Click, click, click.... Bottom Bracket?

[Aggie_Ama]

We went to the LBS today and my chain is not ready to be replaced. According to the wrench it shows signs that I am a "soft-pedaler". He tightened up the tension on the rear deraileaur and took it for a test ride. The clicking was gone, but I may need to check my shoes. I am going to try to test ride it tomorrow to investigate.

[Aggie_Ama]

Darn it wasn't that!! I am going to take the bike and shoes in to see if it is the pedals. If not it is only $20 to service the bottom bracket.

[Aggie_Ama]

I took my bike in today and the guy cleaned my cleats and pedals for me. I was too tired to ride, but hoping it does the trick. Best of all- no charge again. I love my LBS!

[OakLeaf]

Or....

I had a click in my left pedal (I thought) on my old road bike that I just could not figure out. Checked the pedal bearings, the bottom bracket bearings, looked for a rock stuck in the shoe's cleat mounting channels, nothing.

Then I got a new bike this spring, new pedals, new shoes and everything and... the click was still there.

It's my knee

No pain, no perceptible shift in the joint, just the noise. What mechanics refer to as a "non-harmful noise."

[Aggie_Ama]

Well it wasn't the pedals and it wasn't the bottom bracket. They serviced the bottom bracket and I still click. It is maddening!!! I think I am going to ask them to put a new chain on it and then just live with it. I am going crazy!!!

[maillotpois]

Check and lube your saddle rails - not the seat post, but the rails where the saddle attaches to the post.

I had the exact same thing on my bike: click when left foot down in pedalstroke. Sounded like the whole transmission was falling off. Through trial and error in the wee dark hours of the morning of a double century I diagnosed it as being the saddle rails. (Easy diagnosis: Pedal while standing out of the saddle on a flat road with resistance on the chain. That'll tell you if this is it.)

LOL about the knee click!

[redrhodie]

I also had a mystery click when I first got my bike. It wasn't repetative with every pedal stroke. It was just one or two clicks after I'd start pedalling, after coasting or braking.

Turns out one of the pawls, which is a part inside the hub, was in backwards. This mistake was made at the Shimano factory, and I guess it's highly unusual that it would be put in wrong. Luckily, my lbs guy found it in one visit. It would have been very easy to miss.

If you have a weird click that the mechanics can't find, have them look inside your hub. It could be a pawl.

[Aggie_Ama]

After riding today and listening very closely, I am sure it is still in the pedal. If I pull up against the top of my shoe it stops but I can't pedal like that! I am going to take it to the LBS and see if we can lube up the pedals.

[GLC1968]

Amanda - Do you have an extra pair of pedals? Or can you borrow your H's? Or maybe an old pair you can borrow briefly from your LBS? That's partly how I diagnosed mine...I put on a different pair and the sound went away. Process of elimination...done at home!

[Triskeliongirl]

If its in the pedals, why not lube them yourself. Just part of routine maintenance. Its so easy, will take you less time than a trip to the LBS!

[Aggie_Ama]

GLC- DH rides Look Keos as well, maybe I can have him swap them out before I take it in.

I will have to take it because I need someone to show me how since I think it is not in the spindle and I am a visual learner. Plus the LBS is walking distance from my work and I don't do anything on my lunch break anyway. I would rather take it and have them give me a little lesson in pedal maintenance than sit reading the paper.

[OakLeaf]

because I'm going to have to pull my pedals off for transport pretty soon, and since you're also riding the Keos which don't use a 15mm pedal wrench?

The right hand pedal is right hand threaded and the left pedal is left (reverse) threaded, correct? But since I'm unscrewing the axle from the medial side, it's backwards again, so: allen socket in the right pedal loosens clockwise; allen socket in the left pedal loosens counterclockwise.

Have I got this right? Because they're in so tight I'm going to have to use the impact wrench on them and I don't want to get it backwards! I think the LBS must've put Loc-Tite on them.

[Beane]

My dh once had this weird creaking from his bike that he just could not diagnose. It turned out it was his seatpost... he finally clicked to the fact that the creaking went away when he stood up to pedal.

what did he do to fix it? i have had a creaking which I thought was the seat (since i'd driven it into the garage once, having forgotten it was on the roof rack --whoops!), but i switched seats and it persists.