irritating click from chainset area

[mercalia]

I have an irritating click coming from the chainset area. I have swaped out the bb, the pedals, tightened every thing ( pedals to cranks, cranks to bb, bb to frame, rings to cranks ) I cann't duplicate the clicking statically by pressure on the pedals. The clicking is not all the time. I have changed the chain and cassette as there was some wear and slop on the rings, but the chain was still well within limits ( about 1/32). I wonder whether it could be chain on rings catching some where( gear changing is fine), the rings are not that worn ( I think) but the middle one is heavilly profiled RSX , but the clicking not restricted to that one. Any ideas?

[Paulatic]

Shoe lace?

[Mick F]

I have an irritating click coming from the chainset area.

When you hear it, is it at pedal-rate, chain-rate, or wheel-rate?

Don't forget that a noise can seem to come from some particular place, but may be from somewhere completely different and unexpected.
I had an annoying clicky creak that seemed to come from a pedal as it was there at pedal-rate. Every time I tried to duplicate the noise, it would disappear.

I eventually found that it was the saddle clamp.

[Brucey]

IME this kind of thing is often a dry joint somewhere. Tightening the bolts etc won't work once a click or a creak starts...

One at a time if necessary, remove the pedals and the chainring bolts, and refit them with lots of copper ease. If you test ride after each one, you will find what caused it.

cheers

[Phileas]

I once had a click (with each crank rotation but never when out of saddle) which sounded like it came from the BB area but it turned out to be from the joint in a two piece seat post.

[mercalia]

thanks for all these ideas. am in the process of trying them out. thanks again. it is per crank rotation but not all the time. I have been slowly removing other clicks and creaks eg from handle bars interfaces so try locate the one in question

[Mistik-ka]

You think you've got troubles? Imagine a click that appears in the middle of a long tour on a heavily loaded tandem bicycle with panniers front and rear, a handlebar bag, and S&S couplings (4)! (I finally found it came from one of the couplings, but it was only corrected by loosening all four couplings and re-tightening them in rotation by small degrees. And of course I didn't get it sorted until after the tour. )

I hope you get it sorted quicker than I did.

[hamster]

My experience is that the sound can transmit through the frame and locations are misleading. Key questions:
1 In the saddle only or both (eliminates saddle and seatpost)
2 Tops, levers or drops - try riding in each
3 Heavy or light loads (or both)
4 Check things like front mech cable end clipping heels or cranks

My repetitive click per crank rotation turned out to be a minute bit of corrosion on the axle in the rear dropout. Removal of the wheel and a quick wipe of the dropout resulted in s i l e n c e for the first time in 1500 miles.

[RickH]

I have had a click per crank rotation a few times.

Once was dry pedal threads that still clicked even when tightened, cured on the road on tour with a drop of oil & then greased on return home.

Another has been the front mech cable striking the crank - that usually only happens with the mech in some positions as the cable end moves position. That is easier to spot on black cranks as the mark from the cable is more obvious.

I've also found that square taper cranks not quite tight enough can do it to & again can be intermittent depending on your pedalling style at any given moment, but you say you've tightened them.

Rick.

[CREPELLO]

You can use WD40/GT85 to troubleshoot. In turn, undo each bolt or component a turn or so, spray the lube at it and retighten. Eventually you will find the culprit and silence will be achieved. Even just that bit of lube can be enough to maintain the slience (esp if it's got teflon in it), but you may wish to add grease.

[mercalia]

well I took the chainset apart, cleaned all the surfaces and removed any abnormal build up of crud and greased everything very very much in copper grease and put back together and the creak seems to have gone. Still dont know which part was the culprit but just glad it has. thanks for all the ideas. amazing how good silence sounds.