hunting the elusive noise

[Seramount]

so, one of the best qualities of my bike is that, with the exception of a little tire noise, it's totally silent while underway. no squeaks, rattles, jaggling tools, etc etc.

but, two weeks ago it developed an intermittent 'ticking' sound...ugh, hate it when that happens. the last time something similar happened, it turned out to be a loose cassette lock ring. so, using past experience as a guide, popped off the rear wheel and checked it. um, nope...tight as can be.

now the detective work begins in earnest. tried to isolate the circumstances when the sound occurred. when I'd go out, it took a mile or two before it appeared, but once it did, it would come and go for the duration of the ride.

the sound was not produced when coasting or backpedaling. it seems to be most pronounced when pedaling hard and would go away when I soft-pedaled. it seemed to be absent when out of the saddle altho that was true only 99.95% of the time.

ok, figured it was time to just do a methodical approach to every conceivable source...

removed seat post, cleaned, greased and reinserted. still noisy.
removed saddle, cleaned, greased bolts and rails. still noisy.
tightened all handlebar attachment points. still noisy.
removed, cleaned, greased pedals. still noisy.
checked cleats and found TWO loose bolts...aha! removed, cleaned, greased. still noisy.
changed to different shoes/cleats. still noisy.
cleaned and lubed chain. still noisy.
checked headset, all tight.
checked spokes on both wheels, all tight.
removed, cleaned, jockey pulleys. still noisy.
checked chain ring bolts and found one that was about 1/16 of a turn loose. tightened. still noisy

a buddy suggested pulling the crank arms and checking the BB which sounded a bit painful but I was willing to go there if necessary. because at this point, was starting to hate the prospect of riding and listening to the infernal ticking sound...was like a water torture drip, drip, drip thing.

befor tackling the BB, asked a PL friend if I could borrow a complete rear wheel to eliminate that as a possible source...but, didn't get a chance to try that because today, in a random moment of pure luck, I decided to recheck something in the above list.

went back over the chain ring bolts and the one that was barely loose and re-tightened accepted another 1/64 turn of the allen wrench.

badda bing, badda boom! the noise is GONE! life is good again. moral of the story is just be persistent in your quest to find those annoying noises. you will be rewarded eventually.

[weisan]

Sera pal, you could have asked me. My first reaction after reading your description was: chainring bolt.