Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
Few things ruin a ride faster than annoying ticking, clicking, creaking or squeaking noises. At first you might barely notice. Then it happens again and again, and soon it’s the only thing you can think about.
Noises frustrate cyclists so much that I’ve been on a mission for some time now to compile a list of noise-makers and solutions for them on my personal bike website. I published the story (photo) around 2000 and since then readers have been sending me their noises and fixes. Every time a new one comes in, I update the document.
Here’s the link in case you have a noise you’re trying to shut up or you have a great noise story to share: https://jimlangley.net/wrench/keepitquiet.html .
You Need to be Sherlock Holmes
The reason noises are on my mind is because of a couple of recent ones that were especially challenging to solve. Both cyclists tried every logical fix yet the solution eluded them. When they finally fixed it, they told their stories to me.
Paul’s Clicking Vintage GT ZR 2.0 Road Bike
Paul shared his tale in a comment to my recent YouTube video on 6 common wheel noises (I told you noises were on my mind). I’ve included that video below in case your wheels are bugging you.
Paul wrote,
“Early this past summer I bought a 2001 GT ZR 2.0 road bike from an individual. He had back issues that had made riding it uncomfortable. The back problems predated his purchasing of the bike new, so it had hung in his storage shed for most of the years that had passed. He told me when I was looking to buy it that he doubted he had even 250 miles on it.
Shortly after I bought it I began to get intermittent clicking sounds during my rides, appearing to occur during the left downward pedal stroke. I removed the bottom bracket, cleaned threads, the shell, lubed and re-assembled, torqued it to the appropriate setting. At first that seemed to resolve the problem. Later in the next ride the clicking came back.
I thought I heard it coming from the front quick release–it’s one of the newer designs with the aluminum cam and plastic washer head. I lubed it, and thought for several miles that I got it. Nope.
I had removed the chain shortly after I bought it for a good cleaning. I didn’t think to add a quick-link, and found the chain had stiff links where I attached it again, as well as one other place that must have been there when I bought the bike. Shifting improved, and for a mile or two the ticking, clicking, creaking disappeared.
I noticed when I torqued the handlebars while honking up a hill the noise was loud and clearly coming from the steering tube and stem area. I serviced the bearings, races, cleaned and lubed the steering tube, stem, and spacer. I even applied retaining fluid to where the stem clamp held onto the handlebars. This had to finally be it, I was sure, because when I honked on the pedals after that, torqued on those bars, no more noise! But still during the ride: click, click, click, creak, and louder yet.
One day, I had the bike cross-wise in front of me, my left hand on the seat, my right on the handlebars. I put my right foot onto the pedal and put all my weight on it. It creaked! But there was nothing more I could do in the bottom bracket and crank–it was perfectly lubed, set, torqued…so I did it again, and again, and then it occurred to me that the noise was further back…and higher up. I took the saddle in both my hands and twisted. I got the loudest click and creak ever. The saddle, I thought!
I removed the saddle, drizzled 3-in-One oil between the rails and the shell sockets. I twisted the saddle and…it still creaked! Argh! How could this be? There was nothing left to look at.
Paul Finds the Problem!
As I brought my ears closer to the saddle while torquing it, I came to realize the sound was not coming from the saddle, but from the seat post, specifically around the pinch bolt clamp. I removed the seat post, cleaned the darkened grease from its length, applied a molybdenum anti-seize paste along the post length that I knew would be inside the seat tube, cinched it down, and twisted the saddle again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. I went for a spin. Nothing. And every subsequent ride since then…nothing. Whisper quiet, every ride.
The front QR, the bottom bracket, the crank arms, the play in the saddle’s rails, the steering tube, the headset, the stem clamp, the stiff chain links: all contributed to some noise during my rides. The loudest protester, though, the ring leaders that strove to lead me to wanting to drink, was the post rubbing against the pinch bolt clamp and moving around inside the seat tube. And it only took me a month and a half to solve this mystery. May you all fare better than I did when it happens to you.”
Thanks for the great write-up and congrats on finding and fixing it, Paul!
Steve’s Chirping Bike
The email thread on this puzzling noise between me and my friend Steve lasted almost two months. Here’s his first message describing the problem in great detail,
“I’m having a problem with my Shimano Alfine 11-speed hub on my commuting bike.
There is a “chirping” sound coming from the rear wheel for about the last 1,000 miles. It’s not a terrible thing, but it is annoying and I’d like to figure it out. So… I’m reaching out to my experts!
These are the properties of this sound:
- It is only heard when I am on the bike and riding, not when it’s up on a stand.
- It occurs once per wheel revolution.
- The sound actually comprises two extremely short chirps; the first is higher in pitch than the second.
- The pitch of the sound is independent of road speed (ie, it does not increase with speed).
- Pedaling or coasting makes no difference.
- Changing gears has no effect, either pedaling or coasting.
- The rear wheel was removed and lack of fender interference verified.
- The sound is unaffected by wet conditions (rain vs. dry).
- The chain was replaced (new wheel position) to no effect.
- Spoke tensions checked; all proper, and wheel runs true.
- The sound occurs independent of brake function. Rear brake cable was disengaged and shoes allowed to hang well out of contact with rim. No change.
- The hub performs normally; oil has been changed twice. Total mileage is approaching 10,000 miles. There is no play in the hub bearings. Hub has never been opened.
Here is the interesting thing: increasing the tire pressure eliminates the sound. When I got home from work today, I checked the tire pressure. It was about 15 PSI below what I normally run, which is 60 PSI (Schwalbe Marathon Plus). I pumped the rear tire to 60 PSI and went for a ride: no sound. I have noticed this change on other occasions.
The simplest explanation would be that the tire has a spot that is touching something on the fender, frame or brakes. Yet I have checked every possible interference and found none. I’d expect a sound caused by this mechanism to be altered by the presence of water, or to have disappeared by wear over the roughly one thousand miles, or altered by changing the position of the wheel with a new chain. Also, I’d expect increased tire pressure to increase the tire’s overall size, making any interference worse, yet the opposite seems to be the case.
I’ve considered other, stranger, possibilities such as a loose spoke or a cracked rim. If the sound comes from inside the hub, it can’t involve the gear assemblies… and how could increasing tire pressure affect the hub? I know that spoke tension varies with inflation pressure.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received and tested. Thanks!”
The Solution
I sent Steve down numerous rabbit holes trying to help him stop the noise. But nothing worked – sorry, buddy!
Steve’s not one to give up though. And he finally discovered what was making the noise on his own. It turned out that it was definitely caused by drops in tire pressure.
And the culprit was a problem with the tire. Steve found the issue when he removed the tires and carefully inspected them. The tires have wire beads (metal is inside the rubber). At one small spot the rubber covering the metal had worn away. And at the “right” tire pressure the exposed metal in the tire came in contact with the metal rim producing the annoying chirping sound!
Bravo, Steve, well done!
My Wheel Noises Video
Here’s my latest YouTube feature I mentioned that shows 6 common wheel noises and how to deal with them – just in case your hoops are sounding off.
If you have an interesting bike noise you found and fixed, please share it in a comment. New noise-makers occur all the time and your fix just might rescue a fellow roadie.
10,158 Daily Rides in a Row
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.
One damp, cool, early Sunday morning more than twenty years ago, I was going out for my usual club ride and decided to ride my older “beater” bike because that is the purpose of beater bikes. Shortly after starting, I heard a strange noise that I thought came from the front of the bike. I continued pedaling all the while looking at the front of the bike, trying simultaneously to identify from where the sound was coming. There were no other vehicles on the street. However, I did suddenly spot something in front of me. It was a large skunk. I yelled; it sprayed. We did avoid colliding, but I and my bike stunk. This, of course, changed the focus of my attention away from the noise. Notwithstanding, I continued on to the ride start. My arrival piqued the olfactory senses of my ridding buddies, who found the whole thing quite funny. The ride proceeded as usual except that there seemed to be a greater determination to keep me at the back of the pack.
I never did find the cause of the bike’s noise, and it never recurred. The lesson learned though was always to watch where one is going and that good bicycle rider friends understand that one can’t let minor things like getting sprayed by a skunk and smelling awful stand in the way of a good bike ride.
Ha, ha, ha, great story Fixieguy!! Thanks for cracking me up!
😉 Jim Langley
I had a clicking that was present only when pedaling hard. After noticing that it disappeared when standing, I traced it to a loose saddle.
3M reusable ear plugs, about $6.00, you shouldn’t hear noises anymore – https://www.amazon.com/3M-Safety-90586-00000T-Reusable-Earplugs/dp/B0000BYEKC/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=3m+reusable+ear+plugs&qid=1634819917&sr=8-9
Exactly, Rick – I included that suggestion in my video actually: https://youtu.be/sA62X1AXN7s?t=41
We’ll have to get some of those for our shop for those customers with sensitive hearing who made the mistake of buying a low-end bike with painted rims w/ rim brakes or disc brakes that are impossible to quiet down! Problem solved!
I found my cure for those funny noises came as I aged and my hearing went into the toilet. I could no longer hear them. But occasionally someone riding beside me would say “what’s that clicking in your bike, sounds like it’s coming from the front wheel.” Finally I decided to fix it and, after I failed, I took the wheel to my LBS and he found a tiny piece of aluminum or plastic that he could barely see but couldn’t get out of the rim.. I decided enough and my friends would just have to live with it.
Great story, Jack. For anyone dealing with something stuck inside a rim, one fix you can try is to drip some glue inside the rim. Then shake the rim around trying to get the stuck piece inside to land in the glue. If you can do that, it’ll get glued in place and stop the noise.
I have found that you can shake out most anything stuck in a rim, but sometimes it takes a lot of time for it to come out. I have gotten out broken nipples, nipple washer, pieces of plastic, dirt and so on.
Jim Langley
My most interesting noise was a tick in the front wheel when applying the brakes. After finally tracking down the spot on the wheel where it was occurring, I notices a nick in the wheel where something had hit it. But, I reasoned, and nick is a depression and shouldn’t create noise. Upon closer inspection though, I noticed the nick had a tiny ridge to it. A couple quick passes with wet 440 grit sandpaper and all was silent again.
Yes, that’s a good one, Gary, usually considered a braking noise since it only happens when braking. But it’s very common and you did the right thing to fix it. Good job.
Jim
Jim your second situation had a red herring description. The author thought there was no increase in noise or change in noise with increase in road speed. This had to be untrue because moving the wheel faster down the road should have increased the pace of the rimclick as well.
Sorry for the bum steer, Dave. I copy/pasted Steve’s email as he wrote it so he may have not yet completely “understood” his chirping noise. Our correspondence changed over the months he tried to figure it out. That was his first email.
Thanks,
Jim
Tandem with DT Swiss hubs had an annoying creak while we applied pressure to the pedals. Our trusted LBS mechanic tried all moving parts: front hub, bottom bracket, chainring bolts, chain, tires, pressure, etc etc. (except one, read on) and could not solve the problem. On a tour a colleague asked how often we service that DT hub. “Service? I don’t know, maybe 20,000 miles ago.” He said one should clean and lube or replace the ratchet plates annually. We quickly disassembled the hub, applied teflon chain lube, the only available on tour, and creak stopped! Later, at home, I discovered the ring nut (the source of another creak) was also badly worn. Thus, I purchased all hub service tools from DT Swiss, and properly serviced the hub, and now do so annually.
That’s a good one, Maven, thank you. Tandems are notoriously tough on hubs. And DT’s – even as durable as they are – definitely need some TLC every now and then. Thankfully they’re pretty easy to service.
Thanks!
Jim Langley
I too have the click noise at the two-o’clock position when pedaling. I tried almost all the same fixes Paul used. I rebuilt my BB multiple times, bought new bearings, swapped cranks, swapped BB spindle, used Loctite on the bearing surfaces, less preload on the BB bearings, more preload on the BB bearings, new seat post, new seat post clamp, new saddle, new pedals, swapped between wheel sets and I even checked shoe cleat interface. Because the noise was always at the same place in the pedal stroke I decided to look at the chainrings. I did see a shift pin that was mounted a little too close to the pocket between two teeth and that the shift pin had a notch worn into it from the chain. I put on a new chainset and the noise went away……….temporarily. Its back now but much more muted than previously. I’m at my wits end and seriously thinking of buying a new frame. Arrrrrrrrr!
Boy, that sounds like a tough one, Kenneth. I hope you find it. Good luck.
Jim
Have had 2 occassionsof a tick sounding like it comes from the crank. Same place in the rotation every time. Both bikes had Zipp wheels. Both bikes were fixed by adjusting the rear hub bearings!
Thanks for sharing, Dave. That may help some folks with Zipp wheels. Appreciate it!
Jim
One short video I made a while back to help people avoid one type of easily avoided & resolvable annoying noise caused by jam nuts that come with presta valve tubes: https://youtu.be/tkfF0dsi-NY
My apologies if this is already included in your website list.
About fifty years ago, I get a clicking noise from my bike. I’m overhauling pedal bearings, swapping components, it’s driving me crazy.
After weeks of this, I realise that the warm quilted jacket that I’m wearing for my winter commute has a drawstring round the waist, and that drawstring has a plastic toggle on each end. And those toggles are hitting the top-tube. Face-palm moment!
Toggles tied up, problem ignored.
The following winter, I get a clicking again. I solved this last year – what on earth was it? When eventually I remember what the cause was, it’s out with the scissors and snip those damn toggles off.
A few years ago, I had a click that I could both hear and feel. Once per pedal revolution, and I could feel it via the left foot.
Only happened when standing on the pedals and working hard. Therefore it wasn’t saddle-to-seat-pin bolt nor seat-pin-frame bolt.
Right crank is integral with bottom-bracket spindle, left crank attaches vi an Octalink-type spline. Remove left crank, grease, refit, torque – that will certainly cure it. It doesn’t.
Grease hub quick-release, do them up very firmly. Still clicking.
Torque the stem-to-handlebar bolts and the stem-to-steering-column bolts. Still clicking.
Swap pedals. Still clicking.
Swap shoes … problem solved.
Cleats with three-point fixing. Front bolt on left cleat was very slightly loose.