Ticking? Odd. Is this something that happens on every crank? Does
this happen even when you *don't* crank?
When the grease on the front crank is getting a little low, I find
that it will make a "ticking" noise with each moderately strong crank
of the pedals. If I pedal really lightly then it won't tick.
The "spin the pedals backwards" trick has worked pretty well for me so
far. But I did have to add grease again yesterday.