JoblessDave

My T2000 is ruining my rides. I bought the bike around August 2007. After about two thousand miles it developed a unilateral ticking sound when the crank arm is in approximately the 9:00 position. The tick got worse until it was bilateral and sounded almost like a grinding that I could feel in the pedals. The noise does not go away when the chain is shifted to a different chainring or cog. Unfortunately, it does not make any noise on the repair stand. And it starts making noise only after we ride the bike about 20 minutes. In 10 years of working at bikes shops repairing bikes I’ve never experienced this kind of problem.

I have removed greased and reinstalled the eccentric and bottom brackets. I have checked all fixing bolts on crankarms, chainrings, seat posts, seats, stems, handlebars, and made sure the pedals are tight. I’ve swapped out the pedals with a spare set. The timing chain has approximately ½” of slack. The chains have been cleaned and lubricated. The hanger may be slightly out of alignment, but it shifts well enough and is quiet in the stand. (I don’t have a DAG.)

The best I can get after doing all of the above is that it’s quiet for the start of a ride, but 20 minutes into the ride it starts ticking again, and the noise worsens as we ride harder. My wife says the noise sounds like it comes from the chainrings. To me it sounds like the front bottombracket.

We live in San Diego, but bought the bike from dealer in New Jersey. So returning it to the retailer for service is not possible.

Do you have any suggestions?

dfcas

"I have checked all fixing bolts on crankarms, chainrings, seat posts, seats, stems, handlebars,"

By checked I assume you made sure they were tight?

If so, I would go back and remove all of them and grease each and every thing ,then reassemble it. Some other things may be : skewers,cracked frame (lets hope not) , headset, cassette hub body.

I had a frame that needed the headset knocked out,regreased,and reinstalled once a year,or it would creak.The noise sounded like it was in the saddle area and took forever to find.

One technique I've used has been to move my hands around the frame,squeezing tubes.If you get near the source,it will change tone,as if you are muting it.The stoker can do more of this easier than you. This was how I found the creaking headset.

I assume you tried teflon tape on the bottom bracket threads?

Please let us know if and when you find it.

JoblessDave

Yep, by checked I mean made sure they were tight.

I haven't put teflon tape on the threads, but have heard that may help. I guess that's what I'll try next.

Should I tape and grease, or just tape?

I guess kicking it won't help? : )

dfcas

I grease the shell and tape the BB. What type are they,ISIS?

JoblessDave

It's equipped with Shimano Octalink / Ultegra.

Our next tandem ride is scheduled for Saturday. I'll tape it before then and post back with results.

Thanks for the suggestions!

jgg3

I think you are missing a key point: it always clicks with the cranks in the same position? As they go through the same point? With or without load? The clue is in here, somewhere. You need to set it up so you can reproduce it stationary, trainer, rollers, something. For 20 minutes. Then get help and narrow it down until there is only one thing it could be.

specbill

The next time the noise starts swap out your shoes/cleats right on the spot and eliminate that possibility from your list...it sounds a bit goofy but I had a set of shoes that started creaking a half hour into almost every ride and it drove me nuts..chased all the things you have...was convinced it was the BB or a pedal (which did happen on another occaision) but in the end it was the cleat in one shoe hating the nut plate it bolted to in the sole of the shoe .......
Good luck ....let us know when you find whatever it is.

Bill J.

justcrankn

I recently fixed our T2000. After removing the eccentric and cleaning the grease out of the shell I discovered some gray paint inside the shell. Since cleaning that out it has stayed quiet for a century so I'm calling it fixed. It's so nice hearing nothing but the wind and the tires humming!

JoblessDave

jgg3: I wish I had a trainer. That sounds like the easiest way to isolate the problem. But living in San Diego, I've actually given away my old winter training stuff. I don't even have a warm jacket.

specbill: I actually considered cleats. But we both have half-bikes with the same pedal setup. Those are both quiet as ghosts.

justcrankin: I actually saw some paint in the shell, but that never crossed my mind. Now that you mention it I can see how it could cause the problem. When I teflon tape the bb I'll clean the paint out of the eccentric shell.

And I was quite serious when I wrote that this is ruining my ride. I hate a noisy bike. I told my wife today that I didn't want to ride the Trek anymore.

Great forum! Thanks All!

bikeriderdave

Rear Wheel???
Coworkers and I encountered a similar mystery noise on a single a few years back. It turned out to be the rear wheel. We isolated the cause by putting a different wheel on the bike, then taking a ride that had previously been enough to cause the noise to start. [If the wheel is the source, that's probably the only good way to detect it, as modern cassette hubs are relatively complex assemblies, and you are unlikely to see anything wrong from the outside. Also, the frame can resonate with hub noise, making the actual source almost impossible to trace. Yes, many but not all wheel noises change pitch with road speed. The incident I remember sure sounded like a crank/frame issue, with its frequency/amplitude related to pedaling.] Assuming you don't have another tandem in the house, you'll have to borrow a suitable wheel from another tandem team or your tandem-savvy LBS.

Good luck — Dave

JoblessDave

UPDATE: I taped the cups and greased the shell and that resolved most of the noise issue. But I still had a ticking noise, although much quieter. I looked around and grasping at straws tightend the small bolt securing the derailleur hanger insert to the rear drop out, and that did the trick. It's now totally quiet.

The interesting thing is that when I removed that bolt to grease it I could not get it to thread back in with the quick release closed. So the insert is obvously not sitting flush with the drop out. I'm going to have my lbs check drop out alignment, and then check the hanger alignment.