# Loud clicking noise, pedals or bottom bracket?



## tordahle (Apr 11, 2004)

I need some help. I have a loud clicking noise often when I pedal. It happens wether I use bike shoes/cleats or sneakers. there are no particular patterns to the noise. My pedals are Look Keo Carbon,2008, they have a tiny amount of play up and down when I hold them still.
To me it seems to be the pedals and not the bottom bracket but I am not sure.
Is there an easy way to service the pedals?

Helpful suggestions or advice appreciated. Thanks, Tor


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## Cyclin Dan (Sep 24, 2011)

tordahle said:


> I need some help. I have a loud clicking noise often when I pedal. It happens wether I use bike shoes/cleats or sneakers. there are no particular patterns to the noise. My pedals are Look Keo Carbon,2008, they have a tiny amount of play up and down when I hold them still.
> To me it seems to be the pedals and not the bottom bracket but I am not sure.
> Is there an easy way to service the pedals?
> 
> Helpful suggestions or advice appreciated. Thanks, Tor


You can grease them. I have the same pedals, and occasionally the same problem. I just take them off and put them back on really tight and it goes away.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

If you have another rear wheel put that on so you can rule out it being the rear hub. Check that you're quick release if tight enough too.

That's probably not it.....but it's so easy to check you may as well. I spent a month trying to chase down a click that I was sure was in the bb/crank/pedal area only to find out it was my rear hub.


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## ksm279 (Dec 23, 2007)

tordahle said:


> I need some help. I have a loud clicking noise often when I pedal. It happens wether I use bike shoes/cleats or sneakers. there are no particular patterns to the noise. My pedals are Look Keo Carbon,2008, they have a tiny amount of play up and down when I hold them still.
> To me it seems to be the pedals and not the bottom bracket but I am not sure.
> Is there an easy way to service the pedals?
> 
> Helpful suggestions or advice appreciated. Thanks, Tor


Same issue here last week.....removed and cleaned the chainrings, crank bolts and BB. Lubed everything up and reinstalled. Like magic the sound was gone...


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## apapage (Sep 12, 2012)

I had a similar problem. Whenever I pedaled there was a clicking that appeared to come from the bottom bracket area. I checked the bottom bracket, headset, wheel bearings, etc. with no luck. At the same time my seat was slipping. After tightening the bolts, the clicking went away. My brother had a similar problem and it was his seat post ring clamp.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

tordahle said:


> I need some help. I have a loud clicking noise often when I pedal. It happens wether I use bike shoes/cleats or sneakers. there are no particular patterns to the noise. My pedals are Look Keo Carbon,2008, they have a tiny amount of play up and down when I hold them still.
> To me it seems to be the pedals and not the bottom bracket but I am not sure.
> Is there an easy way to service the pedals?
> 
> Helpful suggestions or advice appreciated. Thanks, Tor


It is fairly common to have clicking noises, but ticks and clicks are very hard to eliminate sometimes. What seems like it is tied to the pedals may be coming from the seat post, etc. Sometimes things like temperature and humidity can affect noises as well. Also, things like the front derailleur cage just hitting the crank, loose bottle cage bolts, or the front derailleur cable sticking out and hitting your shoe can seem like they are clicks but really aren't. Another thing to consider is that the frame and components are flexing from pedaling forces, and so you can get a click or creak sound where you think it couldn’t be – for example the seat post & clamp can make noise even when you are standing and pedaling due the frame flexing. Here’s a link if you don’t like reading the rest of this post: Bicycle Touring Tips, Lessons Learned, and Tricks of the Trade

Clicks tied to your pedaling can come from
- BB (grease all threads in contact with the frame and BB, all metal to metal contact surfaces, and torque to the recommended settings, which can be quite high), the faces of tapered BB axles if they have a little corrosion
- bolt holding the BB cable guide onto the frame (grease threads and make sure the bolt is not touching the BB shell inside the frame)
- crank bolts (grease threads and washers)
- chain ring bolts (take them all out and grease the threads, the faces where they contact the CRs, and the CRs where they contact the crank spider arms)
- a dirty chain, inadequately lubed chain, stiff link in a chain or a burr on one of the "break off" special links used to assemble the chain
- front derailleur clamp (clean and put a light film of grease on the inside of the clamp where it touches the seat tube)
- the pedals (grease the threads and the shoulders of the axle where it butts against the crank arm, get some wax, silicone etc. on the cleats, check for play in the bearings, squirt some lube into the guts of the pedal machinery if possible)
- shoes/cleats - loose cleat nut rattling around in the shoe sole, shoe/cleat interface, cleat bolts, cleats touching pedals (wax lube, silicone, or furniture polish)
- seat post and saddle (grease the post, seat post bolts, saddle rails, and add some oil to where the rails go into the saddle body)
- bars and stem (grease the stem where it clamps to steerer or goes into the steerer if quill type, top cap, stem bolts at both ends, h'bar bolt if quill stem, and h'bar where it goes through the stem)
- grease/tighten QRs and where the hub axle contacts the frame
- tighten cassette lock ring, grease cassette hub body and cassette spacers
- grease steerer tube spacers (if threadless)
- replaceable derailleur hangers (remove, clean, grease all parts and threads, reassemble)
- any other bolt (bottle cages, derailleur clamps, derailleur bolts, shift cable casing stops, etc.)
- cables hitting the frame (cable donuts), or shifting in their end ferrules (lube contact points). 

Wheels can make noises when pedaling or coasting (check for spoke tension, particularly on the rear non drive side, put a drop of lube where each pair of spokes cross and where each spoke enters the rim and the hub flange, check for loose metal bits or spoke nipples in the body of the rim and cracks in the rim at spoke holes.).


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## tordahle (Apr 11, 2004)

Thanks a lot for all your helpful suggestions. I do not have a spear rear wheel, I did tighten the quick release a little. I have lubed the pedal threads, the clicks are still there, they happen at any part of the pedal stroke, they can happen wether I pedal lightly or stomp, there can be minutes between each click. I recently lubed/greased all areas in the seat- seat clamp area.
I will check the crank area next and go from there. Thanks again.


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## albert1028 (Jan 21, 2013)

This is a shot in the dark, but for me, I had a what appears to be described as a clicking noise that is smaller than your description. I found out that greasing my water bottle screw threads did make a clicking noise I was trying to figure out go away. FYI, My frame and cages are both carbon.


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