Causes for bike noises

[Clark Fitzgerald]

Sheldon Brown has a great article on Creaks, Clicks, & Clunks.

Yesterday I fixed an annoying ticking noise that happened on most crank rotations, but only in warm weather. The culprit turned out to be the pedals, which I forgot to grease when I installed new pedals on new cranks. Another bike I had (not a Rivendell) had a bad creaking noise that turned out to be from the square taper bottom bracket that was installed at the factory without grease.

I'm curious- what annoying noises have others fixed on their bikes? What caused it?

[Patrick Moore]

1.Rhythmic creaking sound while standing to pedal; swore it was from the bottom bracket. Handlebar/clamp interface. Grease fixed it.

2. Clicking sound at each pedal revolution, seated. Shoelace aiglet. Shortening lace fixed it.

3. Front salmon Kool Stop pads squealed under hard braking when temps dipped below 60*F. Cleaned rim, sanded pads; no solution. Changed rims (for other reasons); fixed it.

4. Another clicking at each crank revolution. Swore it was the bb, but also checked chain and seatpost and handlebar clamp. Continued. It was the bearing on the right Dura Ace 7410 pedal (best pedal ever made, amen. Thank you, Ryan.) Regreased it; fixed problem.

5. Very slight "whuff-whuff-whuff" from the front disc rotor. Removed wheel, put it back in, tightened skewer; fixed it.

6. BB7 pads got really wet and thereafter squealed far, far louder than any old Mafac centerpull; one feared that neighbors would call the police, and I'm only half kidding. Got a good deal on HyRds -- same rotors -- installed these for reasons other than the squeal, but anyway, that fixed the problem.

Envoi: Long ago I owned a 1984 VW Passat ("Quantum") wagon that, at a certain point, in cooler weather, would honk the horn without human intervention when turning right; startled passersby and embarrassed me. Mere time fixed it.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Zed Martinez]

The weirdest and hardest to isolate ticking I ever fixed was the clamp sleeve on a pair of Bosco bars. Even with a clean, tight stem interface, there'd be a tick tick tick as I weighted and unweighted the bars. Only solved that one by dribbling a little blue Loctite around the sleeve's ends and pulsing it into the gap between the sleeve and the bar with an air compressor. Made a mess, but that bar was quiet forever after.

[Garth]

Oh boy .... this is very slippery slope, but it's Fun Friday so what the hey. It seems to me such noises are a form of self-play .... a who-dunnit, a peek-a-boo-where-are-you game.   You know ... like a living Scoobie Doo Where Are You  Play !  Where no matter what. all is forever well, the "problem" was "solved" even before it began, and we simply "tune in" or in this case "tune out ourselves" for an instant of playtime, make-believe. The whole sh'bang .... done "on the instant" ....present tense, the only tense that exists .... my gosh .. it's utter brilliance .... Pure Intelligence .

I kid you not ...... (    (   (  teeheehee  )   )    )

On Friday, May 1, 2020 at 4:31:12 PM UTC-4, Clark Fitzgerald wrote:

[tuolumne bikes]

Creaks, usually on the downward pedal stroke of my stronger right leg: usually the saddle (stand up to test), worst case (twice now) cracked drop out. It's odd, but when you hear a noise timed to pedal cadence, the ear points to the pedals, crank, bb regardless of where it's actually coming from. I think it's uncertain enough that the bias from the brain will make it seem to come from the crank area.

[aeroperf]

Had a once-per-pedal-revolution click that went away for a few days every time I washed the bike.

I swapped chains, pulled off the cranks, checked the bottom bracket and shell, swapped seats…
It turned out to be a bad pedal.  I never did find out what that had to do with washing the bike.

[Fryfam]

Creaky Campy Record cranks... until I learned that square taper campy bb spindles prefer dry assembly (or with the smallest amount of grease) and a recommended torque of 70nm!!! Haven't had any creaky issues since (500 miles + and still going strong)

On Friday, May 1, 2020 at 1:31:12 PM UTC-7, Clark Fitzgerald wrote:

[Fryfam]

70nm for the bb cups, that is. More like 32nm (with grease) for the crank bolts. A good lesson in following manuf torque and process recs when conflicting info exists online.

[Mark Roland]

Water may have got in there and temporarily acted as a lubricant. Back in the days when I wore clipless Look/Shimano road cleats, the mid-ride temporary fix for a squeaky cleat was to squirt some water at it from the water bottle.

[Scott McLain]

I had a new Mountain Bike that had a weird click and it was the back wheel was loose on the bearings.  

I have taken my whole drive train apart to find to chase a creak that turned out to be the pedal.  Pedals are now the first place I look. 

I have heard of seat posts creaking.

I can't stand creaks or if my friends have creaks and squeaks.  Drives me nuts.  

[Brady Smith]

The story of my life lately:

1. Click on some pedal strokes but not all—insufficiently greased pedal.

2. Click on hard efforts only—dirty chain. Clean and lube and it goes away.

3. Creaking sound started when pedaling uphill on bailout gear with 40 pounds of child and gear but progresses to unloaded bike all the time. Replaced hardware store bolt with proper seat binder bolt, bike is blissfully quiet.

4. On another bike, creaking sound on hard efforts, then moderate efforts, then all the time. Cleaning doesn’t help. Took off pedals and greased, tightened crank bolts, seatpost, etc, it continues. Finally I notice that it stops out of saddle, and that nose bolt on B17 is broken. Awaiting replacement (thanks to this group!), and then hopefully silence will return.

5. In the winter, the Cambium saddle on my commuter creaks and creaks and creaks, especially below freezing. I’ve never figured out a solution to this, so I just deal with it.