Clicking crank - safe to ride?
 

Hey folks, I'll keep this short, as it's simple.

When I pedal with my left foot, there's a clicking noise. Came home turned the bike upside down, pressed down on the left pedal - click, which came from the crank. I get the feeling something's not quite right - so I'll take it to the LBS for repair (as I have neither the tools, knowledge, or patience to fix it).

I've got one day's commute left though - is it safe to ride if the BB's are on their way out? Will it seize, collapse, shred, do more damage than I can pay for if I do another 26 miles on it? I've already done 40 with it clicking away...

Any advice etc on this would be appreciated.

John.

The click may or may not be coming from where you first think it's coming from. Could be the bottom bracket needs lubricating and re-torquing.

You many find the following links helpful in tracking it down ... if you care:

http://sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

AND

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=123

It's usually just a matter of patiently removing, cleaning,
re-lubricating, and re-torquing fasteners until it quiets down.

That said, I'm guessing you're safe riding it one more day. I'd just avoid 'hammering ...' (putting all your strength into your pedal stroke) ... just in case ;)

Yeah, could be chainring bolts loose or the pedal needs to be lubed/tightened.

Thanks folks, I appreciate your patience -as I'm assuming this is a question (or at least a subject matter) that's covered very often. I'll let you know what the LBS says.

Ta.

John

Let us know what they said...this happened to me, and it turned out the crank was cracked but you could only see the crack from the inside (after removing it). I SWORE it was the bottom bracket, but as stated above it can be hard to identify the source of creaks and clicks.

Let us know what they said...this happened to me, and it turned out the crank was cracked but you could only see the crack from the inside (after removing it). I SWORE it was the bottom bracket, but as stated above it can be hard to identify the source of creaks and clicks.