Originally Posted by verktyg

Originally Posted by dddd

See post (?).

With SPD pedals, unless they are the cheapest versions (or with very high usage), the problem is typically the long, threaded "nut" that secures the barrel/race of the spindle cartridge solidly inside of the pedal body.
The external spline (if plastic) or the external hex (if aluminum) should first be checked for tightness.

Sometimes when the nut has been loose for a while, the contact surfaces in the pedal body may have worn to the point where the nut only bottoms out without securing the cartridge barrel/race solidly in the pedal body, but there is a fix for that.
With the spindle cartridge removed from the pedal, a few swipes with a file on the snout on the pedal body will allow the nut to tighten in further towards the barrel/race inside of the pedal body, thus allowing full tightening tension to bottom on the race instead of on the pedal body.
And with the spindle cartridge out, the bearing adjustment can be checked and corrected at the same time if needed.

The cheap SPD pedals with the plastic splined nut are somewhat notorious for their tendency to having the bearings (and/or the inside of the pedal body) wear and become loose, so periodic bearing readjustment and/or filing of the body will be necessary. They work well enough with the bearings somewhat loose, so most folks won't even notice that the bearings have excess play until the rubber seal is getting squashed and possibly severed/dislodged by excess axle movement.
It's on these cheaper SPD's that diagnosing where the looseness is coming from can take an extra step or two after a first attempt is made of just tightening the external retention nut. The cheap SPD-R road pedals, even the "carbon" R550 model, are the same in this regard, having cheap/soft bearings and plastic retention nuts.

Originally Posted by verktyg

My 1983 Colnago Super frankenbike sat idle for over a year. When I took it out for the first ride I noticed a click and a creak that hadn't been there before.

I checked all of the usual suspects: cranks, BB, pedals, wheels, spokes, saddle, seatpost, stem, bars and so on. Switching wheels, I discovered that the click was coming from the freewheel. It was a standard width 6 speed Suntour New Winner in good condition.

It only clicked on the 4th and 5th largest cogs right after coasting. That was easy to fix, I removed several of the shims under the outer bearing lockring and that tightened it enough to eliminate the clicking.

The creak was still a mystery. I pulled the cranks and checked the Phil BB. I had used an old Phil Wood BB that had been on a number of bikes since the 70's.

The problem was the new stainless steel rings that I got from Phil had a slightly smaller ID than the original rings that went with this BB.

They didn't seat all the way on when I originally tightened them with a torque wrench. I figure that over a years time the mounting pressure caused any burr or whatever to give way and the rings seated properly on the cartridge shoulders but now they were loose enough to creak. I reinstalled the cartridge and re-torqued the rings. Problem solved.

I found the source of an annoying click on another bike. Turned out to be a cracked Campy Record rear axle cone. The crack wasn't noticeable to the naked eye but when the locknuts were tightened the pressure caused it to spread. A mini pothole had formed in the ball track from wear on both sides of the crack. It would click under load with each rotation of the wheel.

Replaced the cone, problem solved.





verktyg