Clicking Bottom Bracket

[schneiderrd]

I need some advice with respect to a clicking that I have picked up in the bottom bracket area of my Serotta CRL. It drives me nuts and I can’t get rid of it. What is more confounding is that it comes and goes. Sometimes it is quite noticeable and sometimes it is gone completely. I am using a Shimano 9 speed triple.

Things that I gave tried to do to get rid of it include installing a new bottom bracket (Shimano), changing pedals, changing seat posts and saddles, re-greasing and re-torqueing the bottom bracket, cranks, seat post and saddle hardware. I inspected the brazed joints around the bottom bracket shell and cannot see any chipping of the paint that I assume I should see if there is a problem with the frame.

I would appreciate any ideas members of the forum have. Also, is it possible that I have a cracked braze joint at a lug that has not caused the paint to chip? Should I consider sending the frame back to Serotta for inspection? Thanks in advance.

[pddebacker]

It might not be the BB. The clicking could be coming from the wheel rims. Some of the mavic rims (open pro) had problems with spokes pulling through. Also, make sure that your quick releases are tightened down snugly - I've noticed clicking of the type you are describing when they aren't nice and tight.

Also, make sure that the threads for the pedals and bottom bracket are clean...

good luck

[gt6267a]

i have a CRL and had some creaking from the BB area. ultimately, replacing the BB solved the problem. i am wondering if your new BB is Ti?

i had a white industries Ti BB. it creaked. i took it to my LBS and he said it was configured fine. we were able to replicate the noise by pushing the crank towards the frame... yet it was plenty tight ...

so, i called white industries. they said that Ti BB sometimes creak and replacing it is probably the best solution.

i now have a steel BB and no creaking.

not sure if this helps ...

-k

[Too Tall]

Look at the BB wire pass through. Remove it, put a hunk of teflon tape under it and re-install with grease. He(( you did everything else :rolleyes:

[EdK]

You might also check the front derailler clamp. Too loose or too tight a bit of grease under the clamp. Also remove and grease the chainring bolts. Check the rear derailer bolt as well (make sure it is greased) Sound can move through the frame easily. Ksyriums can also cause noise if the QR is not very snug.

[saab2000]

...chainring bolts too. It could really be any of about 10,000 things, including a loose spoke. My cassette (Chorus) once made some awful creaking noises and all it took was a drop of oil on the rivets to make it go away. Could also be the spoke/nipple/eyelet interface.

[Kevan]

When this problem has shown itself...er, been heard by myself, it usually starts in humid weather. Go figure. My lbs goes through a series of repairs one more drastic than the other to stop the creak. First, everything else is checked to ensure Kevan's not off his rocker (Shuddup Sandy!). I'm at stage 3 where teflon tape is being used to silence the bb noise. I'm not sure what I or my bike have in store if the tape fails. Gulp!

[victoryfactory]

Yo..
EdK is right, grab that front Der*. and yank it around, you may hear the noise. Also, check the small piece of cable housing that runs from the chainstay to the Rear Der*., sometimes grit gets in there and clics when you apply a certain force when riding, the same goes for the cable stops on the down tubes.

One thing I've learned about BB noises is that they rarely come from the Bottom Bracket!

* I used the abbreviation, because I don't want to embarass myself by trying to spell "derailleur"

Good luck, and don't panic and start bashing, it never pays
(I know this from experience)

Victory Factory, who has heard many strange, annoying sounds

[PaulE]

occurs when I'm climbing out of the saddle. I think it's actually the quill stem, either where it clamps onto the handlebars or the neck inside the steerer tube. If you have a quill stem on your CRL, you may want to look there as well.

[flydhest]

Originally posted by victoryfactory
Yo..
{snip}
Victory Factory, who has heard many strange, annoying sounds

VF, I see you've been on a ride with Sandy . . . :banana:

[Kevan]

Boy, ain't that the troot!

[Jay Torborg]

I had a creak that I thought was coming from the bottom bracket and it turned out that the cassette retention ring wasn't torqued down enough. This wasn't exactly a clicking sound, but it's worth taking a look at since you've tried all the obvious things.

[SPOKE]

put a drop or two of lite weight oil on the front derailleur band clamp so it cn seep in between the band and the seat tube. i'm pretty certain that the water bottle bosses on that frame are brazed into place so they most likely aren't the source but just in case remove the gace mountain screws and put a good coating of grease on them and re-install them.

[Jeff N.]

I have often found that many annoying creaks seemingly coming from the BB are in fact coming from the cleat/pedal interface. Thats the first place I look now. I unclip, squirt a little water on the pedal, clip in, and 9 times out of 10 it goes away. Jeff N.

[wjp8471]

I think I had the same problem with my bike and finaly it was the chain that made the noise.
I replaced the bottom-bracket, wheels, pedals, chainrings and never thought it could be the chain.
I hope this will help jou.

[djg21]

If it happens when you're climbing, it may be bottom bracket flex, which causes the crank to come into contact with the front derailleur. Check the reach.

Also, no one else mentioned it, but check the cones on the rear wheel. I thought that the DA BB on my Litespeed was staring to make make noises. On inspecting the bike, it turned out that the cones in a Chris Kink hub had loosened, and what I was hearing was the back wheel click every pedal stroke. A couple of turns with an allen wrench, and all was fine!

[victoryfactory]

schneiderrd;
Just curious... did you ever find out what was making the racket in yer bracket?

Don't forget to put on a different set of wheels to eliminate that possibility.
VF

[schneiderrd]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. In addition to what I tried in my original post, I tried a different wheel and cassette to no avail. I also re-torqued the bottom bracket and cranks to the upper end of the range, as recommended by Shimano, and this reduced the problem in that it is now more intermittent. Sometimes it as bad as before, and sometimes the bike is like “Stealth Bike”. Anyway, As soon as I get done with this post, I am going to switch to a FSA compact crank setup including a new Ultegra front DR. I will take the advice of the forum and grease everything well. To be honest, my biggest concern is that one of the welds of the frame is cracked. Before I install the new crank I am going over all of the welds to see if I can see anything unusual. I’ll post the results when I get done. Thanks again for the help.

[BumbleBeeDave]

That's what my problem was. I tried all sorts of removing, retorquings, and regreasings of various parts. Also changed from a DA to an Ultegra BB. No dice. Turned out it was the chainring bolts, and when I just torqued the s*** out of them that cured it. I had the same problem you do. The click came and went, but usually showed up under load--standing on the pedals, uphills, etc.

Good luck!

BBDave

[schneiderrd]

Completed the crank, bottom bracket and front DR change out. Threw in a new chain for good measure. I was only able to get a few miles in close to home. Some small hills and a few out of the saddle jumps and no clicking so far. Tomorrow I'll have time to do a decent ride to test it out. While I did not have time to do a post mortem, I am beginning to believe that the problem was related to the chain ring bolts. That’s assuming that everything goes ok tomorrow.

As a side note, the compact gearing is kind of weird in that I am in the large chain ring more that on my triple set up. Of course that’s the deal. I think I am going to like it. Anyway, thanks again to the forum members for the support and ideas.

[DonG]

schneideerd:

Hope all your changes eliminate your creak. I kept reading this thread to see if someone would come up with the first thing that came to my mind when I read your problem. I've re-read it twice and didn't see the magic words.

My Specialized Allez had a creak in it when I came out of the saddle on hills. Ran through the same list you did but the creak didn't go away until I refaced the bb. If the faces on the bottom bracket aren't square to the bearing, the retaining rings don't contact the face with equal force around the enitre face. Just a couple thousands out of true gives enough room for things to move and give you the creak.

Park Tool makes a nifty device that your lbs should have.

If you're creak comes back - give it a try.

Don

[victoryfactory]

DonG:

Thanks for your comment on BB squareness. From what I've read here and elswhere, people installing the new Dura Ace crankset especially would be smart to true the surface of their bottom brackets first.

Victory Factory, who now , thanks to DonG, has a new tool to covet.

[Wheelman]

I have seen this several times. People, even experienced riders think they have BB or crank clicks or noise. I have found three times now that two other people and myself had this condition. It is going to sound funny but all three times the problem was not even a part of the bike. The first time it happened to me it drove me crazy. Finally I found my set of keys in my bike jacket pocket were clicking with each revolution of the pedals. I now put them in my saddle bad and that fixed the problem. One of my friends had a medallion hanging off his saddle bag making the noise with each pedal stroke. Finally another friend had his tights creaking, sounds funny but the folds in the tights were rubbing and clicking against eachother with each pedal stroke. Before anyone changes all those expensive and time consuming parts, try the simple stuff first.

Ray

[schneiderrd]

Just got back from a 25-mile ride. If this bike gets any stealthier, I’ll have to sell to the Army. Everything works great. Still getting used to the compact gearing, but I like it.

I have a question for DonG about facing the bottom bracket shell. Are you talking about facing a shell that has never been faced, or one that has been faced and needs a touch up? My shell was faced when I bought the bike by the bike shop and if I had it done again is there a potential problem of removing too much material from the shell? While my problem is gone for now, I just want to know about this for the future.

[DonG]

schneiderrd

Your lbs would be the expert on how much room you have left to face. On both my Allez and the new C-III (oh how I love to type those leters) I only took off enough material to 1) remove the paint and 2) have a clean chip.

The Park Tool makes it easy to set a very light pressure on the spring and take very small cuts.

Like I said though - trust the lbs.

Happy "quiet" ridding.

Don

[davids]

schneiderrd,

Please keep us posted on the compact gearing. I'm thinking of going that way myself. I'm currently using an Ultegra triple and an 11-23 cassette, but thinking that a compact and a wider-spaced cassette may be a better idea.

Congrats on fixing the squeak!

[schneiderrd]

David

I have put over 100 miles on the compact crank set and so far it is ok, once you get used to it. The biggest difference I notice is when you change chain rings; you may have to make a double shift on the cassette due to the large difference in the size of the chain rings. The shifting is clean and crisp (this is beginning to sound like a Budweiser commercial).

To be honest with you, along with the clicking problem, the other reason I went to the compact set up was because the Shimano triple set up never worked that well on my Serotta. For some reason there was not enough clearance between the front DR and the seat tube. The shifting was not exacting and many times in going from the large ring to the middle ring it would over shoot and end up on the small ring. I tried everything to get the shifting right but it was always marginal. I have another bike with the Shimano triple on it and it works like a dream and I would not change it out for the compact set up. So if you are thinking of going to the compact set up, you really need to be unhappy with your triple. In my opinion, the weight saved is not significant enough to justify the change. If you are having problems with your triple than the FSA set up may be the way to go. By the way, my cassette is a 12-25.