Clicky crank?

[centurionomega]

Hey all. I have been putting up with a click coming from the bottom bracket/crank area for a few months now. I have removed the bottom bracket and thoroughly greased the threads, greased the square taper spindle, put on a new chain, checked the tightness of the chainrings. It seems that each of these fixes worked for a while, but then the click comes back. The crankset/bottom bracket combo is only about 2 years old with approximately 2,000 miles on them, and this is on my commuter that I really don't pound on very much.
The frame is about 24 years old, steel, and nothing spectacular. What I was wondering before I buy new cranks etc., is it possible that the bottom bracket shell is somehow ovalized causing the click? Has anybody ever experienced something like a messed up bottom bracket shell? It's no big deal, but I just like to hear the whir of the breeze and chain instead of a click at every pedal stroke.

 

[threaded]

Odd noises often seem to come from the bottom bracket, yet rarely is that the source. As it is every pedal cycle suggest you have a look at the seat or the pedal. For instance: whenever you have the bike over to play with the bottom bracket area, it could be pushing the seat into a different position, then in riding it eventually moves back.

There again last time I ignored a click from the bottom bracket the blessed crank axle broke and I found myself dragging crank arm and front chain ring along the road trying to stop and not get everything all tangled up in the rear wheel.

 

[oldbobcat]

The crankset/bottom bracket combo is only about 2 years old with approximately 2,000 miles on them, and this is on my commuter that I really don't pound on very much.
The frame is about 24 years old, steel, and nothing spectacular. What I was wondering before I buy new cranks etc., is it possible that the bottom bracket shell is somehow ovalized causing the click? Has anybody ever experienced something like a messed up bottom bracket shell? It's no big deal, but I just like to hear the whir of the breeze and chain instead of a click at every pedal stroke.

If you're not using a cartridge bottom bracket, the problem could stem from an unfaced bottom bracket shell. The faces (where the right-hand cup and the left-hand lock ring seat) need to be perfectly square to the threads or the cups won't line up right with the axle. Facing involves grinding off a bit of BB shell to make it all line up. 24 years ago, most shops were ignorant about doing this.

Or you could put in a cartridge bottom bracket.

 

[garage sale GT]

If you had an older frame without a cartridge BB, there could be another issue. Very simply, your crank could have taken a ****. It happens to cartridge bb's too, but the chances of poor adjustment or grit damage is greater with a cup-and-cone bottom bracket, even if you disassembled and reassembled it yourself, because even experts make mistakes.

I bought a barely used '84 Schwinn about a year ago and couldn't have put anything like 2000 miles on it, but the crank cone became pitted on the RH side.

You would probably feel it, however, every time the crank was in a certain position.

 

[paulmurphy]

I also had a similar problem, which persisted despite the LSB cleaning, then rebuilding, then finally replacing the bottom bracket bearings (Dura-ace). But the problem had to be in the bottom bracket, right? One loud click per revolution of the crank. Wrong! Because finally, in frustration I took a can of Teflon lube and sprayed the pedals, both the release mechanism and the surfaces that interface with the cleats, and sprayed the cleats on the shoes too. And this has fixed the click. I now wish I had been more methodical and lubed one location at a time to pin-point the location of the problem. And it’s not an intuitive fix, because one would expect a lube problem to result in a squeak or creak or rubbing kind of noise, and not this loud mechanical click or snapping sound. But it worked for me. Hope this helps.

 

[capwater]

Pedals, cranks, bb, rings ... those are the interfaces involved. Remove, lube and re-install is usually the proper approach.

 

[dhk2]

Pedals, cranks, bb, rings ... those are the interfaces involved. Remove, lube and re-install is usually the proper approach.

+1. I seem to get creaking noise from the crankarms under heavy load about once a season (4-5000 miles). It's an ISIS Ti spindle with FSA Team Carbon cranks.

Have found the fix is to pull the crankarms and regrease the splines. The grease just seems to work out of the spline joint over a period of time. The builder used Ti anti-sieze (sticky copper stuff) when the bike was first built but that didn't last either.

Another "strange place" for creaking noises is the screw holding together two-piece dropouts (if you've got that design). I chased a one-per-revolution clicking noise for a whole season before isolating it to the left rear dropout. The small flathead steel screw holding the alloy stay ends together had slight rust under it, despite appearing to be well-sealed under black paint.

Fix was to clean off the paint, loosen the screw, clean off the rust under the head with WD40 and steelwool and grease. Took 10 minutes total, after spending a few hours flexing the frame to finally find the source.