Yet another "Mystery Noise" thread

[Turkle]

Hello. So, back in September I was riding in a fast paceline and someone neglected to call out a pothole. I hit that thing going full gas, straight on.

Immediately afterwards, my bike developed a strange noise, and I'm having trouble determining what it might be. I took it to the LBS and they couldn't locate it.

The strange thing is, it doesn't occur when I first start pedaling on the bike. Maybe 15-20 minutes into my ride, it will start. It definitely is part of the pedal stroke, because when I'm coasting, it doesn't make the noise. It happens when I'm pedaling hard enough to be going at least 19-20mph on the flats.

It sounds like a creaky rocking chair, is how I would describe it. You know that kind of crunchy noise an old wooden chair makes? I get a short one of those every pedal stroke. It happens when my right leg (drive side) is just coming through the lowest part of the pedal stroke.

I have checked my wheels, my rotors, and those are all completely true. The noise sounds like it's coming from the bottom bracket area, but I can't be sure as I'm riding fast and I can't get the noise to happen in the stand. It's really hard to try to take a video because it only happens under load when I'm going too fast to comfortably operate my cell phone camera.

Busted bearing in the bottom bracket?? Loose chainring bolt?? The bike is fatally compromised and might explode under me at any moment??? What could it be??

Any ideas on what I should check here??

Thank you!

[Likes2ridefar]

A few times I’ve had that and found it to be the rear thru axle not being tight enough.

[gbcoupe]

If it started after an impact and your wheels are fine, I'd check the saddle.

[Turkle]

Originally Posted by gbcoupe

If it started after an impact and your wheels are fine, I'd check the saddle.

I have actually changed out both saddle and seatpost since the incident (I moved from setback to straight post), so I don't think that's what it could be.

[jbrainin]

Perhaps you have a less than tight chainring bolt?

[Dude]

In this order...ranked by low to high level of effort and way to isolate variables, not necessarily fixes.

1. pedals/cleats
- ride in sneakers
2. wheels
- swap wheel set
3. seat
- swap seat
4. drivetrain
- make sure it's setup properly.
5. bar/stem
- take apart, regrease/carbon paste, put back together
6 headset
- take apart, regrease put back together.
7 bottom bracket
- take apart, regrease, put back together.
8. frame/fork
- ride a different bike.


This list is the same for any creaking ticking clunking plinking on any bike. Obviously it's implied that you are inspecting the parts as you disassemble the stuff. when doing the headset pull the fork and ensure there are no cracks.

[Jad]

After getting that really creaky rocking chair sound, I checked everything until I came to my cleats/pedals, which I guess were rubbing just the right way. I put some lube on them and the sound went away completely (I'll need more lube sometime soon I think).

You may be using road pedals, but maybe it's a possibility (in my case, I've got Shimano spds). Check the pedal itself as well--maybe something got jarred there from the pothole.

[Turkle]

Boy, I sure would love it if the problem were just in the cleat/pedal interface. Will start there tonight.

[benb]

Check everything. I don't know why the hell it happened but my bike was doing this a week or two ago.

I had installed new cranks a few months ago and then had installed a new cassette and chain a month ago.

The bike sounded like it was a loose chainring bolt.

When I went to check it I found:
- 2 loose chainring bolts (brand new D/A crankset)
- Cassette lockring had slightly loosened (not enough to tell by hand, but it was no longer fully torqued)
- Cranks had actually come slightly loose even though they had been torqued (I suspect I didn't get the splines fully engaged)

[Turkle]

My bike is due for a yearly tune-up anyway. I'll get a new cassette, chain, and bottom bracket on there, and when I'm doing that I might as well check those chainring bolts and pedals.

[cmg]

As already stated check the saddle, may a cracked or loose rail. I cracked a spec troupe saddle and it creaked.

[David Kirk]

My bet is on a loose headset crown race.


dave

[Spaghetti Legs]

Inspect and clean the dropouts. Maybe even try a drop of lube. I’ve had this as a source of a creak twice, most recently figured out right after I replaced the bottom bracket. Just took a simple wipe with a rag on the rear dropout.

[rustychisel]

I'd listen to Dave Kirk but I will add that the other week I got caught in heavy rain and my Sidi road shoes got absolutely drenched. They're dry but now they creak.