth and not loose.

From a slightly random description without much detail, any thoughts on what I should be checking?

Freehub? I’ve had loud cracking noises from there before. Could be a broken pawl, or a bearing.

Might be…it is an XD freehub and quite easy to remove…it does make a noise now and again but I’ve put it down to my awful gear changes.

It does happen when suspension is compressing so I am thinking it is shock/suspension movement related. It isn’t bottom out though.

See if you can reproduce it by applying force to different parts of the bike when you’re not riding it, it can help isolate where it’s coming from.

I had this on my Bird Aeris a while ago. It turned out to be a bit of grit inside the seat tube.

Removed the dropper, gave it a good clean and applied a thin smear of grease and it was cured.

Can be so hard to find these things, but as other suggestions above, I’ve also had this on a free hub that was on its way out.

Spoke(s), maybe. Mine did this a while back and it was a spoke going, another one followed soon after…

I’ve had this coming from the steering bearings of my road bike when the front wheel goes into a dip, which causes the wheel to move forward and back. Tightening the head bearing slightly cured it.

Possibly a bolt? I find that bolts that resist a lot of flex or movement (seat clamp or seat post clamp bolts) sometimes make cracking noises. For example I usually just nip up the clamp bolts on my Thomson post and they feel pretty smooth. Over time they sometimes start to make cracking noises. I usually just back them off a quarter turn at which point they usually feel rather stiff; after they start to move they usually make a loud crack after which I can just nip them back up smoothly.

I’m not sure what’s going on but perhaps tension builds up in the bolts which is being released when I back them off a bit. Perhaps something similar is going on with a shock bolt.

Currently helping a mate with the same issue- YT Capra 2017.
Really loud cracking noises under pedalling. I can bounce up and down and it doesnt make a noise, but one pedal stroke, however gentle, there’s a loud CRACK.

I’ve tried;
– New BB
– Crank
– Pedal
– Rear mech & hanger
– Jockey wheel (bearings needed changing anyway)
– New chain
– Pivot torque
– Brake mount
– Headset
– New Bushings & shock hardware
– Post, saddle & clamp

All stripped, cleaned and torqued correctly.
It’s still there!

I’m going to try the wheel next;
– Different cassette
– Disassemble and reassemble freehub
– Strip it all and rergease.
– Different rear wheel

It’s not my bike but it’s driving me mad. How she can ride it anywhere is beyond me.
I suggested she burns it if we can’t fix it.

ah, good point from cokie on diagnosis that I’d forgotten (it was help I got on here about 10yrs ago that helped me diagnose my first freehub failure)

can you swap in a different rear wheel? doesn’t even have to be the same diameter wheel, as long as it’ll fit in the dropouts and the chain will go round it – fastest way to rule out a wheel issue.

A lot of the time it can be a slightly dodgy pawl or a bearing going in the freehub.

Strip the freehub off, check the pawls look OK, clean up and lighly lube, you can check the bearings are smooth while you’re at it.

Will check freehub tonight, SRAM 40 wheel so rather simple design.

Spokes are all good so not those failing.

Only happens with big suspension movement – like landing a ‘jump’ – my jumps are measured in low centimetres so aren’t big but I suspect I land heavily for the height. The travel band on my rear shock isn’t at full travel so I’m sure it isn’t bottom out noise.

Will check bolts, freehub and seatpost and then see about a different wheel.