bottom bracket tick... tick... tick...

Put on some different pedals and see if it does it then.

Try the pedals idea and see if that helps. I noticed that clicking also on the driveside of the BB, and it turns out that the cups weren't properly tightened. Maybe try to bring it to another shop and ask them to make sure the cups are tightened to the proper torque and see if that helps. Perhaps the mechanic at the LBS you're going to is a moron.....

thought of that... it's not the pedals. Good suggestion though, thanks.

If it's not the bb cups, crank bolts, or pedals start looking elsewhere. Sounds get transmitted through frames, especially big tubed aluminum ones. The next place I would look is the headset.

badkarma said:

Perhaps the mechanic at the LBS you're going to is a moron.....

The LBS I go to is pretty good, but this guy must've been new because I'd never seen him before...

astroluc said:

thought of that... it's not the pedals. Good suggestion though, thanks.

How about spokes? I mounted Tufo Tubular/clinchers on my bike and they can run a much higher psi than the pro race that were previosly on the bike. When I use my rollers I get a tick..tick....tick..tick. On the road, no tick.

astroluc said:

so, as the title reads, I have this annoying tick coming from the sprocket side of my bottom bracket. It occurs on the down-pedal and more-so under load. I brought it to my LBS and they checked it and greased it up; they said "no prob... just needed to be tightened and lubed"

...get back on the bike and... tick... tick... tick... "dammit"

I was originally scared that it may be bearings, though this is my new ride (05 Cannondale R700), the visit to the LBS asuaged that concern... until I heard it again.

Any thoughts?? Oh, and I am going to bring it back to the shop... I just want some thoughts/ input from those more knowledgable than I in regards to bicycle mechanics. Thanks!

Well, it is not unheard of to have a bottom bracket go bad. I had a very similar problem a few years ago. I went though the list of possible ticking sources. Took of crank arms, lubed and reinstalled. Used a quill stem, so removed, lubed reinstalled. Took off pedals, cleaned lubed and reinstalled. Checked spokes. Looked at saddle rails. Made sure that cable housings were not clicking against each other. I kink of felt that the clicking was coming from the bottom bracket because it would only happen when I stood and cranked hard and only on the right side. I took it to my LBS because I was out of ideas and asked him to pull and look at the bottom bracket. He told me that 9 out of 10 people think that noise such as clicking is coming from the bottom bracket but it usually is not. I told him that I was very familiar with my bike and sensitive to where sounds are coming from. It's a titanium frame Merlin. So, he agrees to pull the bottom bracket for me. Well, he said, what a piece of [censored] that bottom bracket was! You had a bad bearing. A new unit solved the noise.

I just installed a Campy bottom bracket on the bike and used Ti prep on all threaded areas. I also removed the cups from the sealed bearings, and painted the area with teflon goop. Nice and quiet.

If you have gone through all other areas of possible noise, pull the bottom bracket and clean up the threads and reinstall it. Actually, this is a good annual maintenece proceedure that you should do anyway. Inspect that bottom bracket carefully while you have it out. If you have to replace it, it's not all that expensive, depending on what you are using.

astroluc said:

so, as the title reads, I have this annoying tick coming from the sprocket side of my bottom bracket. It occurs on the down-pedal and more-so under load. I brought it to my LBS and they checked it and greased it up; they said "no prob... just needed to be tightened and lubed"

...get back on the bike and... tick... tick... tick... "dammit"

I was originally scared that it may be bearings, though this is my new ride (05 Cannondale R700), the visit to the LBS asuaged that concern... until I heard it again.

Any thoughts?? Oh, and I am going to bring it back to the shop... I just want some thoughts/ input from those more knowledgable than I in regards to bicycle mechanics. Thanks!

I have the exact same problem and I'm willing to bet the world that it's my bottom bracket. Having said that I need to have my lbs take a good look at it. Let us know what the problem was...

One place you should check is the seat post. I had a clicking noise that I was sure it was the BB, but cleaned the seat post, applied a little grease, and the ticking was gone....not saying this will cure your problem, but did not see this posted as a maybe problem....Good Luck

i am about to install a campy bb and the teflon goop sounds well and good, what is it specificaly you are using (in the way of teflon goop?) please.

Fox Farm said:

.

I just installed a Campy bottom bracket on the bike and used Ti prep on all threaded areas. I also removed the cups from the sealed bearings, and painted the area with teflon goop. Nice and quiet.

.

In regards to BB lube, whatever the LBS used to assemble/tune-up the bike is what is in the BB. I will ask when I go in to drop off the bike.

Thanks for all the suggestions; I will check some othe rthings it might be, but I am nearly certain (after exhaustive trouble shooting 😕 ) the ticking is the BB...

I'll post up what it winds up being when I find out.

I am having the same problem at the moment as well, I have been told by others it may be the wheels or the brakes but it always happens at the same spot on each pedal stroke, would it be the pedals, the cranks or the bottom bracket?

Olsilverback said:

I am having the same problem at the moment as well, I have been told by others it may be the wheels or the brakes but it always happens at the same spot on each pedal stroke, would it be the pedals, the cranks or the bottom bracket?

what bike/components do you have?

Mine is currently in the shop... so we will find out what is up in mere days.

lyotard said:

i am about to install a campy bb and the teflon goop sounds well and good, what is it specificaly you are using (in the way of teflon goop?) please.

Yes, the teflon in plumbers pipe thread with teflon. It is available at any hardware or Home Depot type of store. You only need a small tube since you will only use a finger tip full. I used this at the recommendation of a Campy specific bike mechanic on line. I removed the aluminum cups on my bottom bracket (they easily slide off) and then smeared the white teflon plumbers paste-goop onto the outside of the sealed bearing housings. I then slipped the cup-housings back on, painted the threads of the bottom bracket with Ti Prep anti seeze compound and installed. 1200 miles later and it is very quiet on the bottom bracket front.

I am not putting this stuff on the ends of the bottom bracket axel where it meats the crank arms but rather on the bearing housing that fits inside the aluminum shell-cups.

Fox Farm said:

Yes, the teflon in plumbers pipe thread with teflon. It is available at any hardware or Home Depot type of store. You only need a small tube since you will only use a finger tip full. I used this at the recommendation of a Campy specific bike mechanic on line. I removed the aluminum cups on my bottom bracket (they easily slide off) and then smeared the white teflon plumbers paste-goop onto the outside of the sealed bearing housings. I then slipped the cup-housings back on, painted the threads of the bottom bracket with Ti Prep anti seeze compound and installed. 1200 miles later and it is very quiet on the bottom bracket front.

I am not putting this stuff on the ends of the bottom bracket axel where it meats the crank arms but rather on the bearing housing that fits inside the aluminum shell-cups.

Boy, sure can't spell tonight!

My bike set up is full Shimano 105 but at the moment I am feeling like a real idiot after sending my bike in for a full service to hopefully find the cause of the ticking but it wasnt until I happened to ride the bike without my cycling shoes on and there was no clicking. It was a loose washer in the sole of my shoes where the cleats are attatched. All the worry and all I needed to do was put a little bit of silicon in there to stop the washer. Feel really stupid.:o

My road bike has the same BB yours does....the Truvativ Gigapipe. There is a "known" issue with these BBs having some bearing problems....even my manufacturer fessed up to it. It's not a safety issue so I am waiting until some down time to get it replaced under warranty. But it is quite annoying.

I don't know if this holds true with the new aluminum frames (I only ride steel now 😎 ) but I had a couple of older aluminum frames that I had the same problem with. Up until recently I had a newer Cannondale CAAD 5 frame that I did not have this problem with.

Anyway what I was told at the time was that BB shells (especially aluminum ones) can become slightly deformed (sort of egg shaped) and then they start clicking like mad. What I was told to do (and what I did do) was remove the BB, clean and degrease the threads on both the BB and the shell thoroughly, then apply blue (non-permanent) Loctite to the threads and reinstall the BB. Once I did that I never had any clicking again.

sperky said:

My road bike has the same BB yours does....the Truvativ Gigapipe. There is a "known" issue with these BBs having some bearing problems....even my manufacturer fessed up to it. It's not a safety issue so I am waiting until some down time to get it replaced under warranty. But it is quite annoying.

good to know... thank you.