ThatFood

Whenever I ride I always feel it in the same place in the pedal rotation, sometimes it goes away, but most of the time its there. I took it to the bike shop and they couldn't figure it out, said there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with it, but its bugging the **** out of me and it makes me paranoid when I ride. Anyone have an idea as to what it might be?

GaryFick|e

I am new to bikes, so I cannot help much but I would recommend giving more info.
Its definitely from the pedal?
Is it only one pedal? What type of pedal is it?
Does it seem to happen at certain times? Hotter weather? Colder weather? or all the time?

ThatFood

Feels like its more the crank? than the pedal. Excuse me if the terminology is wrong, shifting seems to stop it temporarily.

1saxman

Might be a bad bearing in the bottom bracket.

Shimagnolo

Possibilities:
a) Pedal bearing.
b) Bottom bracket bearing.

In my experience, "b" is most likely, especially if it is the outboard-bearing type.

blamp28

Shifting the front or rear? it could be the crank hitting the front der on some revolutions?

GaryFick|e

Ya, thats why I figured its best to be as specific as possible.
Make sure you know exactly where the noise is coming from by either turning it upside down or putting it on a "lift" and making the noise happen and put your ear to different parts to see where its coming from.
It surprises me that a bike shop couldnt locate it?

cycle_maven

These are the toughest problems to fix, if you can't tell just from the "feel" of the bearings (take the chain off and spin the crank by hand- rumbling or crunchiness will be obvious. Do the same with each of the pedals). It could be anything from the crank hitting the der or the chainstay, the BB threads creaking, even the seatpost or seat rails! In fact, I had an annoying tick, tick, tick at each pedal rotation, and after rebuilding and greasing everything on my bike, it ended up being the plastic ferrule on my shoelace ticking against the seat tube!

Shimagnolo

I've had that, and also had a ticking that turned out to be a
plastic buckle on the saddlebag tapping against the saddle rail.

davidad

Try to wiggle the pedal from side to side. If there is movement it needs adjusting. Grab the cranks and push and pull to see if there is any play.

Capecodder

Make sure your crank arms are both tight......

FBinNY 

clicks and creaks that are synchronous to crank rotation are a total nightmare. They can come from almost anywhere. I had one that plagued me for weeks until I finally (purely by accident) found a broken rear axle which turned out to be the cause. It would click as the axle faces shifted against the dropout with the frames rocking motion.

Start with the basics, and work from simplest out to the complicated.

1- remove the pedals and substituting a pair from another bike.
2- set pedals at 9 and 3 and hop, gently back pedal and try again. If it clicks tighten cranks (both sides)
3- with a bit of tension against the chain, wiggle one arm while feeling to see if the other reacts (it shouln't)
4- if it clicks on one chainring only rather than both check that ring, especially the area just about to engage the chain when it clicks
5- make sure all chainring bolts are tight
6- put a drop of brittle nail polish where cups meet the BB shell and go ride hard. If the dot cracks, the entire BB is shifting in the frame, usually caused by over-sized threads on the frame

That covers most of the crank related possibilities, now some of the others.

1- does it click only when sitting? might be the saddle or seatpost or both
2- click more when climbing or sprinting, could be axle movement when the chain tension peaks
3- lean the bike over and while holding it step into the BB and flex it down and sideways. hear the click? could originate as far as the headset.

That's the starters, I'm sure others will add at least 20 other places to check.

Phil_gretz

The OP's comment about shifting having a temporary affect reminds me of something I had on my tourer.

Does the bike have a freewheel versus a freehub/cassette? If so, there may be friction and failure of the internal freewheel mechanism. The outer cogs aren't seating properly on the inner body of the freewheel. The result is an intermittent clicking or clunking as the pedals apply forward force to the chain. Changing the gear ratio changes the clunking slightly as more or less pressure is applied. This noise would come up every 30 miles or so, then would fade away.

Anyhow. I solved it by first injecting a light solvent (WD-40) into the freewheel (removed from the wheel, but you could do it on the wheel, keeping the freewheel level and facing upright.) I spun the freewheel until I could detect no more sense of grinding or grit. Then I began to pour a heavier (30W synthetic) motor oil into the central portion, allowing it to soak into the freewheel). Wearing nitrile gloves, I picked up the freewheel and spun it for a few minutes again, and re-applied motor oil. It ran out from the underside, obviously.

I then wiped it down, re-installed on the wheel, and mounted the wheel. Allowing the bike to stand for a day, and catching the remaining run-off in a cloth, I then wiped it down one more time, lubricated the chain as normal, and rode. The sound disappeared and hasn't come back in ~700 miles.

This may or may not help.

Phil G.

jotaeh

Shifting front or rear? Does it come back after you shift back to the original gear or does the click come back in the "new" gear? I had a click that would come and go depending on which chainring I was in. Turned out to be the "extra" shifter cable. Depending on which chainring, the end would tilt outwards and into the way of the crank.

slyfly

Your pedal bearing are causing the clicking. That is what they do when the bearings are loose. You will get a single click with each rotation. You can feel it in your foot. The bearing are not bad but only loose. It is a common problem and has happened to me on two different types of pedals. They need to be adjusted periodically. You can probably find a youtube on how to adjust the bearings for your pedal type.

I know this is a late post but I wanted to post anyway for future inquiries since this is a very common problem and I wasn't seeing the correct answers on the web forums.

slyfly

daveed

I heard an annoying click from the pedal/crank area a couple years ago. My suggested I check my spokes. Silly, I thought. But I checked, found a very loose one and tightened it. The click went away.

Z953

You've piqued my interest because I just built up my '16 Tarmac with a 5800 groupset. I had to use a Wheels Mfg. BB30 Outboard Angular Contact BB on the crankset. Is the bearing issue that you've mentioned common or is it just something that could possibly happen to my bicycle in the future? Thanks for the insight.