Bicycle Mechanics - Another "whats that noise" thread

I have searched and tried a few things that were suggested in other threads but I still have a weird noise.

Here are the symtpoms:

It sounds like a shoe lace hitting the aluminum tube.
Sometimes it appears to be in sync with the pedal motion, as in I hear it when my right foot is around 1-3 o'clock but not all the time.
It does occur at random times as well including when I am not pedaling.
It happens more when I am pedaling though.
It doesn't seem to matter if I am mashing or just spinning either.
I cannot reliably reproduce it but it does happen often


I have:

tighted my cleats
removed, cleaned and applied a small amount of lube to the carbon seat post
removed, cleaned and re greased the headset (I think thats what its called, connection between front fork and frame)
swapped wheels, front and rear
tighted and lubed all the bolts that I can


The bike is a 06 trek 1200 with 105 rear, tiagra front. The bike has about 2500 miles. Chain was replaced 300 miles ago and is well lubed. Wheels are stock alex rims or bontrager race depending on the weather. race wheels have around 200 miles and are basically new.

Any ideas on what to do next? The tick has gotten louder and occurs more frequently in the past hundred miles or so. Nothing really different in riding style and it hasn't been subject to any hard impacts. It did see more rain and wet weather in the past few months than it ever has. I do wipe down the frame and drive train after every wet commute.

Thanks
- Peter

There was a similar post to this yesterday so I'll give the same reply. I had/have the exact same problem. Same symptoms. Posted a thread. Got great advice from BF but still no joy. It is less frequent now though, through no action of mine however! See http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=240003

See also http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=291907

I read through the first one while searching. I just re-read it and may try to really clean and lube the QR skewers. The tick didn't appear until I put on the new wheels. It also didn't go away when I went back to the old ones :(

Try lubricating the seat rails, not at the clamp but where the saddle fastens to the rails.

Al

Had the same thing plaguing me earlier this year. Turned out to be the pull tab on my wind jacket zipper banging against the zipper. Felt pretty stupid after I realized it. It's warmed up now, so I don't expect a recurrence until September or October

I think I found it. I cleaned the contact points between the frame and the rear axle/QR. I then put a small amount of oil on them and reinstalled the wheel. No more ticking. The spots weren't particularly dirty to begin with but had a small amount of gunk due from riding in the rain and swapping wheels.

Its got about 150 miles on it so far and no more odd sounds :)