UKH

Focus Cayo carbon road bike - clicking when pedalling almost consistently when right crank is at top of stroke and left is at bottom. 

Ive tried changing the BB (threaded)

Tried different pedals

Tried different rear wheel

Happens in both chainrings

Nothing is touching the crank arms

It makes the sound when im sitting or standing so not seatpost/saddle related

No cracks in frame I can detect

Anything else I can check please?

In reply to The Potato:

QR too tight?
I had a similar "ticking" that I couldn't locate.
I was chatting to a Mavic technician at the ToB a few years back.
He suggested checking the tension on the QR levers.
You should be able to push them shut with just 2 fingers, rather than having to force them with the heel of the hand.
Problem solved.

In reply to The Potato:

I had something like this once.  It turned out to be my neck.

In reply to Ghastly Rubberfeet:

This. Alternatively, the clicking could come from the chain, especially if the chainring is deformed (unlikely if it happens on both rings) or the entire crank arm is slightly non vertical.

CB

In reply to The Potato:

Could still be the seat post as the frame moves when you're riding.  Clean it up, and either put sticky stuff or some light oil on it, whichever suits what you've got.  

In contrast to one of the above, I had a click that was solved by getting rid of crap skewers, buying some good ones, and doing them up tight.

Stem bolts all tight?  Headset tension right?

Front derailleur straight and aligned with the chain correctly?

In reply to nniff:

Yeah I had a very similar creaky noise that I initially blamed on my spd shoes and bottom bracket. Turns out it was the seat post. Bit of grease and all’s good. 

In reply to Ghastly Rubberfeet:

Agreed, try the front wheel QR, you wouldn't believe how many times this happens to folk and they strip all sorts before the QR i checked, a smear of grease on contact surfaces can help

In reply to The Potato:

You say you have threaded bottom bracket on a carbon bike, could the the bonding for the metal thread be failing? Bit of a guess, most carbon bikes I've had dealings with are push fit so not entirely sure how the thread for BB is engineered.

In reply to The Potato:

It drives you mad doesn't it. It took me 2 years to find my click on and off:

On my old bike, it was the crank bolts into the bottom bracket. This is on a old style square taper BB, with campag self extracting bolts with a 7mm (!) allen key. The self-extractor had pin slots to tighten it up into the crank. At some point it had become lose. Even though I checked the crank bolt itself, it was that the self extractor was loose. Tightened up with locktight and it was good again.

However, I can;t imagine this is the problem with yours, as I think cranks don't tend to use square taper any more... 

In reply to The Potato:

I disagree on the QRs, they should be cranked over as tight as you can possibly do them.

Have you checked the headset bolts for tightness?

In reply to The Potato:

Check every bolt! even those you (think) you've already checked. Use grease or thread lock as and where appropriate; check cleats/shoes; check the chainring bolts (those little hex-one-side, slot-the-other-side jobbies); even try some dry lube on spoke crossovers (yep, one of those f*#kers had me a few yers ago!).

If all fails, sell it and buy a new bike! 

N

In reply to The Potato:

I had a mate that came to me with a similar issue.

He was most impressed when, correctly, as it turned out, I informed him that it might be his shoe laces striking his bottle cage.

In reply to The Potato:

Would have said front mech cage catching something, but unlikely if in both rings.

Ordinarily, I might have said the end of the front mech cable catching something, or just rattling against the frame somewhere?

Something stuck in/bent tooth on the inner chain ring catching the chainstay?

Any obvious signs of wear anywhere on the frame where something could be striking?

In reply to The Potato:

I was going mad until I realised the damaged end of the front mech gear cable was hitting crank.

That would be right crank upwards.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

im afraid you are in a minority there with that belief

In reply to The Potato:

Hi

i had a similar problem. Swapped out, wheels, chain, free hub, bottom bracket etc etc

it was the left hand crank. Swapping the crank stopped the creak.  

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I’ve been told that can knacker wheel bearings. 

To the OP - I think greasing the skewers and getting the tension right is a good first step. Bikes are a pain in the arse...

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Naively I would have thought the axle was pretty incompressible... Enlighten me if I'm mistaken here. More likely the qr will snap which isn't good news  

Try a different saddle  

In reply to The Potato:

There are a few I can rule out like laces as I use velcro shoes, and not the derailleur cable as I solved that mystery years ago.

Some useful suggestions here thanks, Ill try a few of them this weekend and let you know!

In reply to The Potato:

How are your Knees?

In reply to The Potato:

Is the gear cable end coming out of where it is clamped in the front mech sticking out and you're flicking this with your foot? Worth a quick check as it's the easiest thing to fix!

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

If tightening the QR was able to side-load the bearings they would seize up and fail in very quick time. Axles are designed so that compression has no effect on the bearings.

In reply to cb294:

I had this once and it was that.  Either the chain ring or something holding it in place was slightly bent.  At the same point in the pedal's rotation the chain ran against a part of the deraileur, causing the sound.  

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I didn't suggest that it would case the bearings any harm, i said doing skewers up as tight as is possible is not required, they should take a little bit of force to close over the cam but heaving on them isn't needed.

In reply to The Potato:

I once narrowed down clicking in the drive train to the handlebar stem .... does it go away if you ride no-handed?

In reply to The Potato:

i had an annoying clicking noise . took me ages to work out what it was . it was the front gear cable hitting my leg and pingging against my pump on every peddle cycle . 

In reply to The Potato:

Ive now tried all of the above suggestions but no change.

Im starting to wonder if its frame flex, I just dont get why its only on the drive side at the top of the pedal stroke, frustrating but the bike is still working fine.

In reply to The Potato:

Loose or worn cleats?  

Good luck.

Toby

In reply to The Potato:

If you hold frame and push/pull pedals/cranks sideways is there any play?

In reply to The Potato:

Are you SURE it isn't the crank arm catching the front mech. cage ?

Cant remember if that has been suggested or not ?

In reply to The Potato:

Try some plumbers PTFE tape on the BB thread before you reinsert. Creaking carbon bikes seem to be pretty common, glad I ride some bling titanium.

In reply to The Potato:

If you think it's the frame, it's probably the seat post.  Have you given that a really good clean, got all the grit etc out of the tubes etc.  If it's a carbon frame, it may need sticky compound, if metal, a wipe of grease.  As far as the sticky compound for carbon frames is concerned though, I am not convinced - my carbon frame/seatpost needs a mallet to adjust them. - not enjoyable at all.

In reply to The Potato:

Sounds like ear plugs might be the best and cheapest solution.

In reply to The Potato:

Recent clicks and knockings etc

Creak from left crank area, spot of grease on left shoe plate. Noise gone.

Front end click, punctured changed tube put front wheel back in. Noise gone.

Pinging noise from rear wheel, changed wheels noise still there. A week later discovered play in bottom bracket, new bottom bracket. Noise gone.

Clicking from front wheel, stopped computer magnet from hitting mudguard stay. Noise gone.

and so it goes on.

In reply to elsewhere Good suggestion I checked this when I checked the frame for cracks, but no, no movement, creaks clicks groans or moans only when pedalling. In reply to Dark-Cloud:

In reply to Toby_W

Good thought, I havent mentioned it but I did try a different pair of spd shoes and cleats, but no difference.

yes that has been suggested as like I say in the original post - it happens in both chainrings so sadly not.

In reply to Hardonicus

Thats a good idea Ill try that tonight, easy job to do too, although im dubious itll help. I dont know if Ti frames feel like steel but I prefer carbon to even a good steel frame.

In reply to nniff

Yes thats been suggested and I've cleaned the seatpost (alu) and clamp and no difference.

In reply to The Potato:

Final suggestions from me, I think.  You mentioned that you changed the pedals.  Are the threads in the cranks in good order?  Take the pedals out, give all the threads a good clean and grease and run them back in.  

Are the cleats on your shoes worn?

Is there a crack in the sole of your shoe, or are they delaminating?  

Is one of the Boas or ratchets on your shoes knackered?

In reply to The Potato:

Hi,

To fix my annoying creak took over 6 months....I ended up buying a second hand bike and swapping components over from that one by one. As I said up thread it was the left hand crank. The splines creaked under pressure at a certain point as it went round.

In reply to The Potato:

The heel of my shoe catches the end of the wire to the front mech. I fold it out of the way using a bit of insulating tape.

In reply to Wimlands:

Splines! Haven't used an Isis / octalink in about 15 years.

Matt3210

Next person to suggest derailleur cable gets -100 internet points

In reply to The Potato:

I just found out the need to purchase one of these last weekend to swap out my bottom bracket. I will probably move onto to a new bike with a different system by the time i need to use it again. 

As for noises, I must be immune to the annoyances. I have the noisiest freehub, a rattling U-lock against the frame, and even my bell (yes, that much of a punter I have one of these - and some reflectors I've never bothered to take off for the real haters!) emits a constant buzz as I trundle along.  

Actually that last one is starting to get to me. I might do something about it one day. 

In reply to The Potato:

Mine was an irregular but repeating pattern of clicks around the same crank angles, turns out I hadn't put enough grease (aka any grease at all) on the pedal threads.

In reply to The Potato:

well Ive not technically managed to solve it but part way through a ride it stopped and hasnt come back (yet) so none the wiser! oh well. 

Thanks all for the interest anyway