mmmdonuts

What color is the bike? Red ones tend to be louder. If it's black just throw it away, it's worn out. If it's any other color keep riding it. The noise will go away as soon as you stop.

merlinextraligh

You can start narrowing some of this down by noting whether the noise stops when you stand, whether it stops when you ride no handed, and whether it only happens on one side if you pedal one legged.

If it stops when you stand then its likely seatpost/ seat related. If it gets worse when you stand it may be the front QR skewer. (In addition to proper tightening, a little grease on the skewer itself doesn't hurt)

If it stops when you ride no handed, it may be from the stem/ handlebar area.

If it only happens on one particular leg, then its likely a pedal or a cleat, but it could also be a loose crank arm or bb.

bretthammy

Hey, wait a minute, your not supposed to post relevant information, you might through off the BF dynamic and KILL US ALL!

simplify

I honestly don't think anyone mentioned this yet, and it's the easiest thing to fix. If your front derailleur isn't properly adjusted (or if you're cross-chaining), the chain rubs against the inside of the front derailleur cage with each pedal stroke. It's easy to check for this. When you hear the noise, stop and check to see if the chain is close to the sides of the FD cage. Normal slight frame flex with pedaling hard will be enough to make it rub, and the noise is as you describe.

FR4NCH1SE

It might be coming from your bottom bracket. I assume your ball bearings are rubbing each other and you either have to replace them or regrease them.

ultraman6970

If the bike frame is made with carbon it would be coming from anywhere. Carbon "broadcast" sound like crazy monkey and it could be coming from anywhere. Thats why i mentioned the skewers as a possible cause (hapened to me)

simplify

No.

simplify

better: Sheldon Brown

Cat4Lifer

That's exactly the cause of the creaking noise I heard for about a week every time I stood up on the pedals. I thought it might be the BB, but that didn't seem very likely--I just had a new BB and cranks installed about 9-months ago. While coasting, I would throw the bike side-to-side and apply as much pressure as I could on the bars and pedals without pedaling to see if I could replicate the same noise, it sort of worked. While not as loud, there was a faint creaking sound that would happen once, so I had a good feeling it wasn't the BB. I finally thought it might be the skewer that wasn't aligned properly. And sure enough, that was the problem.

tj90

No one mentioned to check the frame! I discovered a crack at a weld by a creaking noise that I had on my mtn bike. I know its unlikely, but it doesnt hurt to check!

Im going thru this right now. About 6 months ago, I had clicking every pedal stroke. The bearings in the BB (phil wood sealed) were 4 years old so I replaced. Noise went away and problem resolved. But now about 1200 miles later, same symptom has come back. Instead of using the expensive quality sealed bearings from Japan or US, I opted for VXB bearings probably originating from China. Now I get a click from the the drive side crank is in the 9 oclock position every pedal stroke. I notice that the problem actually diminishes when you really load the drivetrain on a climb or something. I can get the click - although much less pronounced - if I put all my body weight on each pedal. I lubed the pedals and they looked good, checked bolt tension and cannot feel any play in the BB. Clicking continues even with my body off the seat so I know its not the post.

Ill heed the advice above and check the skewers before my ride home tonight. If its still there, Ill further inspect the BB and frame.

Brian Ratliff

Remove the cranks, take out the bottom bracket. Clean off all the threads. Grease all the threads. Reassemble everything. Shouldn't click. No harm doing this first, as you should be doing it regularly anyway.

If it still clicks. Check the handlebar/stem interface. Loosen the faceplate of the stem, rotate the bars down and then back up, tighten everything back up and see if it stops clicking.

Hopefully this does it. These are the parts that click the most on my bikes. If it still clicks, then maybe take it to a bike shop and ask their opinion. Sounds travel up and down the frame of the bike and often aren't in the place where they seem to be coming from.

tj90

Well I have to say that the rear skewer may have been causing the clicking sound! My commute is only 10 miles so Im not ready to say that its solved but that nasty click was completely gone after I opened the skewer and closed it. The clicking has been plaguing me for probably the last 150 miles. I actually think that my skewer was too tight (wife could have never opened it) so I backed off the tension a little bit.

simplify

I doubt that decreasing the tension on that skewer solved anything, but we can always hope. In regard to the noise at the 9:00 position of the drive side crank, did you check to make sure that your front derailleur isn't out too far (when the chain is on the big ring) such that the crank contacts it every rotation? That's a pretty common occurence.

benajah

Had a similar issue, would get a click when the drive side crank was at 90 degrees, only while climbing. I cleaned and lubed everything, it kept up, I later replaced the whole drivetrain because I upgraded and switched the old group to another frame... clicking sound kept up on the frame with the new group, so I was thinking the worst, frames cracked or something...changed shoes and cleats, it still kept up.
Turned out to be worn out speedplay pedal axle.

cia dog

Not sure it this was covered, what about a bent gear tooth or perhaps even a cracked one?

canthidefromme

ride faster so the wind drowns it out

7bmwm3gtr

I remember i thought something was wrong with my bike, but it was only the coins in my saddle bag. But yeah follow what everyone else is saying.

zeo_max

Um....ok so how do you fix it ?

mustang1

Bose noise cancelling headphones.

Ps: while this answer is pathetic and does not help, actually, I have no further comment, and put this madness down to BF. Thanks for posting, have a great day.

benajah

Bikes broke. Get another one

simplify

Like I said, if this is the source of the noise, then either you're cross-chaining (so stop doing that) or your front derailleur isn't adjusted properly (so go to the Park Tool site and do a proper adjustment).

zeo_max

Yeah, it just pis*** me off that I take my bike to the LBS and pay them good money, and when they show me what they did on the workstand it seems to work, but then when I take it to the street the noise is back on and the chain is rubbing.

simplify

I totally understand. Sometimes the adjustment seems fine until the bike is ridden, which is when you'll really know if it's okay or not. If you don't want to make changes yourself, you could take it back and tell them that when the drivetrain is under load, it is still rubbing. They should be willing to make it right. I really recommend doing it yourself though, if you feel up to it. No one will ever care about your bike as much as you do. The more you can do yourself, the better off you'll be.

Of course there are going to be some gear combinations that might always rub, like the big chainring/big cog or small chainring/small cog, which is why you should not use those combinations. That's cross-chaining. I'm sure you knew that, but for anyone who doesn't, I just want to be clear.

shouldberiding

The smoke monster from Lost is coming after you.

coasting 

i'll bet my left nut that the noise is the bottom bracket