Click!

[sspielman]

I relate the following account in the hopes that it may preserve the mental health of a forum reader or two.....I have an Orbea Altec 2 frame with a carbon rear that I consider to be a great bike. For no apparent reason, it developed a "click" sound when anything above moderate pressure was applied through the drivetrain. Now, anybody who has tried to isolate a sound on an aluminum frame knows a deeper meaning to the phrase "exercise in futility". I had a few clues since it was drivetrain related....and it made it whether or not I was seated. So, I thought that I could rule a few things out. First, I checked all of the drivetrain bolts for tightness......to no avail. So, I then cleaned and gave a fresh smear of grease to all of the chainwheel bolts and crank bolts. Still no luck. I then tightened the rear wheel skewer a little more...and tried other wheels......no luck. So, I removed the bottom bracket and greased the cups again....and re-torqued them into the frame.....no luck. To me the sound still sounded as if it came from the bottom bracket area.....I couldn't see any cracks. It was time to not rule out anything....so I cleaned and re-greased the seatpost and collar as well as the front and rear derailleur attachments. No luck. I then removed the crank and BB again and installed a DIFFERENT crank and BB....STILL NO LUCK! In between, I am trying an infinite number of things to load the frame in different ways to isolate the sound, to no avail. The rear dropouts on this frame are partially removeable. The ends are installed with chainwheel bolts prior to painting. I had tightened them a bit in an earlier procedure. I decided to take them off....so I did. While they were off, greased the interface and did the same to the head of the bolts and loc-tited the threads. Voila! Success! If any of you have a "clicking" or "ticking" sound, you may want to investigate a removeable dropout- even if it appears to be tight and secure. The above account was a real exercise in frustration, and I left out a number of other things that I examined and tried.....

[Spicoli]

Dude,
Great post and thanks. I will add that to my list for future refrence. My bikes are silent right now but you never know? That is one that I did not try on my last noise hunt. It still amazes me how annoying the slightest sound can be and it will freak you out to the point it ruins your ride. My last couple have been dry skewers, and having to spray WD40 into my seat tube. I know WD is not a grease but I greased the crap out of my post and still the noise was there so out of frustration I just put a shot or two down the tube, and just like the can says it stops sqeaks. :crap:

[Bill Bove]

I goy up one morning and went for a ride, as I descended the only hill, a bridge, that I would be on all day I heard a click. It was coming from in front of and below me, my first thought was the headset. I got to the bottom of the bridge and checked my headset, it was O.K. I checked the skewer to be sure it was tight, it was. I got back on the bike and started to ride away, still clicking, I was annoyed. I got off and started looking at the bike to find whatever the heck was loose. As i leaned over to check something, I don't remember what, out there was the mystery click. It was a St. Christopher medal hanging around my neck hitting the zipper on my jersey. Zipped up a bit and had quite ride. Sometimes it's hard to find the noise but, easy to fix.

[cs124]

I'm going to try this when I get home tonight.

You're right about the frustration caused by searching for noises. :crap: