Clicking sound from casette. Problem?
 

Hi,

New to biking and new to wrenching but loving both.

One of the problems with wrenching is that you want to fix every problem because you can!

The chain whilst going over the rear cassette makes a clicking sound almost like a tic tic sound. It gets more pronounced on the smaller cogs.

Is this a problem? Changes are smooth. DNP hyper wave 12/25 cassette no name chain.

It could be the perfectly normal sound of the chain passing over the shift gates --- the cut down or thinned teeth that make for smoother (hyper) shifting --- analogous to a train passing over switches. This would be a pretty uniform sound at regular frequency based on speed.

Or it could be that the cassette isn't tightened down enough. This would be less uniform and probably worse when under load.

If in doubt, check that the lockring is tight and ride and see if things change.

DNP isn't known for high quality parts, so it might just be a low quality part? Sure it isn't a Free Wheel?
You didn't specify how many speeds of either the chain or cassette.
If your chain is "fewer" speeds than the cassette, it may be too wide and rubbing the adjacent cogs.

You sure that's the source of the click? I recently rebuilt a rear hub(needed it anyway), sure that it was the source of a click. Ended up being a bad Bottom Bracket.

Ah thanks. That helps a lot. Will check this out.

The click is definitely coming from the cassette. I put the bike on a stand and put my head next to the cassette. I'll try to slow it down and see if the click corresponds to the chain passing over the thinned out teeth.

Is there an easy way to check if its a cassette or freewheel?

Thanks again.

If you described it correctly as a DNP hyper wave... then it's a cassette. You can usually tell by the presence of a lockring holding the last sprocket on.

(there are freewheels that use a lockring, and there are cassettes that don't, but these are the exception and you're not likely to run into them on modern bikes)

Was this cassette a replacement for another?
If so, WHAT was the original cassette and new cassette?
Speeds & cog range?

An easy way to tell the difference between a FW & cassette.
http://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html