I've been riding a cheap bikesdirect single-speed bike regularly for 2-3 months with no real problems. Today I was going up a moderate hill and my cranks/bb (I think it was one of these) made this crazy noise over and over. I was standing up and putting a lot pressure on the cranks b/c I was going up the hill. It sounded and felt like a bike that was slipping out gear, except that I have no gears. The noise/clicking/event happened 3-4 times while I was going up the hill. I got off and spun the crank w/ my hand. No noise. Walked the bike to the top of the hill and rode the rest of the way home. I'm assuming it was the added pressure I put on that area of the bike that caused this.

I haven't fully inspected yet, but I will tonight. Do you guys think that the cranks are loose or that something f'd up is going on? I'm no bike mechanic expert, but I'm competent with tools and the like. Yes, I put the bike together w/o LBS support, and I haven't had a pro tuneup on the bike except for having the wheels trued when I first got it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

My bars creak when I'm grinding up a hill. Might just be some flex.

If you're riding a windsor the hour it is notorious for having an annoying noise coming from the bottom bracket, it will only get worse over time.

Mine too, Nitto rb21. It's the only thing I don't like about them.

And the stem/bars as well.

How often have you tightened your crank bolts / checked your chain tension?

If the OP has an BB with a square taper axle, it will take up to a dozen re-tightenings of the crank bolts after rides before the new crank is fully bedded on the axle flats. I built up my FG last fall, and I still have to periodically tighten the crank bolts. Eventually it will bed in and the bolts will stay tight.

I have not done this at all yet, but will be sure to do so. Is eyeballing the chain the best way to check its tension? Am I looking to see if has become too tight or too loose? Thanks for the responses everyone.

Sounds like a loose BB.....

Use your lockring tool to tighten it.

The same exact thing happened to me on my peugeot (FAIL french threads that are designed in such a way that they loosen themselves with peddling).

Way to make stuff up. The only reason those bolts come loose is because of inadequate torque.

Thanks for educating me. I just love to make things up.

First thing I'd do is re-torque everything to specs. Park Tools' site has all the torque specs you'll ever need. Invest in a torque wrench --- it'll save you lots of heartache.

Also, grease everything. In general, where metal touches metal, apply grease. Again, refer to Park Tools' site for further guidance. Or Sheldon Brown, or the manufacturer's installation instructions for whatever part is in question.

could be a loose fixed cup on the BB

For your chainline, hold the wheel still and move the pedals forward / backward. There should not be much play. If you can move the pedals more than a tiny bit (how tiny is up to you, but not very much), you need to loosen the axle nuts and pull your wheel back and tighten the chain a little bit.

Regarding your cranks, to quote bikesdirect.com - NOTE: PLEASE TIGHTEN YOUR LOCKRINGS, CRANKS, PEDALS ETC BEFORE AND AFTER EVERY RIDE

It's the rear triangle flexing which twists the chain line making the chain try to jump off of the chainring or the cog. This happens with larger flexy frames when stronger riders put down some torque.

I would guess that the frame is 57cm or larger.

You beat me to it.

Make sure it's a professional quality name brand ratcheting click type. Otherwise you're wasting your money, since it will be wildly inaccurate and get out of calibration easily. After a while a cheap torque wrench will break completely and stop ratcheting. Another consideration is the torque range of the wrench. I have two wrenches: one has a range of 25-250 in-lbs for small screws like stem to handlebar clamp and the other with a 10-100 ft-lbs for larger bolts like crank arm fixing. I get a lot of use out of my torque wrenches, since in addition to 14 bicycles, I also have 4 motorcycles.

Not a fan of ratchet style torque wrenches.



Really like working with the old fashioned kind, especially when working on motorcycles

Or just use common sense when tightening stuff and don't overdo it.

Or under do it...