Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
This week, let’s see if we can help a reader named “David” who has a ticking noise. His question is below and pretty interesting I think. You’ll see my answer with everything I could think for him to check on his roadster after his query. If you are experiencing a similar noise it might help you fix your ride.
Also, I’m very proud of my Keep it Quiet! resource that’s been regularly updated for over 20 years now on my personal bicycle website. Every time a cyclist sends me a noise and their fix, I post it and credit them for sharing.
David’s Tick
Hey Jim,
You might be able to help me? I’ve a ticking noise at the front of my road bike. But only when I go down onto the drops. What could this be? Note that it’s not there when I’m on hoods.
Regards,
David
My Reply with Suggestions (best educated guesses)
“Hmm.. good one, David. Here are some possible noise-makers to check:
- Is the front wheel securely tightened in the fork, i.e. wheel fully inserted in the dropouts and the quick release or through axle tightened fully?
- Shifting your weight forward loads the front wheel more. Maybe the spokes have loosened over time and the added weight is causing them to move. If so, they could move against each other at the cross making the noise.
- How old are your wheels? With enough miles, some rims can develop hairline cracks right at the base of the spoke nipples and these can make ticking noises.
- By any chance have you been riding the same aluminum handlebars for a long, long time and got a lot of sweat on them and underneath the tape? If so, the handlebars could slowly be getting eaten by the salt and might be about to break and making a ticking sound when you add weight by weighing the drops? This happened to me. Remove some tape and see if the handlebar is still like new underneath. If not, install new bars asap.
- Is something on your clothing hitting something else – like a zipper swinging and hitting the metal zipper track, tick, tick, tick?
- Is the end plug(s) in the handlebar loose and putting weight down there lets it move and make noise?
- Is being on the ends of the bars applying more weight to the stem and causing the handlebar and/or stem and/or top cap to flex and make a tick noise? Could be a sign of corrosion or loosening bolts.
- Are the brake levers tight on the handlebars or maybe allowing the levers to make a noise when you are on the drops?
- Is the front wheel securely tightened in the fork?
Those are a few things I’d check, David. I hope they help you silence that ticking noise. Please let me know what you find.”
Your Turn
I haven’t heard anything back from David yet. I’m hoping he sees this Tech Talk. If you can think of other things you think he should check, please comment to share them. It will help David if he reads this and also anyone else hunting down an annoying noise.
And, hopefully if we fix his noise, David will read this and tell me or us what it took to quiet his weight-shift tick once and for all. Thanks for the assist!
Ride total: 9,716
Seat post or rails need paste or tightening? Shift in weight can create subtle click.
Sometimes, particularly with carbon frames, strange noises can originate in one place, but sound like they’re coming from somewhere else. One of the first places I check is the seat post/rails, because they get a lot of road spray. I’ve had issues where I’d swear the noise came from one of the wheels (both front and back), but putting friction paste on my seat post and the saddle rails cured it in both instances.
I had an annoying intermittent ticking noise that took me maybe a year or more to identify and solve. I couldn’t really identify under what conditions my bike would ‘tick’, but it would drive me crazy! Eventually I discovered I had a slightly worn bottom bracket. Once this was replaced the tick disappeared.
Now my shoes intermittently squeak… A spray of WD40 on the cleats/pedals stops the squeaking for a while, but if anyone has a more permanent solution I’m listening!
For my Look cleats, I use a file on the front/top of the cleat that engages in the pedal. The squeaks stay away for a long time.
The plastic gets “harder” over time and will be shiny and/or smooth. You “soften” the plastic by using the file. It only takes a couple of file strokes and you’ll see the plastic is now softer and loses the shine/smoothness.
I have solved the “Look squeak/click” problem with a quick spray of silicone lube or a rub on the cleats with a block of paraffin.
At the end of an MS Ride a rider came to me with a similar noise. In his case one of the spokes on the front wheel was very loose. Loose as in I could turn the nipple with finger tip pressure.
Something loose in his brake lever/shifter. Doesn’t hear it on the hoods but tics when on the drops. My left Campy shifter does this.
Anything going on with the front wheel can be affected by rider position on the bars.
Remove the front wheel and give it a thorough inspection.
Hold it by the rim vertically with two hands. Shake it and rotate it. Is there anything loose in the rim? Rotate it and SHAKE! it!!
Check the hub for restrictions and/or any glitches in the movement, Make sure the bearings have proper pressure, and spin freely with no untoward restriction. Remove the tire. Inspect rim tape, spoke holes, and nipples for improprieties. Replace the rim tape with new, carefully.
Check the wheel in a truing stand. Check for true. Check spoke tension(s) and look for broken or tired spoke(s).
If you’re using a quick release on the axle make sure there’s nothing funky going on with it after it’s been secured.
Even though I build my own wheels, I do all the above annually. Something interesting to do in the winter.
Good luck and happy trails…
Dave
Minneapolis MN
Maybe a loose cable in the frame. My bike makes a noise when I’m standing and moving the bike laterally with enough force the cable inside the down tube makes a noise as it moves. I found out by holding my bike up and shaking it Near my ear.
seat – post, rail, adjustment mechanism
pedals, cranks, bottom bracket
frame crack, weld crack, bonding crack anywhere on frame – fork, seat stays, chain stays
wheel problems – loose spokes, cracks (front or back wheels)
Vibration in the shift paddles of the leavers. I’ve had same. Can shim them with a tiny patch of neoprene or similar padding. Clue here is that it disappears when you put hands on the hoods. Indeed you may also be touching the shift paddles with a finger tip thus deadening this vibration. In my case this happened with 2019 Shim 105 leavers. My other machines have Ultegra Di2, no vibration.
i had the ticking sound several times, all different areas on my Bianchi ev3, first time was the seat post, it needed to be lubed, second time the brake assemblies on the bars needed tightening, and the third time my cleats and pedals needed to be tightened an lubed, and finally a worn chain. needless to say I pay a lot more attention to pm,before I hear the cries or help from my bike
Going back to the front wheel , it could be a crack axle , a hairline crack that will open up when the weight move and makes the noise , then when the weight is remove the crack close back up and the noise goes away . To solve this problem is to pull the axle look for the crack if one is found replace it .z
Same for headset and headtube , stem and handlebars .
Echo above comments, especially where spokes cross. The added weight from being in the drops can cause them (one or so) to move and tick. You can try lubricant to verify. I’ve had this on some wheel sets when standing and putting more weight on the front end. Speaking of corroded aluminum handlebars, this is a serious issue. One of our riders hit a bump, broke his handlebar that was weakened from sweat corrosion under the tape, and crashed in the pace line. A couple of us steered around him. The rider behind us hit him and both ended up in the ER and off their bikes for a month while recuperating from injuries.
My intermittent ticking noise was the Identification I carry around my neck on bike rides. When I got into a certain position my ascending thigh would cause two of the things on the neck string to tick against each other. It drove me nuts for a long time.
I had this exact problem a few years ago on a bike that I hadn’t ridden much for a few months. It turned out to be in the saddle, specifically where the rails of the saddle interacted with the plastic shell of the saddle. I turned the bike upside down and sprayed the areas where the rails met the with penetrating lubricant and the noise went away. I think it was because when I was in the drops my weight shifted on the saddle.
Thanks everyone for the excellent noise-fixers! Appreciate you sharing your experiences and your how-to’s for making your bike quiet again. This will be a helpful resource for lots of riders out there now and in the future.
Ride on – in silence!
Jim Langley
Those hairline cracks at the base of spoke nipples are not just the possible cause of an annoying noise, but potentially DANGEROUS, particularly on low spoke count wheels. I was on a hilly century ride a few years ago when a fellow rider’s wheel gave way. He went down but fortunately was not seriously hurt. Turns out he had noticed “tiny” spoke hole rim cracks some weeks earlier but kept riding the wheel ?!?