Bicycle Mechanics - Creaking cranks?

I suspect this is a fairly common complaint and has doubtless been covered here prevoiously, but as I have next to no experience of the crank/BB area I thought I'd better seek advice.

Basically over the last week or so a slightly unnerving clicking/creaking sound has been 'developing' around the crank/BB area. It seems to happen at the same point of the rotation and is like two definite clicks one right after the other. The more pressure I apply, the louder/more severe it gets, and when climbing, I can actually feel it through my foot. However it seems fine when soft pedalling on the flat.

What's the likely problem and how should I go about remedying it?

Many thanks.

Edit - also seeing as I'm on the subject, how does one tell if a BB shell has English or Italian thread?

What cranks do you have?

What cranks do you have?

They are Sugino GT compact double - I'd say prob around 10 years old. The bike is an old steel frame I bought as a runaround about 6 months back and has a mix of old and new components so I can't tell exactly the age of some of the components - it's in very goon condition generally but this has just started over the last week or so. It seems to be mainly coming from the left non drive side?

Thanks.

Is it similar to this photo?

I don't know much about these. It could be the pedal itself or the pedal-crank arm threads, crank axle, bottom bracket threads, or chainring bolts. Maybe other readers will know.

You could oil the pedal pivots, oil the chainring bolts, and unscrew the pedals, grease, and reinstall. (remember, the left side pedal unscrews clockwise, the right is counter-clockwise) Those are the easy fixes.

Does the noise go away if you unclip one foot and just pedal with the other?


http://static.lfgss.com/attachments/17922d1258802361-img00033-20091120-1701.jpg

Those look very similar (although mine are all silver). Haven't tried the one foot approach, will give it a go.

I think, as you suggest, I'm prob just going to have to take them off, give em a good clean and re grease and see if that does the trick.

Thanks for your time rm -rf - 'tis appreciated.

Like rm said there could be a lot of causes, all his points are sound. If you try those and have no luck removing the BB and greasing its threads is worth a try if you have a BB tool or a friend with one.

Saddle creaks can also sound like crank creaks, greasing the seatpost and saddle rails could be worth a try too (and is quick and easy!).

First and easiest is to make sure the crank bolts are tight. That solves most of the cases that I run into. I would do one fix at a time so that you know where the problem is in case it recurs and something needs replacing.