mschwett 

newish bike, around 3,500 miles. 12 speed dura-ace di2. cleaned and drip-waxed the chain last night, set off on a ride this morning. drivetrain was whisper quiet, truly quieter than the tire noise until approx 10 miles into a 50 mile ride, when i started hearing a regular ticking.

the ticking sounds like it's coming from the bottom bracket / crank area. it occurs once every time the left crank passes the front (9pm?) position. doesn't occur while pedaling backwards, doesn't occur when ghost pedaling (no load, slower pedaling than the bike is going.) it's not dependent on which ring in front or which cog in back, although the sound varies a bit depending on the exact condition and most especially the load. it's most noticeable riding uphill at slow speeds with high(er) power, a completely metronomic ticking in tune with my cadence.

there is no visible contact being made at the front, cranks look perfect, can't be pedals since it happens at the same point every time regardless of pedal orientation, there is no wire end on the fd to be making contact, careful inspection shows nothing making contact anywhere. don't see how it could be chain or cassette related since it happens once around the cranks, not once around the cassette or chain. no signs of cracks in the frame. it did start after a fairly misty and hard 10 miles, but nothing out of the ordinary.

mp3 file here - can't upload an mp3 as an attachment, unfortunately! ticking sound mp3

any suggestions? i'm guessing this is going to be a shop fix but curious if anyone has any ideas.

Juan Foote

If it is truly bottom bracket, check your bearings and such for proper tension, check crank arms, etc. Also, check your cleats, perhaps a drop of oil on the mech. I had a similar issue that ended up being the rear brake cable hitting my shoe then the frame. I can imagine disks have made that less common.

Bike this new and low miles I would also check spokes. It would be quite strange for that to be in time with cranks.

FBinNY 

What do you expect from a Timex bottom bracket?

mschwett 

it does sound remarkably metronomic in that audio clip, in real life, not quite as consistent.

Sy Reene

You mentioned the left crankarm is in about the 9 o'clock position. what position is the right arm in when you hear the tick? just kidding..

Try unclipping one foot at a time while pedaling just with the other one - helps remove possibility of it being cleat/pedal related. Also, does it still occur when pedaling while standing (out of the saddle)?

Actually I have a similar thing going on, but a little opposite. From a cold start I have the ticking like you mention, but after about 10 minutes it stops. I've given up trying to figure this one out, especially since it does stop.

tyrion

I couldn't access you're video clip but I'll just throw this out there: once I had a tick tick tick that I thought was the bottom bracket or crank and it turned out to be in the saddle.

mschwett 

yep, happens with one foot or the other, but it requires more force on the right to make it happen than the left. but with enough pressure on either side and the other side unclipped, it’s clear and audible. happens in or out of the saddle, so i doubt it’s a saddle or seat post thing.

Bill Kapaun

If the left crank is in front, the right crank is closest to the chain stay.
Look for interference there. Possible crank sensor magnet or???

Iride01 

Don't drive yourself batty trying to find it.

Just keep a casual eye out for it and eventually you'll find it. Might be today or it might be six months from now. It's not likely to bite you.

rm -rf

My 11 speed rim brake bike had the HED quick release creaking/clicking under load.I disassembled the quick release, wiped it clean, and put a thin film of grease on the bearing surface. FIxed!

It took hours of troubleshooting to find this. I was so sure it was the bottom bracket! I finally stood next to the bike and pressed on the bottom pedal to flex the frame, and heard the noise.

You have disc brakes, I assume? Do through axles need servicing?

squirtdad

Check chain ring bolt tightness

pdlamb

Good call.

Also, make sure your right crank's not hitting the front derailer cable.

Finally, check pedals are tight.

zandoval 

I am with ya... Tracking down a click can be a real chore so don't get discouraged. Just keep checking and looking. My last little click turned out to be my Rim separating at its weld. After moths of looking my brake pad started shuddering and that's how I found it. Another little click or cluck I found was actually in my Freewheel. Luckily I found it when I changed out my wheel set and the cluck disappeared. I have have a few bikes so I can switch around components to try to isolate a source.

If and when I get a hard to find click/cluck on my steel bikes I will do this:

Change out the wheel set, first the front then the back. So that gets the wheels outta the way. Remove my seat and seat post and take it out for a ride. (a real rider doesn't need a seat anyway... Ha). So now you are at your Bars, Crank and Bottom Bracket. tearing into my crank and bottom bracket is easier then doing my bars. Beside they always need a good cleaning and inspection anyway. Last I go for the Bars and Head. That's always a chore cause my body is so sensitive to the small changes made at reassembly.

Rem: I don't know if this method would work with late model bikes or non-steel bikes. Also, there is a thread here some place where a rider took thier Go-Pro camera and mounted it at different positions on the bike till isolating where the click was coming from. That time it was a seat clamp.

KerryIrons

Clicks tied to your pedaling can come from

- BB (grease all threads in contact with the frame and BB, all metal to metal contact surfaces, and torque to the recommended settings, which can be quite high), the faces of tapered BB axles if they have a little corrosion

- bolt holding the BB cable guide onto the frame (grease threads and make sure the bolt is not touching the BB shell inside the frame)

- BB cable guide (grease threads and tighten)

- crank bolts (grease threads and washers)

- chain ring bolts (take them all out and grease the threads, the faces where they contact the CRs, and the CRs where they contact the crank spider arms)

- a dirty chain, inadequately lubed chain, stiff link in a chain or a burr on one of the "break off" special links used to assemble the chain

- front derailleur clamp (clean and put a light film of grease on the inside of the clamp where it touches the seat tube)

- front derailleur cage hitting crank arm

- the pedals (grease the threads and the shoulders of the axle where it butts against the crank arm, get some wax, silicone etc. on the cleats, check for play in the bearings, squirt some lube into the guts of the pedal machinery if possible)

- shoes/cleats - loose cleat nut rattling around in the shoe sole, shoe/cleat interface, cleat bolts, cleats touching pedals (wax lube, silicone, or furniture polish)

- seat post and saddle (grease the post, seat post clamp, seat post bolts, saddle rails, and add some oil to where the rails go into the saddle body)

- bars and stem (grease the stem where it clamps to steerer or goes into the steerer if quill type, top cap, stem bolts at both ends, h'bar bolt if quill stem, and h'bar where it goes through the stem)

- grease/tighten QRs and where the hub axle contacts the frame

- tighten cassette lock ring, grease cassette hub body and cassette spacers

- grease steerer tube spacers (if threadless)

- replaceable derailleur hangers (remove, clean, grease all parts and threads, reassemble)

- any other bolt (bottle cages, derailleur clamps, derailleur bolts, shift cable casing stops, etc.)

- cables hitting the frame (cable donuts), or shifting in their end ferrules (lube contact points).



Wheels can make noises when pedaling or coasting (check for spoke tension, particularly on the rear non drive side, put a drop of lube where each pair of spokes cross and where each spoke enters the rim and the hub flange, check for loose metal bits or spoke nipples in the body of the rim and cracks in the rim at spoke holes.).



Clicks that happen when you coast can come from:

- computer wheel magnet hitting the pickup (computer pickup reed switch noise cannot be fixed)

- nuts on threaded Presta valve stems (throw the nut away)

- valve stems hitting/moving against the rim

- wheel reflectors wobbling.

- pinned rim joint flexing

- bits of loose metal inside the rim left over from manufacturing

mschwett 

well, i took it to the shop. they claimed they fixed it by "adjusting" the cassette ... looks like they put a different shim in between the 3rd and 4th cogs. very skeptical about this, and while it was quiet for a minute or two, the ticking came back. slightly different, but in all the same situations.

i do think after the feedback here and listening even more closely that it isn't actually coming from the BB area. it just sounds like it is, in part because that's where i'm looking to track when it happens relative to pedaling. the fact that whatever they did to the cassette momentarily changed it is suggestive of something.

there was a post a while back about the 5th cog in 12 speed DA cassettes clicking, will have to go back and see what the resolution of that was. my first one never did it, that's for sure.

FBinNY 

I apologize if I'm late to the party but on the off chance it helps and hasn't been mentioned before.

Have you considered that maybe what you're hearing is the chain hitting the first tooth after the shift gate on your chainring.

The ticking would be most pronounced when riding slightly crossed over with the chain coming a little more to the side.

It would be very easy to confirm or challenge this off the bike, by positioning the left crank to the front and then walking around and seeing which teeth are about to engage on the chainring.

mschwett 

i don’t see anything unusual at all about those teeth, nor is the tick audible when i just slowly turn it past that point. but it does require load to be audible, so i can’t really simulate it on the stand.

here’s a video with the ticking, not quite as loud as before, but still clear over the road and wind noise. going up about a 5% grade here, the shift is maybe from 8 to 9 or 9 to 10.

https://vimeo.com/759368196/e7b74ccbdf

FBinNY 

Please don't shoot the messenger, but the video is useless as a diagnostic tool.

If you want to help those trying to help you post quality closeup photos that show what people are talking about. Since the sound seems synchronized to crank rhythm, start with a photo of the right crank area with the left pedal forward (when you say it clicks).

Also, and I apologize if it's been mentioned, my first step in diagnosing a mysterious crank noise is to swap out both pedals. This is the easiest way to narrow the list of suspects. Overall, the process is like a S. Holmes mystery, wherein suspects are ruled out one at a time until the only one left must be the culprit.

Moe Zhoost

Although your bike is way to new to worry about this, I once had a vexing pedal sync'd click that turned out to be a small micro-crack in the crank arm. What I was hearing was it opening and then snapping shut. It was wonderful to finally figure this out; however it took me a long time to get home after the crank broke climbing a hill. Also took my elbow about a month for the swelling to go down.

More useful to you: If you have a rear rack on this bike, check the mounting bolts. A loose rack will sway in time with your pedaling and could cause the noise.

macstuff 

I had a similar ticking that went away after 10-15 minutes. It only showed up at 10 o'clock on the left pedal downstroke when applying pressures over a certain level.
turned out there was one bearing ball missing on the left side.
The balls would trade positions and smack together until the grease heated up.
This of course was not on a cartridge BB.
Also had a squeak in a BB once that went away after 20 min. Of riding. Turned out to be a crack in brazing at the BB shell.

The timing of the incident could be a key. After things warm up metals expand and viscosity changes.

blacknbluebikes 

press-fit bb, or bb-right? mine does that. needs 'green loctite' about every other year. only ticks under load, same crank-arm position every rotation regardless of gearing.

mschwett 

it's a threaded bsa bottom bracket.

summary :

1. consistent ticking which sounded like it was from BB/pedal/crank area, nothing making visible contact. every ride, especially under load, left pedal at approx 10 o clock
2. shop claimed the chain was "contacting the third cog" so they "adjusted it out" which to me looks like a larger spacer between the third and fourth cog. this seems silly, it happened in every gear, synced to pedal rotation, not cassette, but hey you never know i guess.
3. it was quiet for about 5 minutes then came back, with a slightly different sound.
4. cleaned and lubed the chain. went for two more rides. the noise is gone now.
5. i assume it's going to come back.

pedals are actually a possibility, they're speedplay nanos and after many thousands of miles on the wahoo era speedplays, the left one now has a tiny bit of lateral movement. i understand wahoo will replace.

thanks again to all who have contributed suggestions. i remain mystified but that's not hard to do.

mschwett 

so, it's back, approx 2,000 miles later. bike now has about 5,600 miles. new chain and pedals (replaced under warranty due to slight lateral movement) since the noise went away. washed the bike a few days ago and the first ride after washing, i was out of the saddle semi-hammering (as much as i ever do lol) and the ticking came back. it has remained since then. consistently when the right foot is at 4 o clock or so, only under a decent load, say 200+ watts. one tick per crank revolution. gear front and rear does not matter, other than needing to have enough resistance to get to a decent load.

i'm pretty convinced this is in the bottom bracket. so many other things have been changed (pedals, chain, cassette) and although i understand sounds can travel funny through frames, it really really sounds like it's coming from the BB.

any suggestions other than just having the shop replace the BB? not going to do that myself, unfortunately.

Joe Remi

This thread is new to me so I went back and read your first post, the thing I see in common then and now is the noise appeared after a cleaning. At any other time I wouldn't have guessed this but it just so happens I cleaned and relubed my chain last week..11-speed Wipperman Connex black & gold, low miles, good stuff. It made noise! I was very surprised and thought maybe I had done something wrong, maybe knocked the quick-link out of place or something. Nope, it's just loud right after a clean and lube, it started settling down a couple days ago but I still hear it more than before. I say ride your bike for a few weeks and see if the noise stops.

mschwett 

definitely triggered by the cleaning at least twice. a little water getting into the BB and then …. ?